Stop that heavy breathing...

When I was a child I, like many kids, had bouts wheeziness after exercise. It became difficult to catch my breathe but I just grinned and bared it. I didn't get it all the time, it just appeared and disappeared. To be honest, I never really thought about what was causing it. Until a few months ago it hadn't been an issue for years but during the last winter it surfaced again when playing football. I got wheezy during the game and breathing became very difficult.

I guess I always knew what it was but never really gave it that much thought until recently. I went to see the doctor and he confirmed what I suspected, that I had Asthma. But what exactly is Asthma?

According to the Asthma UK website, "When a person with asthma comes into contact with something that irritates their airways (an asthma trigger), the muscles around the walls of the airways tighten so that the airways become narrower and the lining of the airways becomes inflamed and starts to swell." This means that it is difficult to breath and consequently you feel like you can't take it enough air... almost like feeling as though your lungs have shrunk.

Although there isn't a cure there are a number of medicines that can alleviate the symptoms including different types of inhalers and tablets. I was prescribed an inhaler and what a difference it has made. Any time I feel my chest getting tight a couple of puffs from the inhaler and the symptoms disappear. Obviously, if your body can't get enough oxygen circulating around it when exercising then your performance can suffer. Playing football is so much easier now as is cycling.

There's still life in the old dog yet...