Asthma

[honeydip]

I know you all think I am some hypercondriact but I definitely have asthma. I am on inhaled steroids twice daily. I did used to smoke occasionally which I totally cut out 6 months ago. My asthma did get a little better but continued using the steroids. However something happened over christmas which was amazing.
We went skiing for a week at high altitude and since I arrived no tight chest or wheezing at all. I immediately stopped the steroid inhaler the day I got there as I saw it was an opportunity to stop it for good!
Anyway I was doing cardiovascular exercise both walking up hills and snowboarding and not one tight chest!!!!! Not even slightly! Usually even if I was on my preventer and if I took a puff of ventolin I would still have to stop exercising after 5 minutes. I thought I was cured I really did. I got back to north spain and this continued even after 3 weeks I was convinced I was cured.

However I started using my ventolin more and more until I had to start steroids again and even now I have to sometimes use my ventolin. I still struggle to exercise past 5 minutes. I am back to the same rubbish life!

What exactly happened why was I cured for that short amount of time? Was it the clean air? The change in diet? I really want to be free from this as it restricts me every day.

[daffy654]

It may have been the altitude of wherever you went skiing, the air is thinner (and cleaner) on snowy mountains.

[honeydip]

Yes I thought that but it continued for just over 2 weeks when I got back. I am so gutted

[LazyGun]

It does sound somewhat counter-intuitive - one might think that the symptoms of asthma would be exacerbated in regions with lower levels of O2, as in altitude, or the less humid colder air might act to dry out the airways and hence cause greater irritation.

If however, your asthma is a consequence of an allergy, the reason your symptoms dissipated when skiing might have less to do with the altitude and more to do with the increased purity and lessened allergens in the atmosphere - and when you came back home, your asthmatic symptoms gradually increased as your system became once again exposed to the particular allergens that trigger your asthma.....

[boxtops]

Makes you realise why in the past, people with respiratory problems were often sent to Switzerland to sanatoria to recover.