Exercise Induced Asthma

[Smiles]

I was diagnosed with bronchial asthma toward the end of the long hot summer of 1976. Treatment for this condition is hugely more effective these days, not I suspect for any particular leap forward in the medication but rather because of better understanding of the (seriousness of) this condition.

Asthma is a potentially life threatening illness. Time was when many children died as a result of asthma attacks. A boy at the school I attended died in these circumstances in 1985 during a supervised PE lesson because the teacher refused to allow him to stop participating after suffering an asthma attack. Go see your doctor.

Salbutamol (the blue reliever) and Beclometasone (the brown preventer) are extremely effective treatments in my experience. Since finally getting on the right medication at in the early 80's I have been able to cycle largely untroubled by asthma. I used to take the blue prevent prior to cycling - I now no longer need to. I have had a couple of occasions where an asthma attack was not relieved by the medication. If you ever find someone in this condition follow the advice I was given and get them to A&E straight away.

I should also share with you a pet theory which has worked for me. In the last 10 years there has been publicity about the impact of the dust mite as an allergic cause for asthmatics. These bugs live on all of us, eat dead skin and typically congregate and multiply in your mattress. It is the excrement of the dust mite that appears to be the trigger for many people who like me are diagnosed as suffering with asthma in part as an reaction to an allergy to house dust. For the past three years I now lift my duvet off the bed when I get up and hang it over a door to air. The mites don't like the dry, light cold conditions on the mattress and perish apparently. I have noticed a significant improvement in my health as a result of this one small change.

Smiles