Okay, gang. I’ve been working out about 5-6 days a week for over a month now, alternating working with weights, using the stairmaster, and jogging. At first, all went great. But lately, jogging has beccome increasingly difficult, to where after just jogging a half mile I felt like I was setting fire to my trachea.
About a week ago, I ran a half mile–which takes just about 5 min–and then did an easy 20min on the stairmaster. I noticed then that my chest was burning, but that isn’t too uncommon when you run, right? (Know how your chest and throat can burn after a hard run?) Well, it burned for days, especially in the morning. I eased off cardio and focused on weights; yesterday I did stairmaster, and it felt like someone was sitting on my chest during, and for hours afterwards. I feel like I can’t catch my breath. Even now it feels very compressed, despite being 12 hours later.
I don’t have asthma, and my allergies (mostly to dust) are mild and typically produce sinusitis. At first I thought maybe I was getting a cold, but there are no other symptoms. Although I did notice the other day–I had a real solid laughing session, and I was wheezing and crackling a tiny bit. That surprised me!
I know, I know–see a doctor if it gets worse. I’m just trying to avoid that, what with school starting tomorrow (I teach 5th grade). Did I overexert? Also…how can I keep on my exercise routine if I can’t do any significant cardio until this thing heals? Or can I do SOMEthing? Ugh.
Anyone else experience this and know what I did? My guess is it’s just from running too hard and maybe irritating the bronchials. I’m fine when I don’t try and do cardio…then, uggggghhhh. Maybe I should stick to weights.
No, see a Doctor RIGHT NOW, Ruffian. This is your heart and your lungs you’re talking about. If they don’t work, nothing works.
IANAD. I do, however, teach at a YMCA. I would be very concerned if one of our members who has a history of working out regularly reported these symptoms to me. They are NOT common in healthy individuals. You need to get this checked out.
You sure about that? That’s what I kept telling my doctors when I spent 20 weeks in a row coughing during my last pregnancy. After my pregnancy, I went to my internist, who diagnosed asthma (I have the cough variant variety — instead of wheezing, I cough uncontrollably.) It CAN show up later in life — mine arrived at age 35.
I sympathize with you a lot, Ruffian. I know how hard it is for someone who works out regularly to be forced to bench themselves. I’ve felt the frustration, the need to go burn off some energy and get some endorphins, and the internal panic that my fitness level will plummet when I take time off due to illness/injury. But you flat out have to let your body have time to heal, or you risk an injury that can take you out of the game permanently.
Please lay off the cardio until you’ve spoken with a doctor — preferably one who is sympathetic to your need to work out.
Best of luck with this. Let us know what you find out.
[hijack]Start school tomorrow? My 3rd grader has been in school for 3 weeks already, and my kindergartener 2 weeks![/hijack]
Because it’s Labor Day and the doctor’s office is closed. If things sudenly become unbearable, I could go to ER. I don’t know where my urgent care is. Frick. Frick frick frick.
Now DeathLlama and I are debating about going to urgent care. I’m not miserable, I’m not feeling really sick, just uncomfortable. Now what?
Doctor could find basically nothing wrong. He ran EKGs (which I learned are actually called ECGs), heart rate was 60–very healthy–and regular. Oxygen saturation was better than the doctor’s own. The X-rays were the only thing that were “questionable,” but even there he wasn’t positive. There just seemed to be a “possibly” inflamed area on my left lung. He essentially couldn’t explain why I was having the symptoms.
He stressed that I am “functionally” in excellent health, meaning all the parts are working very well–there’s no blockages, damage, etc. This leaves the possibility of allergies or infection as the cause of my symptoms, so he gave me a prescription for Bactram, and said I am to see my own doc later this week. Frick, I went today to AVOID having to go during the workweek. Ah well. (Doc asked me, “So why did you come today, of all days?”)
I know, I know…this is good news, a relief, etc. But I feel ridiculous for going. Normally I would’ve waited a few days to see if this would fade with rest, but with the kiddos returning tomorrow, I knew time would be short and stress would be high. Ugh. I never know when to go and when not to. I had a similar situation in May, debating just like this about going to ER. I went–and found out I did indeed have a blistering UTI. (I had one once that spread to my kidneys, so I’m paranoid about those.)
Extra kudos to DeathLlama for accompanying me; he didn’t really think there was any true urgency, but wanted to offer the emotional/psychological support.
Thank you for all of your support. Part of me wants to say, “Oh gee THANKS for the anxiety!” but I know this was the right thing to do. (Now help me not feel like a hypchondriac…)
i’m glad you went. the things you were describing are not normal, and should be checked out. it’s good to hear that y’all were able to check off some of the more serious stuff of the list. i’m betting on asthma.
i’m trying to figure out the mysterious back pain myself. i went to be feeling fine, woke up in serious pain. i wonder what i was dreaming about?!?
Please don’t feel lame. I get so irritated at doctors when they give you that “You were worried about THAT?” sneer. (I had one give me the comment “What, those tiny little BB’s?” when I went to get some breast lumps I had found checked out.) Then, of course, if you neglect to come in until something has gotten really bad, which could have been treated easily if found eariler, they complain “Why did you wait so LONG to have a professional look at that?”
Re-reading my post, I realize it may have sounded a little panic-inducing. I’m sorry if it came across that way. I just know that I have a tendency to procrastinate and procrastinate on this sort of thing, and from your symptoms, it really did sound as if you should be checked out before you did any more cardio. Being a working Mom of school-age children, I know what a hassle it would be for you to try to make an appointment during your first week of school. Yeah, you might get stuck with the Doc-in-the-Box on Labor Day, but I really think it was the smartest thing to do to go ahead and get it checked out when you had the time available.
Glad to hear that the really bad stuff has apparently been ruled out. Don’t let that doc make you feel bad about checking it out. It was the right thing to do. Hope this situation resolves for you soon.
