# Albuterol, anyone ride with it?



## LukeVelo (Jun 26, 2006)

I went to the doctor today because I recently have been wheezing on my new group rides. Not sure if it's allergies, but the doc thought it might be exercise induced asthma.

The thing that scares me a bit is that the Albuterol inhaler increases your heart rate. I stopped using daytime allergy medicine because of the pseudo ephedrine would jack up my heart rate and it affected my performance when I started riding with my group ride with CAT 1 and 2s. Now I take the regular allergy tablets for my inner ear that gets clogged, but the other day my lungs felt like they were on fire. Yeah, it's really hard riding with those guys but I never had a cough after.

Any thoughts, advice on the inhaler, allergies, bronchitis or exercised induced asthma?

Edit: They had be test my lung capacity/volume by breathing into this tube in and out and as deep as I could. It said I had 6.15 liters. Is that anything close to what I would get with a full VO2 max testing? Would I have tested higher if I did not have this wheezing cough?


----------



## Gripped (Nov 27, 2002)

LukeVelo said:


> Any thoughts, advice on the inhaler, allergies, exercised induced asthma?


I race cyclocross (and sometimes track) and I get the wheezing, hacking, nastiness associated with exercise induced asthma. I've used albuterol inhaler and a different one -- I can't recall what is was. My results? I don't use anything pre-race anymore. I will use the albuterol post-race to mitigate symptoms.

I defintely felt (and recorded on my HR monitor) the increased heart rate and I believe it adversely affected my performance.

YMMV


----------



## KSF666 (Oct 4, 2005)

*Yep*

...I use albuteral and am currently a Cat 5 racer I have had asthma since I was about 6 (now 27) for the last 2 years however I have been using Adavar which has brought my albuterol use down to almost zero you may want to ask your doctor about this.

It keeps the asthma at bay so you wont need the rescue inhaler (albuteral) 

Good luck


----------



## borregokid (Jun 9, 2005)

Albuterol is about as safe as stuff gets. Its non-addictive and you cant build up any resistance to it. Severe asthmatics that are hospitalized will get some very high prolonged doses of the stuff. If you have some and you think you need it then use it. 

I am not sure what the 6 liter capacity is. I just had the same test I think which they call a spirometry and the key test is expelling air in one second. I asked the Doc how I did and he said I had 85% of the capacity of the average for a man of my age. Anything below 80 is considered impaired. I would ask how you compared to other men you age. 

After a hard ride or a race you had some real difficulty breathing or if you in fact had to quit the activity and go and sit down and struggle to get back where you started I would say you need to talk to your doctor. Usually when you go see the doc he has a nice little "asthma questionaire" that lets him know how bad your breathing is.


----------



## Gnarly 928 (Nov 19, 2005)

I've raced with excercise-induced asthma for years. I was first diagnosed at about age 30 and I am 60 now, using Albuterol fairly often for all those years. A few years ago, I was advised to try a different inhaler called Flovent, and now I rarely use the Albuterol, don't get attacks since starting one dose daily of Flovent..Flovent is supposed to prevent the attack rather than relieve the wheezing of an attack..
Asthma really is awful. I used to have it very bad when I worked as a carpenter, closed into houses by very cold Wyoming weather with all that construction dust, and then I'd go try to ride home with all my fellow carpenters who were also my racer buddies...ugg.
I found that a long warm-up usually prevented any attacks, but if I didn't warm up and then got 'jumped' at the start of a race or a ride...I could almost feel my air passages shutting down. Since I've started with the Flovent and I haven't been in the sawdust much, I have had no attacks, but I still carry an albuterol inhaler in my jersey pocket..just in case..Good luck, many famous aerobic atheletes have asthma and deal with it ok..
Don Hanson


----------



## LukeVelo (Jun 26, 2006)

Gnarly 928 said:


> I found that a long warm-up usually prevented any attacks, but if I didn't warm up and then got 'jumped' at the start of a race or a ride...I could almost feel my air passages shutting down.


Come to think about it, I went out with my racer buddy when I had this happen and had NO warm up. He is very busy and called me up and was asked if I want to ride. He's coaching me also so I never hesitate. But I was in the middle of eating some yogurt and cereal. He swung by my place and I started out cold with a full stomach and then he started hammering on rolling hills. I wonder if it was just a bad day, my HR was much higer than normal for most of the ride. But keep in mind: no real warm up, dairy in my stomach, rolling foothills, my CAT 2 friend is fast, I wonder is any of that contributed?

