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It's official...I'm allergic to exercise

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It's official...I'm allergic to exercise

Old 09-13-12, 03:49 PM
  #26  
treadtread
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I took the liberty of asking this on my company's cycling mailing list. No internet names exposed, full privacy maintained
A few replies/suggestions I got:

1.
I'd be really interested in having him measure his heart rate on the ride, then try to duplicate that heart rate profile through hard interval training on a spin bike in a gym. (You could do it on a treadmill too, but the spin bike would be closer to duplicating the ride). I have no medical expertise whatsoever, but I wonder if his hard riding is either producing or exacerbating a histamine (allergic immune) reaction. I'd also take a couple major allergens out of his diet for 2 weeks and see if anything changes.

2.
Does he wear special clothes while riding? Also, it might be worth changing the grips or tape on the handlebars.

3.
May want to look into Exercise urticaria and/or EIA (which is what I have).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_urticaria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise-induced_asthma

4.
Allergies while cycling are not unheard of.
Pro cyclist Dan Martin suffers from allergies while riding and
has pretty much sworn off riding the Tour of Italy (Giro)
because of spring pollen from leafy vegetation.
Why does your friend have to commute at a hammering pace? Trying
a more mellow ride might be another variable to eliminate.

Last edited by treadtread; 09-13-12 at 03:50 PM. Reason: fixed formatting
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Old 09-13-12, 04:17 PM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by treadtread
I took the liberty of asking this on my company's cycling mailing list. No internet names exposed, full privacy maintained
A few replies/suggestions I got:


1.
I'd be really interested in having him measure his heart rate on the ride, then try to duplicate that heart rate profile through hard interval training on a spin bike in a gym. (You could do it on a treadmill too, but the spin bike would be closer to duplicating the ride). I have no medical expertise whatsoever, but I wonder if his hard riding is either producing or exacerbating a histamine (allergic immune) reaction. I'd also take a couple major allergens out of his diet for 2 weeks and see if anything changes.

2.
Does he wear special clothes while riding? Also, it might be worth changing the grips or tape on the handlebars.

3.
May want to look into Exercise urticaria and/or EIA (which is what I have).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_urticaria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise-induced_asthma

4.
Allergies while cycling are not unheard of.
Pro cyclist Dan Martin suffers from allergies while riding and
has pretty much sworn off riding the Tour of Italy (Giro)
because of spring pollen from leafy vegetation.
Why does your friend have to commute at a hammering pace? Trying
a more mellow ride might be another variable to eliminate.
Thanks for asking around and no worries on the privacy issue. Being itchy is nothing for me to worry about and I know ZERO other cyclists so I am sure nobody would know me. lol

For the record regarding the heart rate stuff. I am a 32 year old male in good condition I would say.

1. I do wear a heart rate monitor on every ride. I tend to be in the 135-145 range depending on how hard I feel like pushing. Once I am done with this hiatus of riding per the doc I'll hit the gym and ride for an hour in the same heart rate range and see how it goes.

2. I do wear special clothes but the itching started before I got the special clothes. I was commuting in my regular work clothes for the first few months that I started and the itching started just before I got any exercise specific stuff.

3. Funny. The first link is highlighted purple indicating I have already been there and that was what I used as a starting point for talking to my doc about the exercise as a possibility.

4. I am wondering why the riding would play a part if I have lived here my entire life and never experienced the issues I am having. I am guessing Dan Martin does not live in Italy so I can see why the pollenation during the Giro would bother him and why he would skip that one. As for why I have to ride so hard...Not sure really. I just ride hard I guess. lol I try to take it easy but then I find myself getting bored I guess and pushing myself hard again. There have been a few days where I was able to keep it easy for the majority of the ride and kept the heart rate around 110 or so but most days I am well over that.

Again, I thank you for forwarding the question to others and getting their feedback.
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Old 09-13-12, 04:24 PM
  #28  
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No worries, I just hope you find your answer soon.

