Features - Get Fit and Fight Back

When asthma sufferers are gasping for air the last thing on their mind is running a marathon. But as Ian Lamming discovers, exercise can actually improve their plight...

As Paula Radcliffe crosses the line, another victory clinched, another award for the trophy cabinet, she bends double, hands on her hips, to draw air into her lungs. Who wouldn't after running that far at those speeds? The whistle blows and Manchester United mid-fielder Paul Scholes trots into the tunnel from the cold, another 90 minutes of Premier League football under his belt, breathing deeply but in a controlled fashion after his exertions.

As the nation's millions of asthma sufferers watch these two top class athletes on television from the comfort of their sofas, they may be surprised to learn that they have something in common - both are asthmatics. The medical world faces a dilemma. The experts don't really know why certain things trigger the breathing difficulties that characterise asthma - the shortness of breath, the wheezing, the racking fluid-filled cough - they just know they do.

The double-edged sword is exercise itself because with many asthmatics it's enough to trigger an attack, but at the same time it can help reduce the severity of the episode. The National Asthma Campaign (NAC) claims that 80 per cent of people with asthma have symptoms triggered by exercise, right across the age range, and includes amateur sports people and elite professionals. 'Symptoms usually begin after exercise and worsen about 15 minutes after it has stopped,' says a NAC spokesman. 'But research shows that if exercise is attempted again within three hours the symptoms are less severe. So you can control your asthma - it doesn't have to control you. It's all about knowing what your symptoms are, what triggers them and finding a level of exercise you're comfortable with.'

On balance, doctors will tell you it's better to be fit, not just for your asthma but every other part of the body, mind and soul. It obviously works for Paula and Paul otherwise how would they be able to compete at all let alone be at the top of their sports. Exercise causes everyone to breathe harder and faster which makes it more difficult for the nose and upper airways to add warmth and moisture to the air. This means cold dry air hits the lungs, which seems to trigger the symptoms.

This is why swimming is proving so popular as a means to stay fit, lose weight and control asthma as the air around the pool is warm and moist. Isle of Wight physiotherapist Elizabeth Bell has been a member of NAC for 21 years and run a swimming group for 23 years, helping anyone from six months old to 80.'For many, asthma becomes a reason not to exercise,' she says. 'But swimming is a useful tool. It's the first exercise many frightened asthmatic do. Once they are in the water it is used firstly as fun, then as a tool to increase lung capacity. Exercise helps everybody, it's only common sense that they'll be able to cope better with their asthma if they're fit.' Paula and Paul being among the best examples of all.

Asthma didn't stop me running for 24 hours non-stop

Sharon Gayter is ultra fit and hasn't let her asthma stop her becoming one of the world's top sportswomen. For 28 years Sharon Gayter breathed easy despite asthma being in the family. Then she moved within smelling distance of a Teesside chemical plant which proved to be the trigger for an ailment she's had to battle with ever since. 'It got worse and worse but for the past five years it has become stable,' says Sharon, 39, of Guisborough, East Cleveland. 'It's triggered by exercise if there are also exhaust fumes, mould - so this time of the year is bad with all the fallen leaves - formaldehyde, which is in cleaning products, grass pollen or dust mites.' So you won't find a carpet in her house, she sleeps on a water bed and her husband does all the cleaning. When the attacks come they are debilitating but she doesn't let them rule her life. 'I've had to drop out of two races this year because of it but it doesn't stop me trying just as hard,' says Sharon, an international athlete and the UK's undisputed number one ultra distance runner for the past seven years.

Last year in Holland she ran non-stop for 24 hours covering a total distance of 136 miles. She was also the British 100km champion and this year took part in the Flora 1,000 mile Challenge, billed as the toughest event ever to be staged in this country. Over a period of six weeks she had to run one mile every hour of every day, surviving with minimal sleep for a month and a half. 'After two weeks I was struggling to even walk because of the pollution in London. I'd used all my inhalers to no avail and then decided to try one of those anti-pollution masks. People were calling me Hannibal Gayter but it worked. It wasn't instant but the wheezing got less and less. I was also able to run the London marathon in three hours 34 minutes. The asthma is a pain and the harder you run the worse it can be. I've had more grief over selection than any other athlete I know. I have to fill in so many forms because I'm asthmatic as some of my inhalers are on the banned substances list.

I was competing in a marathon where I had to prove to UK Athletics I was fit. But 10,000 spectators turned up to watch and there were exhaust fumes all around me. Ten miles in, that was the end of my race. Later in the year I took part in the 24 hour Championships and came third, ahead of the four British men who'd been selected for the UK team. I just won't give up. I won't let my asthma stop me from being a world class athlete.'

Swimming helps control my asthma

When the health service failed him, Richard Masson decided to take responsibility for his own asthma and swapped steroids for swimming.

Thinking back, one of Richard Masson's most painful memories of his childhood asthma wasn't physically to do with himself. 'I just remember my father in tears as he had to have the dog put down because it affected me so badly,' recalls the 52-year-old, of Edenbridge, Kent. 'When you're little you don't really understand but I do remember taking tiny white tablets which made me feel slightly better but also made me terribly aggressive.'

Things improved little for the next four decades as a succession of GPs prescribed a variety of inhalers including steroids. 'Then last year I was really ill with it, taking more and more inhalers. The steroids were getting me down, making me depressed,' says Richard, a director of stationery company CTS Direct. 'The doctor's answer was to take the inhalers four times a day instead of twice, which I got really annoyed about. I could feel my whole life starting to slip away. I knew unless I did something about it I would end up in hospital one day.'

Richard decided to pinpoint the cause of his asthma rather than just treat the symptoms and visited an alternative asthma clinic in Croydon. Staff carried out tests which revealed he was allergic to horses, house dust mites, citric acid and the chemicals sprayed on commercial wheat, results which were later confirmed by a Harley Street specialist.

So now he goes to great pains to avoid dust - he threw away the soft toys in his bedroom, washes the curtains regularly and the bed linen at 60 degrees to kill off the mites. He also only drinks Guinness, Budweiser (hops & barley - not wheat) and organic wine and eats organic bread and flour.

His health began to improve but the most marked increase happened when he began swimming. 'The pool is only five minutes walk away and one day I thought I'd give it a go,' he says. 'I'm a lousy swimmer but the benefit has been amazing. It's a warm, moist atmosphere and the act of swimming - the stretching forward of my arms - must open my lungs. I only need to be in the pool 20 minutes to make a difference. If I'm feeling asthmatic it knocks it back 20 per cent and makes me feel more relaxed and happy. I now swim five days a week and by the end of the week the asthma has gone.' And so has the need to use his inhalers. He says the trick is to keep the activity fun as if it becomes a chore you'll be tempted not to bother. 'Some days I may swim five lengths, other times just have a bit of a splash around. Don't make it a big deal. Just do what you feel like doing. Now I look forward to it. I can miss the odd day, but if I miss two then I can feel the asthma creeping back. I realise now that the NHS are just partners in controlling my asthma and I have to take responsibility back for myself.'

Page Created: 13 July 2004