I'm a little weary of taking the Albuterol because of it increasing my heart rate -- I'm pushing myself when I ride with these guys anyways. I will look into the Advair/Flovent. I took five years ago when I had bronchitis and was a smoker. Hmm. I quit six months ago, that could be a factor. I just wish my pulmonary doctor (nurse practicioner) knew more about sports medicine.

As far as that lung volume test, seems that six liters it on the upper end of normal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_volume


----------



## azmadoc (Mar 23, 2004)

Lots of points here:

first-it sounds like exercise induced asthma (EIA). Asthma which is strictly exercise induce is usually treated with beta-agonists(albuterol) 30 minutes prior to exercise. Albuterol can cause some elevation in HR, but not commonly. Warm-up and cool-down periods can be very helpful in controlling EIA.

Singualir, a pill, has modest benefits for EIA and will not effect HR. 

Long acting beta agonists, or LABAs, such as serevent or fordil, should not be used unless combined with an inhaled corticosteroid like flovent. 

Advair is a combination of serevent and flovent. It is really only indicated in moderate to severe perisitent asthma.

Breathing test numbers depend on your body size and age so its the percent of predicted that counts, not the absolute number. The most important number for quantifying asthma is the Forced Expiratory Volume at 1 second, or FEV1- its the amount of air you expel in the first second of a forced exhalation. 

I see asthmatics every day and my approach is:

If your spirometry was normal and you have <b>NO</b> symptoms outside of exercise than pretreatment with albuterol is the first line therapy. Second line treatments would include Singulair or possibly atrovent, a different type of bronchodilator.

If you had abnormal spirometry or any symptoms outside of exercise, then the appropriate starting point is usually simple inhaled corticosteroids: Flovent, Pulmicort, Asmanex, etc.

Combination therapy with ICS/LABA should be reserved for cases with more frequent/severe symptoms and/or worse spirometry.

Identifying asthma triggers such as allergies, sinusitis, and reflux is also important.

A good board certified allergy and asthma specialist in your area should be able to help clarify all this for you.

doc


----------



## LukeVelo (Jun 26, 2006)

Wow, thanks for the info doc. Do you take health insurance? I feel like you should be billing me. 

BTW, my spirometry was normal, I think. Age 33, 6', 169 lbs

6.15 FVC
4.77 FEV1
78 FEV1%
4.16 FEF25-75
9.94 PEF(L/S)
4.64 (S)FET


----------



## bas (Jul 30, 2004)

I self medicate myself with Claritin-D. I don't wheez like someone having an asthma attack - but if I was to try to breath a deep breath after 100 miles - I'd have no choice but to cough. 

I find even on short hammer fests the claritin-d keeps my lungs open.. I think my performance is better than without because of this, and the higher heart rate has no real effect.




azmadoc said:


> Lots of points here:
> 
> first-it sounds like exercise induced asthma (EIA). Asthma which is strictly exercise induce is usually treated with beta-agonists(albuterol) 30 minutes prior to exercise. Albuterol can cause some elevation in HR, but not commonly. Warm-up and cool-down periods can be very helpful in controlling EIA.
> 
> ...


----------



## azmadoc (Mar 23, 2004)

Not to give a lecture in Pulmonary mechanics, but those numbers indicate airway obstruction(asthma) as defined by a FEV1/FVC ratio of <.8. You should have had a "reversal" after that test- been given an albuterol treatment and had the test repeated to see if the FEV1 changed.

It sounds like you may need a regular asthma med like flovent, asmanex, et al.


----------



## azmadoc (Mar 23, 2004)

Also- Don't poo poo EIA. This pic shows the massive ventilatory defects that can occur with EIA.

If you're interested they're He3 MRI images- very cool stuff


----------



## doug in co (Feb 4, 2004)

listen to the azmadoc, I've just spent an expensive year finding out the info he's posted here.. 
Agree it looks like plain old asthma, not just EIA, from your test results, so you might need daily meds. 

I have EIA only, no symptoms or problems except when exercising vigorously. I'm using Combivent rather than albuterol, which is albuterol plus Ipratropium. It doesn't give me the buzz that straight albuterol does, but is still effective. Long warmups help a lot too - I warm up for 15min before 5k runs which take me 19min..