One more reply:
I had a friend with an exercise related gluten allergy. Similar symptoms only if she had eaten gluten before strenuously exercising
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Old 09-14-12, 09:32 AM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by treadtread
No worries, I just hope you find your answer soon.

One more reply:
I had a friend with an exercise related gluten allergy. Similar symptoms only if she had eaten gluten before strenuously exercising
Thanks. I hope I find an answer soon as well. This stuff is just crazy.

I am already thinking the exercise has nothing to do with itching and hives.

I rode home on Wednesday.
Got a swollen lip on Thursday morning(another symptom that I will experience sometimes). I took Benadryl and it went away.
Took it easy all day.
Got home and started cooking and got a small bit of hives on my back.
Took Benadryl, they went away and I fell asleep.
Woke up this morning with a swollen lip again.

No exercise in 36 hours and still getting symptoms of an allergic reaction. I ate nothing weird yesterday.

I think I am going to start a journal of EVERYTHING I do for the remainder of the time until I see my doc in a week and a half so I can present him with it an ask "WTF".

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

I can't wait to ride on Monday. My wife even notices I am not as cheery as I usually am now since I stopped riding for these few days. I was so annoyed on the ride home yesterday.
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Old 09-15-12, 04:22 PM
  #30  
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I'm afraid I can't add a whole lot that hasn't been said already. However, as a life-long allergy sufferer I can sympathize to a certain extent. Many people with extreme hay fever type allergies (me), often have eczema which, as I understand it kind of goes hand-in-hand with a sort of wholesale body-wide over-reaction to various allergens. It seems like every year I get a new spot of eczema outbreak that will itch like the dickens for weeks on end before going away. Sometimes it happens on my hands because I wash them a lot at work, then then last year I think instead of the hands I got a weird eczema spot on one of my eyelids that persisted for a few weeks before going away. There are an amazing number of things that you can develop allergies to. Also, just because you've lived somewhere your whole life or even for several years doesn't mean you won't steadily become sensitized to some environmental allergen. Also, a lot of these things can be food related too. Keeping a journal of everything you eat and when you wash your hands, what you wash them with, etc. will go a long ways to helping narrow down what's causing this. Finding out how to deal with allergies, especially debilitating allergies can be frustrating. I still deal with asthma-like symptoms brought on by air quality issues, yet so far no drugs have been of any help. The best thing you can do is keep that journal and write EVERYTHING in it so that you and your doctor can try to get it narrowed down.
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Old 09-15-12, 05:34 PM
  #31  
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My seasonal allergies (pretty bad) went away completely when I started biking to work full-time year-round.
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Old 09-15-12, 10:40 PM
  #32  
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I had a few times where i broke out for no reason. One time a girl i was seeing start to use a new perfume (so i only broke out if she sprayed it on that day and i touched her). Another time a guy would spray his house with pesticides (he would spray his house all the time) and if i happened to be near by the wind seem to carry that mist toward me and i would break out later. Do you have your windows open? A friend of mine would break out from bugs coming into his bedroom at nite while he would sleep (the screen was not enough to stop the small bugs from some how getting in).
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Old 09-15-12, 11:04 PM
  #33  
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Maybe you've already tried this, but if not, try washing your cycling gloves, helmet chin straps, bar tape, saddle, etc.... Basically anything that gets sweat on it, but may not routinely get washed.
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Old 09-16-12, 01:06 AM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by otis66
It could be what you are wearing during your work out or the detergent being used to wash you clothes. I got a rash once and it turns out the detergent being used to wash my work uniforms was the cause. I had to bring my work uniforms home once a week and re-wash them.
Fabric softeners are a frequent cause of rashes etc. We had to quit using them altogether, even when in the laundry soap.
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Old 09-16-12, 01:00 PM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by ckaspar
I am aware what he is trying to do. He even said I could take it easy when riding but driving would be better to eliminate the exercise as an issue.
You doctor has a car dealership. That's what I suspect. Allergy to exercise? That's a good one.

