Asthma or not?

Hi, my problem is, that I've a brother (14) who had recently in 4 weeks 3 bouts of asthma and was brought to the hospital. First he had more and more problems with breathing and then his hands and feets were sprained. It really seemed like an athma attack, but when he used his spray, it didn't work that well contrary to the oxygen support afterwards from the ambulance. His heartbeat was 48 per minute and his blood pressure was 130/70. And every time when he finally arrived at the hostpital, he was already fine again and could move and walk without any problems. So he did the lung function test, which shows that he has asthma and the doctors checked his blood, which seems to be normal.

The strang thing is, since the middle of last week (from 16th of June 2010), I've now the same problems. First it wasn't that serious, I only had some headaches and was also very stressed, because of the school stuff and so on. But 2 days before (from 22nd of June 2010), my headache was stronger and I had some breathing problems. And yesterday it was so bad, that my hands were also sprained and I couldn't breath normally. When the ambulance arrived with its oxygen support and one draw of the asthma spray, the situation was getting well again. So how could it be, that I (18) have suddenly the same problems like my brother. Is it really Asthma or is it something else like allergies which has an effect on the breathing system?

[bsmsl]

Sorry, but that would be impossible to say over the internet.  

It could be asthma especially since your brother is already diagnosed with it.  However, many of his symptoms may not be related to asthma.  It is hard to say.

Since you have a sibling with asthma, your chances of having asthma are higher than average.  Asthma can develop or be diagnosed at any age, so just because you are old than he is and have never been diagnosed, that doesn't mean you don't have it now or won't have it in the future.

These episodes could be an allergy or even some sort of virus. I would wonder if the sprained joints were related or if they could have been sore and stiff from a bug and not realy spained.  Only a dr could tell you either way.  

I hope that you get to feeling better and that you get some real answers to your questions.