Asthma in Athletes

Hey, this is Dr. Gangemi and in this SockDoc video I want to talk about asthma and exercise induced asthma. Athletes needing inhalers and other drugs to get through the day, to get through a workout, needing to take a puff of something just so they can workout. If you have to do this, really think about what’s going on with your health that you actually need a drug just to give you the ability to train. There’s obviously something wrong if that’s the case. Right now there’s around six main categories of asthma drugs out there.

One of the main ones is a corticosteroid. That’s like Flovent and Qvar. If you’re needing a corticosteroid to open up your bronchioles, open up your airways, then obviously you’re lacking those natural corticosteroids that are present in your body to allow you to let that happen naturally. Another major drug that people take is the inhaler, the inhaler like proventil, albuterol. These are a generic type beta-2 adrenergic [SP] type drugs that help to increase airflow to your lungs. They also have to do with your adrenal glands too, that I’m going to talk about it in a minute.

We also have two other major class of drugs of those six that are very common. Histamines and another one called antihistamines and another one called a Leukotriene type drug which is a type of an anti-inflammatory type drug. These drugs are typically needed when something is running your immune system down. If you’re having an allergic response to something a histamine type drug is typically warranted. When your airways are basically constricting from some histamine response whether that’s something that you’re eating and might not even know about but also the air that you breath. Maybe you’re having problems with the trees around you or grasses or pollen or something like that and it’s constricting your airways.

Typically allergic responses are from underfunctioning adrenal glands or they’re from digestive issues coming from your gut or from your immune system, issues with your T-cells and your B-cells and of course the gut has a major part of your immune system. Over half your immune system is located within your digestive tract. And if you needed an anti-inflammatory, then you have to look at why you’re not naturally fighting inflammation in your body. Are you eating a lot of refined carbohydrates? Are you eating a lot of processed fats? These types of food cause a lot of inflammation in your body. Or are you doing something else to not deal with inflammation on your own?

In other words eating a lot of beneficial herbs and spices like curcumin and boswellia and ginger that help fight inflammation naturally, or of course good fats like fish oil and pasture-raised beef, egg yolks, those sorts of things that actually contain some really good, natural anti-inflammatory fats in them. But your adrenal glands have a major impact on asthma. So typically even though asthma is of course a lung issue, a lot of times it’s coming from your adrenal gland. You push yourself too hard, you’re not recovering properly, you’re training too hard, you’re maybe working too hard, you’re not sleeping well, you’re eating poorly, there’s just way too much stress in your life, you’ve run your adrenal glands down and now you need an inhaler, or now you need a corticosteroids or some other type drug to help you dilate your bronchioles because your body can’t muster up that function on its own to deal with it.

So, it’s really a warning sign, or it’s sort of a wake up call you might say, that you’re doing something wrong. You’re not training properly, you’re not taking care of yourself properly, your health has really suffered. So think about the big picture with asthma. Don’t just get addicted to an inhaler the rest of your life or some other drugs so you can go and train or even just walk outside without having some sort of asthma attack or wheezing episode. I see the same thing in kids. I’ve seen a lot of kids and I always see a lot of kids in my office with asthma-like symptoms. It’s really common today because their adrenal glands are run down and they have immune systems issues. Poor diet, too stressed out, and just not taking care of themselves.

Sometimes they just get addicted to the drug and then it just runs them down more and more. Corticosteroids are going to run your immune system down. So, look at the whole picture of health and fitness when you’re dealing with asthma and exercise induced asthma and get yourself back in the game drug free hopefully overtime. So don’t just stop your inhaler, of course, or your asthma medication. Talk to your doctor about it and maybe teach them a thing or two. Hope you enjoyed this video, lots more information on the SockDoc site on this topic especially but also sleep issues that help you recover better, training and training diet, nutrition, injury treatment and prevention of course. That’s the foundation of the SockDoc site. More videos on their way. Hope you like it. Check you out next time. Thanks for watching.
 

Dr. Stephen Gangemi "Sock Doc"

I'm a board-certified chiropractic physician and clinical nutritionist with a passion for true natural health care. I implement dietary & nutritional therapies, exercise & movement practices, and lifestyle changes along with manual therapy techniques to help the body heal and prevent illness and injuries.