Long shot here, but wondering if anyone’s worked through treating EILO?
My doc initially thought it was exercise-induced asthma, but after seeing a specialist, they’re thinking EILO. Basically, my vocal cords are constricting during intense exercise (classic TrainerRoad workouts), and I start breathing really hard and wheezy. Feels like my throat’s closing up—let me tell you, not great when you’re at threshold, lol.
Got an ENT appointment lined up to figure out a treatment path, but curious if anyone else has been through this and has advice or insight to share? Would love to hear your experience.
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I know someone who went through treatment for EILO at National Jewish Health in Denver. The biphasic breathing technique (EILOBI) they learned was really helped, and now they haven’t had EILO issues in years.
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Thanks, that’s helpful. I saw in my research that National Jewish was leading some interesting research on EILO. Thankfully I’m in Colorado and could pursue treatment there if it’s an option!
They had nothing but great things to say about the team there. Sounds like it was a pretty intense ~5 days of treatment, but with a really quick initial improvement (like, able to race without passing out) and then a continued gradual improvement until they were symptom free.
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Wow, that’s interesting and gives me a little hope! It’s been very discouraging to train so hard and have a “cap” in place when I reach threshold and lose my ability to bring air in. Once this started becoming serious, I lost ~10-15% watts off my FTP. I had a few bad breathing episodes during gravel race and it was super discouraging. Hopefully this can get me on track.
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Yeah, it’s been a thorn in my side for a while. Had been doing tri’s for 40+ years, then suddenly started having random “attacks” during the swim. No air in or out, pretty disconcerting. At first I thought it was hypothermia, bc it happened in cold water. Then I read about SIPE (swimming induced pulmonary edema), also caused by cold water and compression (ie wetsuit). Then it happened in 80 deg water. My doc finally said “I think it’s vocal cord dysfunction”. I’m a PT and I had no idea what she was talking about; but basically what you describe - laryngeal spasm, vocal cords constrict and get stuck. You can see a speech therapist, and they can show you an exercise that will pop them back open (she called it spaghetti breathing, sucking in air through pursed lips then popping your mouth open. you can find videos on you tube that describe it). trying to turn on my back during a swim and execute this was a challenge; I found that adding an asthma inhaler 20 min before the race seemed to help. your mileage may vary. I ended up ditching triathlons and switched to run-bike-run. I kinda hated swimming anyway
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