Asthma and Sexual Health: Balancing Challenges, Solutions, and Awareness

Asthma can be very tough when you want a healthy sex life. Perhaps it’s already ruining yours. When Berlin sang ‘Take My Breath Away,’ that’s not quite what they meant. Wheezing and coughing during your performance is not a good sex life.

Asthma And Sex Hormones

The effect of asthma on sex hormones starts in puberty. Girls are more likely to experience increased symptoms because their menstrual hormones start reacting to allergens. However, boys’ symptoms often decline around this time.

Menstruation and teenage stress can have a substantially negative effect on asthma, and it doesn’t stop there. Certain morning-after pills can affect asthma, as does menopause and potentially HRT. Our biological make-up doesn’t sit well with asthma.

Sex Is Exercise

Sex is cardiovascular exercise if you put some effort in. For some people, that can trigger a tight chest, wheezing, and coughing – all the asthma symptoms suffered by many. It’s called exercise-induced bronchospasm. If you suffer from asthma during exercise, you may suffer during Sex, too.

Experts say that if asthma really is due to sexual intercourse, then symptoms will appear about 5-8 minutes afterward. It’s most likely to be because you have poorly controlled asthma. When did you last look at your asthma plan? Have you even got one (naughty)?

Here are some tips:

Use your inhaler 15-20 minutes before Sex. It may seem presumptuous, but that’s better than having an asthma attack. Sort out an asthma plan for all-around better asthma health. Remember, it can still kill you. Keep windows closed during summer to fend off pollen. See your GP for advice because it may not be asthma.

What Else Could It Be?

If you are breathless during Sex, then it could be one of these illnesses instead. Heart Disease – early symptoms mimic asthma. Latex allergy – may trigger an asthma attack. Anxiety – a stressful day, previous sexual trauma, or just the fear of an asthma attack may all trigger symptoms. Environment – If you are somewhere other than home, there may be local allergens that trigger asthma, such as cat hair or smoke.

What To Do

If you are suffering any form of asthma symptoms and you haven’t sorted out an asthma plan, you are putting yourself at risk. Asthma kills three people a day in the UK. That’s a lot of people that didn’t necessarily have to die. You must sort out your medication because you don’t know when ‘the big one’ will happen. It could be during a stonking night of Sex, and you must be prepared.

If you are getting asthma symptoms when you raise your heartbeat during exercise, then it’s inevitable that Sex will do the same. Death by Sex is not just a cocktail in Yates wine bar; it’s a very real threat if your asthma is not controlled.

References

1. “Asthma and Sex Hormones” by Asthma UK
2. “Exercise-Induced Bronchoconstriction and Asthma” by American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
3. “Asthma Action Plan” by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health