Sudden breathing problem while participating in sport

[sanik]

My friend and I are fencers. Fencing is a very aerobic sport and, of course, it requires breathing correctly. Also, sometimes the hit of the opponent can be painful. The other day we were practicing fencing and suddenly my friend started suffocating. By the sound it looked like his air passages closed, so my friend could not inhale the air. I told him to hold his breath, and to slowly inhale through the nose, and then slowly exhale through the mouth. It helped, in five minutes he was ok.

Some facts:
1. It never happened before. Although my friend claims he had asthma in the childhood. It seems too sudden for an asthma attack.
2. The whole thing happend very fast: we were fencing, and suddenly my friend stopped, and I heard he is struggling to inhale the air.
3. Right before the breathing accident, I have not attempted to make any hits. Hence, I don't think there was pain to cause the breathing problem. However, I can't rule out this possibility.
4. The whole thing ended pretty fast too. In 5 minutes or so my friend was breathing without a problem. And in about 20 minutes he was breathing as usually.
5. While watching my friend fencing with other people, I noticed that his breathing is not good: if the fencing fight takes longer than usual, then I could hear how heavy his breath is.

My questions are: what possibly can it be? what can possibly cause it? what can be done?
Thank you very much.

[National Jewish]

The onset is too sudden for asthma.  What you have described is more in keeping with vocal cord dysfunction (VCD).  VCD is a condition that can mimic asthma.  However, VCD is not helped by asthma medicines.  While inhaling the vocal cords should open to let air into the lungs.  With VCD the vocal cords close together during inhalation.  This makes it difficult for air to get into the lungs.  A lot of the same things that trigger asthma can trigger VCD including respiratory infections, fumes, odors, reflux, cigarette smoke, singing, emotional upset, postnasal drip, and exercise.  Sometimes the trigger is not known.

Testing for VCD needs to be done while having symptoms.  Spirometry may be normal, but the

[starion]

The most likely things that your friend MIGHT have are vocal cord dysfunction or perhaps exercise-induced asthma or even hyperventilation.  A good doctor who is familiar with these  conditions can evaluate your friend for these conditions as well as anything else that might be causing him/her to have trouble breathing.  It would be good for your friend to get a thorough evaluation as soon as possible--breathing difficulties should be addressed rather than ignored.

Here's some info about Vocal Cord Dysfunction
http://www.njc.org/disease-info/diseases/vcd/index.aspx

Here's some about exercise-induced asthma
http://www.nationaljewish.org/disease-info/diseases/asthma/living/healthy/exercise.aspx

Here's a brief article about hyperventilation
http://www.mothernature.com/Library/Bookshelf/Books/19/124.cfm

Good luck!  Your friend is lucky you are so concerned & supportive!
Starion

[myproblem]

With asthma, exhaling is usually the harder part, although it still causes breathlessness. You need to encourage your friend to go to the Dr. and get a set of pulmonary function tests done. This is painless, and covered by insurance. If it is asthma, he should get treatment, but what you're describing sounds like something else to me. Whatever it is, it is best to know what he's up against so he can feel better.