----------



## LukeVelo (Jun 26, 2006)

Thanks you all so much. Seems like I should go back to the office when I can get an actual appointment with the doctor instead of the nurse practioner. I'll keep you posted, but azmadoc you think the daily steroid based is best? What if I am also taking Flonase? Will there be any anabolic effect?

Thanks!

Edit: "_I self medicate myself with Claritin-D_" Doesn't the D have the pseudoephrdrine? That stuff jacks up my heart rate. I think ephedra (ma huang) was used to open up the lungs for Chinese medicine. Does the speedy effect help this?


----------



## azmadoc (Mar 23, 2004)

Inhaled corticosteroids are, unequivocally, the best first line treatment for mild persistent asthma.

Systemic side effects from inhaled corticosteroids and or topical nasal corticaosteroids are minimal. The newer molecules are designed to be largely metabolized before they can cause systemic problems.

Corticosteroids are catabolic, not anabolic. Again, this is generally with large doses and/or oral/injection routes of administration.


----------



## LukeVelo (Jun 26, 2006)

Cool, I made an appointment with another doctor for tomorrow. This one is in the DC area, the other one was out in the country and I only got to see his NP. i'll see what he has to say.

Thanks again azmadoc!


----------



## bas (Jul 30, 2004)

Yes, it does.

My heart rate is up - but I think it helps. 

How much more is your HR?



LukeVelo said:


> Edit: "_I self medicate myself with Claritin-D_" Doesn't the D have the pseudoephrdrine? That stuff jacks up my heart rate. I think ephedra (ma huang) was used to open up the lungs for Chinese medicine. Does the speedy effect help this?


----------



## rideorglide (Dec 3, 2005)

As a 'sort of' answer to the original post.

I do/did on occasion get EIA. Interestingly I found the post-ride symptoms more irritating than the during experience -- unless I was trying to keep up with other MTBers on some tough hills, either that or it was winter - around 30 deg.

I am presently recovering from a bout of pneumonia -- which included an early relapse --that also induced asthmatic wheezing. In addition to an antibiotic, the pulmonologist had me on a regimen of Albuterol, Advair 500/50 and staggered dosages of Prednisone. The amount of steroids in my body make Phloyd look like a saint.

Oh, I was also in the Ground Zero area for 5 months from one week after that day, and experienced a heck of a lot of sinustitis, bronchitis and one other pneumonia event within a year after that time.

CAT scan revealed a little lung scarring, but otherwise normal. it's unknown if that scarring was from viral pneumonia when I was young or recent bouts of the last few years.

It's been nearly a month since I visited the E.R. when things got real nasty, but I still don't feel like I can dare push it enough to ride yet. And I imagine for the typical cyclist here,"ride" pretty much means "ride hard or don't bother." For me the only way take the edge off a ride is to avoid the hills - but that's a bit of a tease.

Now that I'm feeling somewhat better I notice the effect of heart rate of Albuterol much more than I did when I was real sick. But for now I take the Albuterol about 1x or 2x day.

Normally I don't need it at all. 

Let's put it this way before I got sick, my tough day would feature a 2.5 hr surf session followed by a 1.5 hr mtb ride in the heat, and a maybe an hour or so of backyard dirt hockey with the kids.

Right now, though, I get my vicarious thrills seeing other roadies out cruising an especially tasty bit of road on my drive to and from work. So Keep riding, I wanna see you out there, OK!

My bike(s) are still in the van, and I can imagine the tarmac hissing under my wheels no problem. See you out there soon.


----------



## rideorglide (Dec 3, 2005)

oops, dup post - deleted.


----------



## LukeVelo (Jun 26, 2006)

I noticed when about 10bps maybe 15 when I'm really hammering.


----------



## borregokid (Jun 9, 2005)

With everyone getting so obsessed with the side effects of corticosteroid inhalers everyone forgets what one of the side effects of asthma is-DEATH. I was just checking and the number of deaths annually in the US is about 5000 including many children.