Maybe you are allergic to your doctor.
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Old 09-16-12, 03:55 PM
  #36  
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It was on your hands,...could it be the handlebar grips? Maybe your allergic to the rubber coumpound,...
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Old 09-17-12, 09:33 AM
  #37  
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I appreciate all the suggestions. Just to recap.

I have washed all the "sweaty" components of my bike and gear. I have also replaced the grips, not because of the allergy issue but because of the comfort", and had issues before and after the changing of the grips. I have not ridden since Wednesday and the last time I took meds was Friday but I would except that since the meds stay with me for 3 days and today would be day 3. If I "bloom" today I'll be riding tomorrow. If not then I'll be forced to drive one more day to see what happens. I am not thrilled. Driving to work is so annoying now that I have experienced the joy of riding. Sitting in traffic while drivers jockey for position to be the first car at the next red light is getting very annoying already. Interestingly enough I am kinda hoping for a breakout today so I can eliminate the riding as a cause of the allergies and get back on my steed.
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Old 09-17-12, 09:46 AM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by ckaspar
I appreciate all the suggestions. Just to recap.

I have washed all the "sweaty" components of my bike and gear. I have also replaced the grips, not because of the allergy issue but because of the comfort", and had issues before and after the changing of the grips. I have not ridden since Wednesday and the last time I took meds was Friday but I would except that since the meds stay with me for 3 days and today would be day 3. If I "bloom" today I'll be riding tomorrow. If not then I'll be forced to drive one more day to see what happens. I am not thrilled. Driving to work is so annoying now that I have experienced the joy of riding. Sitting in traffic while drivers jockey for position to be the first car at the next red light is getting very annoying already. Interestingly enough I am kinda hoping for a breakout today so I can eliminate the riding as a cause of the allergies and get back on my steed.
Allergies can change and develop over time in people. Might be worth it to get a allergy test at some point.

As someone who's got mild to moderate allergies to everything(Cats, dogs, plants, mold, spores, etc) that isn't food, I would suggest getting a 2nd or 3rd generation anti-histamine such as Fexofenadine(OTC as Alegra) or Loratadine(OTC as Claratin) and take it ever day. They're more effective when you keep a regular dosage so that the level of medication is roughly constant in your body. My sister, who does suffer from hives and rashes, had good experiences with Alegra before something better came along(She has some severe allergies and pretty much sticks to the prescription stuff).

Try a few different ones out, different people find different ones work better for them. Alegra is what I prefer, but that's after trying a few different ones.
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Old 09-17-12, 10:02 AM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by Zrane
Allergies can change and develop over time in people. Might be worth it to get a allergy test at some point.

As someone who's got mild to moderate allergies to everything(Cats, dogs, plants, mold, spores, etc) that isn't food, I would suggest getting a 2nd or 3rd generation anti-histamine such as Fexofenadine(OTC as Alegra) or Loratadine(OTC as Claratin) and take it ever day. They're more effective when you keep a regular dosage so that the level of medication is roughly constant in your body. My sister, who does suffer from hives and rashes, had good experiences with Alegra before something better came along(She has some severe allergies and pretty much sticks to the prescription stuff).

Try a few different ones out, different people find different ones work better for them. Alegra is what I prefer, but that's after trying a few different ones.
That is the plan I think. To get a test done if it is determined that the exercise is not causing an issue, which I don't really expect. I have been living off of Hydroxyxine(Atarax) and Tagamet(Apparently an antagonist for the allergy med to work better) for the last few months to good effect and I am now even past the point of drowsiness since I have gotten used to it. When I first started with the hives it was REALLY bad and I was eating Benadryl and Claritin like Mike N' Ikes with relief for a few hours at most. I was literally overdosing on them but it was that or scratch my skin off. lol

Regarding taking the meds everyday, trip out on this...I took them everyday for 3 weeks and when I ran out I had about 5 days worth of relief "built up". If I take one then I have relief for 3 days before I have to take another one. Seems almost worth it to only take one every 3 days because it is just less meds I am taking and buying.

I have an appt with the doc next Wednesday and if I have any type of allergy incident then an allergy test will certainly be the next thing on the list.
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