For my entire life, whenever I get a cold, it turns into bronchitis or pneumonia and when I'm around allergens I get wheezy. A handful of times after a particularly tough lacrosse practice, I would have a tough time catching my breath. Because I've only needed rescue inhalers infrequently, I've never really identified with having asthma.

Flashback to this summer.

I got myself a Garmin with a fancy, shiny heart rate monitor. I was thrilled to go out and test my fitness, only to find that my heart rate was regularly in the upper 190s on easy runs and would be higher than 200 during races. At the urging of friends, I saw a doctor and I was promptly tested for a brain tumor, adrenal tumor, thyroid cancer and/or hyperactive thyroid, heart murmur, structural defects of my heart and probably every blood test known to man. Seriously, I'm a 25 year old marathoner! I'm healthy. Thankfully, everything was negative. But, no one had any answers for why my heart rate was so high.

Flash forward to today.

I decided to get a physical for Antarctica. My main reason was I heard that there were 50 foot swells in the Drake passage that kept people sea sick for the entire trip. Scopolamine, please, kind doctor? I should note that this was a new PCP, chosen after my old PCP misread the initial test results (leading to many unnecessary tests, some of which are outlined above), and recommended by a psychiatrist with whom I work. This PCP specializes in women's issues, and is known for being sharp with great bedside manner. Done.

5 minutes into the meeting I tell her about the ocean swells and ask if I should be worried about my breathing at all, especially since I had problems wheezing during the MCM and on some recent runs. She told me to dose with my rescue inhaler and we could examine some longer-acting treatments if my inhaler wasn't cutting it. I then caught her up on my experiences this summer and my high heart rate. After she reviewed all my test results (Pittsburgh has amazing health care and all tests done at participating hospitals are accessible via electronic database), she said that I was perfectly healthy, I had nothing to worry about and my high heart rate was likely caused by exercise-induced asthma.

Was it really that easy?

Apparently, yes. As a runner, my high level of fitness is enough to mask most of my asthmatic symptoms. However, it is possible that my symptoms have been  getting worse recently because when my lungs become irritated not only is there the immediate bronchospasm but then there is an inflammatory response which makes future bronchospasms more likely. And, if my lungs are irritated and not using oxygen as efficiently as they should, my heart rate will go up.

So finally, I have an answer. An answer and a doctor who is willing to help me prevent and manage my symptoms. I am so thankful, and so relieved, and maybe this will help make me a more efficient runner.