I do not have exercise-induced asthma!!!!

First workout after Australia -- yes that is a balaclava.

Jet lag can be a KILLER!!!! Holy-o-crap, I never knew that jet lag could be so nasty. Apparently flying from west to east can wreak havoc on your body's circadian rhythms. And the more time zones you fly through the worse it gets. I had terrible nausea and gastro-intestinal stuff for 3 days.

So bad that I would talk with my jaw clenched because even the action of talking made me nauseous. My foot swelled up to a disgusting size and took a couple of days to go down again...thank goodness my ankles are back. Hahahahaha!! Speaking of which...

The foot healeth.....

In other news....I found out that my exercise-induced asthma was not asthma at all but Vocal Chord Dysfunction. This is why me taking 9 hits of of various inhalers per day did nothing for me. The specialist I went to when I got back from Australia told me my symptoms were "classic" of this vocal chord thing.

Here is what happens: Certain triggers like cold air, strong pool chemical smells, level of effort in exercise caused my vocal chords to collapse. Then, like Pavlov's dogs, my body trained itself to respond the same way to these triggers again and again. The GREAT news is that I can recondition my body with a simple breathing technique!!!

Are you ready for this?

All I have to do is when I feel an attack coming on is to inhale three times through my nose and sniff. Like this: Sniff.....sniff, sniff. After the first sniff, you wait a second and then take two more sniffs. You don't exhale between sniffs, three sniffs and then the vocal chords are forced to open.

I am off all inhalers -- no more steroid inhaler, or nose spray stuff, or allergy stuff. All gone. Now, when I am in the pool, I think of my sniffing thing as my own personal inhaler on demand whenever I need it. I also visualize my throat's airway as being HUGE and OPEN like the size of a grapefruit. (Got this idea off the internet.)

And it works. Can't believe it. When I feel the chords trying to collapse in the pool, sometimes I don't even need to sniff now -- I just visualize my airways being open. I can't believe the difference has been instantaneous!!!! I am so thankful I got in to see the specialist. :) :)

Oh yeah -- he also told me that asthma sufferers make noises on the exhalation NOT the inhalation. Mine was always on the inhalation -- I had one episode that was so bad in Australia my voice (on it's own) was whining and wailing as I was trying to breathe. I felt so stupid when Sara asked if I was Ok, and I could only make these stupid wailing noises and gasped out, "I can't control this noise!" The attacks were also linked to an emotional response I noticed -- not panic per day, but frustration and tears even. Very, very weird.

So.....I am ready for summer!!!! :) :) :) :)