Son's asthma and swimming

[MegsSmeg]

Not sure where to post this, so I'll try here first! My 10 year old DS has recently been diagnosed with asthma (long suspected but not a huge deal as it just presents as a horrible cough, particularly at night). He has been given a preventer inhaler to take in the morning and a blue inhaler to help if he has bad coughing/wheezing episodes. He gets bad hay-fever so has always taken an antihistamine at this time of year. It has just dawned on us that he has these 'episodes' for 24 hours after swimming lessons. Hacking cough through the night and then pretty much back to normal a day later. Is this a thing? I can't find much about it online. Should he avoid swimming lessons or can something be done about it? He has only had the preventer inhaler for a few days so we don't know if this will actually help long term or will we need to send him to school lessons with the blue inhaler? Anything else we can do???

My asthma is made worse by warm, humid conditions. Could also be the chlorine? See how the preventer goes

Have you tried him taking his reliever before swimming?

Thanks, it seems worse after his school swimming lessons. The school pool is outside with no cover. I can't work out if it's the cold (not exactly been a hot July for outdoor lessons so far!) or chemicals...

For me using my reliever inhaler before swimming helps

Good idea, maybe I'll get him to take it to school and take a puff beforehand.

My DD is the same op. Swimming makes it worse. Blue inhaler helps a bit. We assume it's the chlorine.

Swimming is really good for children with asthma because it helps to develop their lungs. However, you need to work closely with their asthma nurse and manage the preventer and reliever carefully. It is very important that the swimming teacher is fully on board with the management as well. You may need to increase the preventer and, as pp has said, use the reliever prior to swimming. But you cannot just do this without advice from the asthma clinic. You should be measuring peak flow and charting this regularly, particularly around the swimming lessons.

Look at exercise induced asthma, DD is a triathlete and a county standard swimmer who has severe exercise induced asthma she uses her reliever before and sometimes, during, training sessions. When she was a child her consultant recommended getting her into swimming as it teaches you to make full use of your lungs rather than just using the reduced capacity that most of us do.

I've had asthma since age 4. I've never been able to breathe in a swimming pool. Even if I'm not swimming, or just laying in the water, the pressure of the water on my chest affects me and my breathing gets worse the longer I'm there.
Having my inhaler before I go doesn't help. I just tend to not go!

Being in the pool sets my asthma off, even if I'm just lounging in the jacuzzi pool and not actively exercising

I think it's a combination of the chlorine and the humidity

@Thekormachameleon

Being in the pool sets my asthma off, even if I'm just lounging in the jacuzzi pool and not actively exercising

I think it's a combination of the chlorine and the humidity

I'm the same. Always have been since I was a child. Inhalers were invented when I reached 10years old and transformed my ability to be able to participate in swimming. I take two puffs before and after if needed.

It's the humidity and the chlorine for me too.

Swimming helped me improve breathing and lung function loads.

BUT, I react to the chlorine and my nose and throat like to behave like I've got a bad cold or hayfever for the 24 hours after swimming.
I do sometimes wear a nose clip and that helps a bit, but otherwise its antihistamines, anti-inflammatories and steroid (brown preventer) inhalers increased before and after the swim.

He should take his reliever before any exercise as it will help prevent an attack. Swimming puts a lot of strain in the lungs and works every muscle group so it wouldn't be too surprising that it is exacerbating his symptoms.

However, sudden changes in temperature ie changing rooms to outside air to cool pool can also trigger asthma. I have awful trouble with my asthma in winter when shopping, going from cold air to warm sets me off coughing...been a delight during the pandemic!

Dd and I both have asthma, mine significantly worse than hers but chlorine is a trigger for us both

@MegsSmeg

Good idea, maybe I'll get him to take it to school and take a puff beforehand.

He should always have a reliever inhaler at school just in case. It’s usually kept in the classroom. My ds takes his preventer morning & evening.

Thanks all. We only picked up the inhalers a few days ago and haven't told school about them yet. I think we might just get him to skip swimming for this last week of school and work on understanding how the inhalers can help with ad hoc swimming over the summer hols.

If the pool is outdoors and I heated the cold is probably contributing also. I find that significant changes in temperature are the worst thing for my asthma. For swimming in an unheated pool I would definitely wear a rash vest and potentially a thin wetsuit.

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice. We have requested that he misses the last week of swimming lessons at school and we'll experiment with the inhalers over the summer when we take him swimming here and there to see if they have a good effect. Hopefully the preventative inhaler will kick in soon too, the leaflet says it may take 2 weeks to reach full benefit.

He gets such a snotty nose as part of these episodes too. Is this part of asthma or something different? No idea if it's a cold due to freezing pool temperatures that then triggers asthma (as well as the chemicals), or if snotty/blocked noses are part and parcel of asthma.

A snotty nose isn’t part and parcel of asthma, but thonkgs that can make you snotty can also trigger asthma and a post nasal drip can exacerbate asthma symptoms.

The preventer should help, as will taking his reliever before he starts swimming. From your update though it sounds like he’s getting cold.