I'll jump in here unasked. I had asthma as a child but hadn't had any
symptoms in so long that I thought it was gone forever. Then about two years
ago the asthma started returning. I didn't even recognize what it was at
first. I just knew that I could often no longer take a deep breath and that
I often felt like I was not getting enough oxygen. No chest congestion
noted.  I do wheeze sometimes.

My initial symptoms were that I was often waking up during the night
dreaming that I was suffocating. I was unable to catch my breath. Very
scary.  I thought I was having night time anxiety attacks. Instead it was
asthma and the anxiety was secondary. That is how my asthma most often
manifests itself. During the day I tend to not notice it so much unless I
happen to notice how much I am huff and puff.  Often other people will
mention this to me.

For the past year I've been taking either Flovent or Qvar as my regular
inhaler and this really helps. I have Xopenex as a rescue inhaler but rarely
need it as long as I regularly use the Flovent or Qvar. Xopenex is the L
isomer of allbuterol and supposedly only taking the L isomer takes the
jitteriness out of using the rescue inhaler. I have also been taking 2 - 400
mg guaifenesin during the course of the morning. and also several
N-Acetyl-Cysteine caps each day.  I also have a Singulair RX but have not
started taking it yet this year but might do so soon since my allergies are
starting to kick back in.  AW

Empty Nose Syndrome also causes trouble breathing I understand....

I'm in my mid-40s and was diagnosed at 11 yrs old. Asthma seems more
helpfully thought of as a "syndrome," if only because different people
have different triggers.

When I was a kid I'd wheeze and not be able to get a full breath. It
turns out many asthmatics have air trapped in their lungs and it can't
get out...

If you feel like you can only get about half or a quarter of a full
breath, you have symptoms that resemble asthma. I would gasp for
breath for so long that I'd get a sideache just trying to breathe.

The cascade of actions that occur when the body encounters a trigger
is very very complex and yet I think quite well-understood by medical
experts who have specialized in asthma. What's difficult is to shut
off the immune system's overreactive responses without causing undue
harm in rather obvious ways. The layperson interested in major
breakthroughs or even a "cure" is quickly introduced to immunoglobulin
E, leukotrienes, mast cells and various actions of inhibition,
potentiations, on and on. I try to be optimistic, but it's a very
complex puzzle, and going into the realm of genes doesn't present
anything rosier.

Vastly, overly simplified: Trigger gets into airways----> constriction
of lung passages---->swelling of tissues around the lungs----->
production of mucous------> shortness of breath--------

Whe I was a kid I tried all kinds of experimental drugs, non-
allopathic docs and alternative approaches, and a lot of what now
looks like quacky stuff from reputable MDs. I actually used Primatene
Mist as my rescue inhaler throughout my late teens. (Any doc worth his/
her salt these days hears this and is horrified; it's strictly a last-
resort now. Too brutal of a beta-agonist.)

Between ages 19-22 my asthma seemed to spontaneously go away...but it
gradually came back, and when I was 25 I had my first of many return
trips to the ER for a bad asthma attack.

Whe I was a kid and my mom had to take me to the ER (usually around
3AM, during Los Angeles's notorious Santa Ana wind conditions), they'd
shoot me full of adrenaline and it was such a relief! Instant
alleviation of symptoms. But just try to hold that pen and sign your
name on the release form!

In the last 20 yrs, they gave me a nebulized breathing treatment of
albuterol. (It's NOT the same experience as having a little albuterol
inhaler in your pocket and taking two puffs when you start wheezing;
it's far more elaborate.)

When I was 30 I went on an inhaled corticosteroid, and I swear, there
are a lot of rotten things anyone of us can say about allopathic drugs
and esp the pharmaceutical companies, but inhaled corticosteroids have
been like a miracle drug for me. Since I started on them I've been
able to have a somewhat "normal" life, breathing-wise. Yes, you're
like a diabetic once you start on them - you can't just stop or you're
asking for huge problems - but considering the dangers I was in when
my asthma was out of control, I will take that trade-off.

Yoga-like breathing exercises have helped me a lot, as has aerobic
exercise, drinking a lot of water regularly, a HEPA filter, and a doc
who knows asthma and keeps up on the latest info about it.

Other asthmatics will give slightly differing narratives about their
disease, which is one reason why I urge that we think of it as a
"syndrome."

A subset of people who have allergies that cause sneezing, rhinitis,
itchy watery eyes, etc - also have asthma. That's me. That's why my
doc was surprised when I came in with major sinusitis two weeks ago.
She said, "Do you get this often?" I said I hadn't had anything like
this since I was a kid.

I just finished 2 weeks of Amoxacillin, and I am doing irrigations at
least twice a day, hoping this won't ever come back, even though much
of the info I've been reading on sinusitis suggest that it WILL come
back.

And once again, I appreciate this support group and all the info
available here.

-Misha, Berkeley, CA