----------



## argylesocks (Aug 2, 2004)

borregokid said:


> With everyone getting so obsessed with the side effects of corticosteroid inhalers everyone forgets what one of the side effects of asthma is-DEATH. I


or worse... not being able to ride your bike!!

i have been on albuteral for 25 years and im almost completely normal 
of course, after i was on Theodore for like 10 years, they determined it can cause brain deffects... haha... woops.

i have tried almost every drug or combination of drugs to keep me going... they said i would outgrow it when i was 18. im 32 now and feel like i have it pretty under control.

daily:
advair 500/50
Singulair
Allegra
Spiriva (although im weening off it)
Previcid (i developed GERD - which was triggering bad attacks during races)
Albuteral as needed (very rarely at this point)


----------



## cygor98 (Jun 23, 2006)

i have suffered from asthma since i was a kid and gone through many different medications. but the one that has worked for me in the last few years with SPECTACULAR results is Singulair. It helps me with my asthma and my allergies to a certain extent. though i still take claritin as well. (lots of allergies) i still out of paranoid habit take one puff of albuterol before i go for my hour long ride, i think i forget sometimes and havent noticed a difference. when i used to play hockey i would use it more but that is a different kind of activity, very anaerobic. that and i wasnt working out like i am now so it could just be conditioning too. 

singulair has worked great and when i couldnt afford it due to unemployment and lack of insurance it was sorely missed. lots of allergy/asthma problems durring that time. so bad infact my allergy doc gave me advair for a month to kickstart me back to better lung health. but back on it for over a year now and i hardly use albuterol for anything but extreme activity.


----------



## LukeVelo (Jun 26, 2006)

Went to a new doc on Thursday. She checked my nose and said it was really inflamed inside. So it must be hard for me to breathe. For now, she prescribed me some , Asmanax (steroid inhaler) Flonase, Allegra (not D) and said to take the Albuturol before I ride and bring along just in case. Took some blood and we will determine what's going on in a few weeks.

I did one of my normal group rides Thrusday night. I can't believe how easy it was. I mean, I rode with the A's and barely broke a sweat. I kept checking my HRM and even when I got to 95%, I felt fine. Normally, I'm gasping at that point. The ride averaged 19.6 mph over 35 rolling miles, with about 15 of those on a rail trail warming up and cooling down. I don't think we were hammering, but maybe it was my new super-human powers.

I also rode Friday, Saturday and did an easy group pace ride today and rode my heavy steel trainer. This other guy and it (with his 16.5lb bike) were chatting and didn't realize we dropped the group. 

The real test will be Tuesday on my AA ride with the Cat 1 & 2's. But god damn, I feel like a new man. The other really impressive thing is that I don't get tired after the rides, my recovery is really fast. I love going to the doctor! Thanks for all your input!


----------



## likeguymontag (May 31, 2003)

Just you wait. Things will only get better from here. Flonase and other nasal steroids don't really start working for a week or two, but from that point onwards they work great. I don't know about Asmanax, but it might be similar. Definitely keep taking the Allegra. Take it year-round whether you think you have allergies or not. Allergy can clog your nose, give you headaches, generally make you feel crappy, and can worsen asthma. As an antihistamine, Allegra helps with that. Besides being an antihistamine, it's also a mild anti-inflammatory, and that should also help your asthma. It's a two-for-one sort of deal.


----------



## pr0230 (Jun 4, 2004)

*Man ... !*

What a great thread! Its all been said here!


----------



## LukeVelo (Jun 26, 2006)

Here's an update after using the albuterol on my 32-mile group ride that has Cat 1 & 2's. It was a small group, only ten headed out. Which made the ride harder because we double paceline and there was less recovery time from the pulls. Then four guys dropped out before we hit the hill of death on mile 25. So it was just six of us doing a single pace line in with about ten second pulls, so very little recovery time.

I blew up on the hill, but so did anyone over the age of sixteen and over 6% body fat. We have three top-ranked national tykes who are simply untouchable on that hill. I rode ahead of the other two mortals and they caught me at the edge of town. But there were a few more hills and I cranked up them and finished alone.

Normally when I blow up on that hill I have NOTHING left, but I felt good. Can't wait to see how I feel after some more time on the daily meds. I don't know if I used too much albuterol on the ride. I took two puffs before and three during the ride. But all I know is I was out front pulling hard, did not have fire in my lungs and was not shattered after the ride --I also rode the four days prior. Like I said, the performance during is impressive, but my recovery has been equally impressive. All in all, I'm a very satisfied with how the albuterol has worked for me.


----------



## upstateSC-rider (Aug 21, 2004)

Sounds like it worked great for you, good job. I'll also take a puff or two of albuterol before a ride but I feel like it keeps my HR elevated like someone else mentioned.

Lou.




