Exercise-Induced Allergic Reactions

Full Article: https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/immune-disorders/allergic-reactions-and-other-hypersensitivity-disorders/exercise-induced-allergic-reactions

Author: James Fernandez, MD, PhD, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University

Published on August, 2024

Exercise-induced allergic reactions occur during or after exercise.

• Exercise can trigger or worsen asthma or, rarely, a severe allergic (anaphylactic) reaction.

• Doctors usually base the diagnosis on symptoms and their relationship to exercise.

• Medications used to treat asthma can usually prevent symptoms from developing during exercise, but becoming more physically fit and gradually increasing the intensity and duration of exercise also helps.

  
  

(See also Overview of Allergic Reactions.)

Exercise can trigger the following:

• Asthma: Exercise often triggers an asthma attack in people who have asthma, but some people have asthma only when they exercise. Exercise may trigger or worsen asthma because breathing fast cools and dries the airways, and as the airways warm again, they narrow. Exercise-induced asthma is more likely to occur when the air is cold and dry. The chest feels tight. People may wheeze, cough, and have difficulty breathing.

  
  

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https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/immune-disorders/allergic-reactions-and-other-hypersensitivity-disorders/exercise-induced-allergic-reactions