Running after your bus, jogging at the Buttes-Chaumont or going up to the fifth floor on a day when the elevator breaks down are all problematic situations for people who suffer from asthma and cannot control their disease. But when we think of asthma, we think less of another aspect of our lives: sexuality. The subject is taboo and yet the impact of this respiratory disease is very real.
On the occasion of World Asthma Day on May 2, an * Ifop/Sanofi survey, that 20 minutes was able to consult exclusively, thus comes to measure the impact of this chronic inflammation on the daily life of asthmatics, and in particular their sexuality.
Mockery and remarks
According to this survey, 20% of people suffering from this disease have already avoided sexual intercourse for fear that it will cause an asthma attack. And this figure is multiplied by two (41%) in men with severe asthma. Because the sexual act increases the heart and respiratory rate and causes difficulty in breathing. “We have all the ingredients to have asthma symptoms, considers Pascal Chanez, pulmonologist and teacher-researcher at Aix-Marseille University. When one has the bronchi permanently obstructed or hyperreactive, the effort causes coughing, heaviness in the chest and shortness of breath. Especially if the asthma is poorly controlled. »
The emotional aspect can also be important during a sexual relationship, “the bronchi will close all the more and the symptoms will increase. A problem well known to Dorian Cherioux, vice-president “patients” of the Asthma & Allergies association. “When I was not yet in control of my disease, at the end of the sexual intercourse, I would run to the window to take a deep breath of air because I couldn’t take it anymore. »
A third of people with asthma surveyed (31%) even report having already had to “stop having sex in order to go and take relief treatment”. Dorian is one of them. Suffering from asthma since childhood, he has already interrupted a report. “I was afraid that because of the crisis, I would have to call an ambulance and explain the context to them. I also feared the potential judgment of the medical team. Today helping other patients through therapeutic education, he meets many people with asthma who tell him to limit the duration or frequency of their sexual relations.
A source of anxiety
And this situation is not without consequence. More than half of men with asthma surveyed (56%) said that because of their disease, their sexual performance is sometimes “a source of anxiety”. And this fear can create embarrassment in anticipation. “They are so afraid of having asthma and not being up to the challenge that they stress and have, for example, no erection, says Pascal Chanez. It’s double jeopardy. »
Added to this is a fear of being judged: 21% of people who have been affected by asthma say they have already been teased or made comments about their sexual abilities. Comments even more present in severe asthmatics. Nearly one out of two men with severe asthma indicates that they have already been teased of this type.
A figure that saddens – but does not surprise – Dorian Cherioux. “This is especially the case when you have one-night partners or when you are young and don’t dare say no. For the expert patient, having a discussion with his or her partner is the only solution to make his or her difficulties understood and lead to a sexuality that will suit both. “We don’t have to go into something intense, explains the vice-president of the Asthma & Allergies association. You can also make foreplay last longer. »
A taboo topic
But talking about it, precisely, remains very difficult. People with asthma very rarely discuss the impact of their disease on their sexuality with their doctor. In a year of consultations, at the rate of forty patients per week, more than 60% of whom are asthmatics, Pascal Chanez does not remember a single person having broached the subject with him. “While almost all of my patients, on the other hand, approach the question of sport very easily. »
For the sexual intercourse to go well, the pulmonologist advises to have perfect control of his disease in the long term by taking his background treatment, based on inhaled corticosteroids. “And if, despite this well-taken treatment, the emotion or the exercise is too great, they can take a puff of a bronchodilator as a preventive measure, which dilates the bronchi for at least twelve hours. Dorian Cherioux also advises removing or dusting potential sources of allergies, such as carpets, cushions or stuffed animals. As a reminder, asthma affects more than 4 million people in France and is responsible for nearly 60,000 hospitalizations each year.
* Survey of 5,009 people aged 15 and over, including 1,111 people affected or having already been affected by asthma, carried out by self-administered online questionnaire from March 17 to 29, 2023.