LukeVelo said:


> Here's an update after using the albuterol on my 32-mile group ride that has Cat 1 & 2's. It was a small group, only ten headed out. Which made the ride harder because we double paceline and there was less recovery time from the pulls. Then four guys dropped out before we hit the hill of death on mile 25. So it was just six of us doing a single pace line in with about ten second pulls, so very little recovery time.
> 
> I blew up on the hill, but so did anyone over the age of sixteen and over 6% body fat. We have three top-ranked national tykes who are simply untouchable on that hill. I rode ahead of the other two mortals and they caught me at the edge of town. But there were a few more hills and I cranked up them and finished alone.
> 
> Normally when I blow up on that hill I have NOTHING left, but I felt good. Can't wait to see how I feel after some more time on the daily meds. I don't know if I used too much albuterol on the ride. I took two puffs before and three during the ride. But all I know is I was out front pulling hard, did not have fire in my lungs and was not shattered after the ride --I also rode the four days prior. Like I said, the performance during is impressive, but my recovery has been equally impressive. All in all, I'm a very satisfied with how the albuterol has worked for me.


----------



## LukeVelo (Jun 26, 2006)

upstateSC-rider said:


> Sounds like it worked great for you, good job. I'll also take a puff or two of albuterol before a ride but I feel like it keeps my HR elevated like someone else mentioned.
> 
> Lou.


Lou: my HR got pegged with out it because I could not breathe, I tended to blow up mostly when going anerobic and really pushing myself. The albuterol helps with that, but the main thing you will notice is your over all engergy during and in recovery. You are just getting much more oxygen into your blood. I'd take that over an elevated HR that anyday.

Best of luck,

-L


----------



## konaken (Sep 13, 2005)

Wow...this is a great thread! All this information about EIB is really interesting. I'm a 38-year old female who has been riding road bikes and mountain bikes for 10 years. I was diagnosed with exercised induced asthma last year after experiencing a couple of scary episodes. In the spring of last year I started having chest pains while riding on our local training rides...I pretty much wanted to ignore it thinking that I was just getting into shape again. This happened for a couple of weeks. The event that really told me something was wrong was when I was climbing one of our local mountains, Sauratown Mountain during a annual organized event. I was riding up the hill, wheezing and breathing really hard thinking it was the climb. What made it worse was everyone was passing me ...even the 30-lb mountain bikes! I stuck with the ride up the mountain ..but by the time I got up to the top I was hyper-ventilating and had to sit down at the top of the mountain to get my breathe back! Something was definitely wrong!

The next day the pulmonary clinic at the hospital diagnosed me with Asthma through a methocholene challenge (I only got through 1/3 of the test). The physician immediately wrote out a prescription for Advair, Albuterol, and Singulair. Taking these medications for several months helped me with my breathing on these rides but my heart rate sky-rocketed on the most casual of rides! My heart rate would climb to 181on low effort rides! The whole experience last summer was frustrating...couldn't keep up with group rides and feeling sick to my stomach from riding with such high heart rates!

In addition to the hight heart rates I was also getting abnormal increased heart rates just lying down. I went back to a new physician who tested me for several things hyperthyroidism, stress test, and electrocardiogram. Everything was normal. I decided to quit taking the Singulair (I already quit taking Advair and it's substitute, Flovent). After a couple of weeks, my heart rate was not elevated on rides. So basically what I found was that Singulair was increasing my heart rate. 

Unfortunately it took me a year to get the Asthma and HR controlled...I missed a summer of any decent riding! This year I have spent my time getting back into shape and recovering the fitness I lost last year. Now, what I find works for me is to eat no less than 1.5 hours before a ride, 3 puffs of Albuterol 30 minutes before a ride (spaced about 5 minutes between each puff) and a puff of Albuterol once or twice during the ride. In addition to these I take a generic version of Claritin in the evenings. This seems to work well for me..but I have noticed occasionally that I will get wheezing and burning in my lungs. During these times I have noticed that the air quality has been bad or we have just ridden through a dip or valley where the air seems stagnant. I'm assuming this will happen once in a while if you have Asthma.

I know this is a long posting, but I wanted to share how my experiences with how the drugs reacted differently for me. 

Just curious has anyone else run into the same reactions?...does anyone else have any good advice as to how to deal with EIB?

Thanks for reading,
KonaKen's Wife


----------



## pr0230 (Jun 4, 2004)

*This is so great!*

I feel like I am normal with all of us that have breathing problems when riding... 

