Weird Cough

Hello,

I recently got back into cycling and I have a weird question.

I have noticed that after the last couple of bike rides I have been on; after the ride I have a wierd feeling in my throte, and it makes me cough. Every time I take a deep breath, I get this wierd sensation in my throte, and it makes me cough. I don't feel any restriction in my lungs, and I don't believe it is any kind of bronchial issue; its just a weird feeling and cough. It goes away later on in the day, but I think this is kind of wierd.

Has anyone esle experienced this, or know what this might be?

I asked a friend and he said that he has heard of this happend when you are out of shape, but it will go away once I start riding more. I did recently start riding again after being off the bike for two years. Could this be the cause? I used to be a pretty active and athletic guy, but I have not done any form of serious exercise for the last two years.

I would really appreciate any advice or feedback on this.

Thanks.

 

I have had that several times (after races),
bein able to breath in ok, but not out.
quite an experience
dry throat is what i diagnosed it as.
keep up the riding and you will get to know your body

 

Ok, I have tried to search, both google and in this particular forum and I can't seem to get any definite answers to this strange syndrome other than it is commonly known as Cyclist's cough. I'd like to know more about it, in fact are there any Dr.'s in the house?

At any rate, my problem is slightly different, in that mine appears to be more persistent. I have experienced this before doing sprint workouts and racing cross country in high school but it seemed to go away (more akin to the symptoms of the commonly described Cyclist or Runner's cough).

However, as of this spring, it seems that I cannot get rid of it! I have had the same ticklish throat for the past week and a half or so. Feels fine when I ride, but when I am not exerting I get the tickle?! Oddly enough it doesn't seem to want to go away. Any thoughts?

 

I would love to know what is is.... Or what causes it....

It is strange that yours is so persistant and hasn't gone away. Mine goes away after a couple of hours or so.

If there is anyone with any more information, please let us know.

Thanks..

 

well of course theres exercise induced asthma (EIA) airways constricted after exercise
which i dont think i have but you might.
theres some effective inhalers out there, pretty popular

 

Funny that you mention EIA. My Dr. prescribed an inhaler once for that because I got it running XC now that I think of it. IT was only for a short period of time, but the symptoms were totally different. As you said, it is a constricting of the air passages resulting in more like wheezing as you breathe rather than this odd cough.

 

Why not ask your doctor what it is? it is very most likely a medical problem. if you called your doctor and asked why you have this cough, he would have to see you. what makes you think cyclist can answer your medical question on a forum?

 

I'm a first year racer and I get the same thing after hard efforts - usually after TT's or hillclimbs. I do not think that it is exercise induced athsma as it is localized entirely in my throat. Its like a terrible tickle right in the back of my throat and it makes me cough, but I don't feel like my lungs are involved. I think that is irritation from breathing hard with my mouth open. I have found that it is going away the more I race so I think that I am acclimating. The first time I experienced it, it was about 2 weeks before the cough went away. Now I only cough for an hour or so. I've also had team mates tell me that it does get better, so you probably won't be hack hacking all of the time once you get used to it.

 

I was simply searching out the community to see if anybody had any similar experience is all. I will most likely see my Dr. this week sometime. It's tough to get an appointment with the guy...I guess good Dr.'s are in high demand! lol.

Yeah, I considered the acclimation approach, but I have been road riding now for almost a year and mtb'ing for almost 3...I haven't ever had this weird tickle last this long.

 

Alright not a dr. yet but i am a med student so i might be able to shed some light on your question. Firstly have you noticed whether the cough occurs with any particular weather condition? Or when you're riding in the city or when it's cold? When you're doing these hard efforts are you breathing through your nose or your mouth? This is important as the nose acts as a humidifier for dry air increasing the moisture concentration and warming previously cool air close to body temperature, this decreases the irritant effect on the back of the naso-pharynx or the throat. Hence often if you breath through your mouth (i.e. during a hard effort) with an increased respiratory frequency then you will be introducing this dry colder air as well as any other irritants. This causes the initial cough reflex. The wheeze that some of you mention is consistent with exercise induced asthma, mast cells, a type of cells within the tissues of the body respond to local irritation via the dry cool air by releasing histamine and other chemicals (leukotrienes). These chemicals can cause constriction of the airways, giving the post exercise wheeze.
Remember this is just third year med student advice so if your cough continues, you feel like you're gasping for breath or you see any blood in any sputum coughed up see a real doctor.
Hope this helped.
Jon

 

Hey Jon,

Thanks a lot for your advice!

You brought up a lot of good points, It tends to be more apparent during cooler weather after hard efforts, and I tend to breath through my mouth during these efforts. I personally don't think I have EIA because my cough is localized in the throat area, but I do not feel any kind of restriction in my lungs or weezing. I will see a doctor if it keeps happening a few more weeks into my riding.

Once again thanks for the advice and good luck with med school.

Armando

 

Kool, seeing the Doctor is the best thing you can do instead of guessing. i would hate to see you get worse going on the advice of this forum. good luck, let us know what the Doc says.

Tim.

 

Check out bicyling magazine website they is an article on ther call excercise induced asthma it might have something to do wit that

 

I had bronchitis recently and the cough i had was similar to the post ride cough (I've had that too) Maybe it has something to do with those hairs or whatever they're called that live in the top of the lungs/throat?

Also, have you considered alergies?

 

Will definitely do that. Yeah, my Dr. was super slammed this weekend but I think I will get to see him next week sometime. The cough has not really improved or worsened and it is still ONLY a cough. Weird. The last time I had a cough was when I had bronchitis in France last Sept. Those symptoms cleared up after a month or so of hacking.

In response to the med student's comments:

I don't ride in any particular weather...of late it has been quite warm here in SoCal. However, during hard exertion I do tend to breathe through my mouth. The other thing is that I ride when I get home from work which is when there are still quite a few cars out and about raising the issue of a negative reaction to the pollution?! Although a lot of the research that I have read indicates that cyclists still inhale less pollutants than people actually driving! Whatever that might mean for me is up in the air I guess till I see the Doc...good luck in med school!

At any rate we shall see I guess. Thanks for all the info!

 

UPDATE:

well, went to the doc yesterday after taking a couple days away from the bike...

Turns out my throat probably started reacting to the change in climates down here (it just got really dry) and I developed a minor asthmatic reaction. He put me on this weird inhaler that looks like a purple hockey puck for a couple of weeks to see if the hacking will subside. If not then I may have to take up a prescription asthma medicine...

OH well, at least I can still ride my bike, right?

 

Glad to see you went to doctor! that inhaler will most likely do the trick for you. certain times of the season i come down with a mild case and the inhaler does the trick. i also use a peak flow meter to give me an idea of how bad it is. thank goodness it is only a few moths out of the year. it is dry here also no rain in almost 4 months! get it under control and get back on the bike! take care.

 

Thanks!!! We'll see what happens in a couple of weeks!