I would like to say that, while these medications work, they will work differently on each of us, and you & your Dr need to work out what is the drug or drugs that fit you... 

One thing mentioned was what to eat and how long before a race should you eat... I find dairy on a race day does not work for me... and no eating at least three hrs before a race... After a ride or race , chocholate milk is great...

I may do a gel right before the race... depending on how I feel... 

I have also started to take some ant-acids before a race to help buffer the lactic acid... Don't know if it really works but I dont seem to feel the lactic acid burn...


----------



## rideorglide (Dec 3, 2005)

konaken said:


> Unfortunately it took me a year to get the Asthma and HR controlled


I'm curious, what factors do you think were involved that caused it to take a year to get the HR under control?

I ask because I'm dealing with some slightly elevated HR issues right now, (but considering I just recovered from pneumonia, and was on a lot of meds, and not getting the daily Starbucks, it's not too surprising.)

--



konaken said:


> Wow...this is a great thread! All this information about EIB is really interesting. I'm a 38-year old female who has been riding road bikes and mountain bikes for 10 years.


It is indeed a terrific thread -- and many thanks to the OP, all the posters, and Azmadoc for his or her comments and observations.


----------



## montyburns (Apr 1, 2006)

I recently was diagnosed with exercised induced asthma as well. I used albuterol for a while. And since i only get symptoms after about 2and a half hours of riding i only took it on the long runs. I also found that the albuterol worked a little bit but wasnt the greatest. So I went and talk to a pulmonologist friend of mine and he put me on flovent (an inhaled steroid). Basically i take it everyday and found that there is very mild improvement in my short workouts and hour or so but not much. I really notice it when I go on my long rides. I basically dont evenb have to use my albuterol at all during a ride. I am so confident in it that last weekend I did a half-iron-distance triathlon. Pre-race I took my flovent and albuterol mostly for luck. THen threw the inhaler back into the car and went out and wooped some ass..... not once did i have even the slightest wheezing symptom. 

If albuterol is giving you high heart rates you could ask your doc if you could try xopenex (pronounced- zo-pen-ex) its just like albuterol but with less stimulating effects like increased HR and jitteriness.


----------



## konaken (Sep 13, 2005)

Basically what took so long to get everything under control was that the doctors really couldn't figure out what was making my HR high on low intensity rides. I was first on Advair and Singulair (also albuterol when needed)...I complained about high HR and they indicated that it may be the Advair, so they changed it to Flovent. After changing to Flovent I was still getting high HR. This was really frustrating so I found another doctor to go to, and he pulled me off of Flovent and kept me on Singulair. I was still getting high HR on rides. So the doctor put me thru a bunch of tests and found everything was normal. I decided at that point to come off of the Singulair and just use Albuterol. One of the doctors who gave me a stress test said I basically may be allergic to something in the Singulair which was causing the high HR. 

So now I just use the Albuterol for all my rides, long or short!


----------



## karategirl (Aug 27, 2006)

I always take my albuterol before a run, especiallym if it's cold, but almost never before a ride. I always feel like I'm cheating, or something. But now I'm thinking maybe I should. You can always tell I'm behind you on a ride by my really heavy breathing. If I start taking albuterol before a ride, will that stop?


----------



## rideorglide (Dec 3, 2005)

Just from the point of view of swapping notes:

Generally I avoid taking it if the weather is above 50 degrees or so.

If the weather is cold out, and the cold air is going to come as a shock to the lungs, and possibly trigger an asthma attack or an exercise-induced asthma (EIA) attack, then I'll try to remember to take albuterol.

Same thing for a nite ride if the temperature is dropping rapidly.

If I don't, which happened on two recent group rides, well the EIA kinda ruins the ride, with all the coughing spluttering and general hacking of sputum that goes on, not to mention, a dramatic drop in average speed.

I've never found it to be an 'advantage,' and kinda don't like that jittery feeling it can cause.

But wooudl rather take it than be hacking one's lungs out for three days after because I forgot. OR worse still risk an infection because the lungs are full of extra mucus.

[Apologies for the mucusy nature of this post to the uninitiated]






karategirl said:


> I always take my albuterol before a run, especiallym if it's cold, but almost never before a ride. I always feel like I'm cheating, or something. But now I'm thinking maybe I should. You can always tell I'm behind you on a ride by my really heavy breathing. If I start taking albuterol before a ride, will that stop?


----------

