Is it Asthma??

[damadhatter13]

I am 20 years old right now, and I was diagnosed with exercise enduced asthma when I was about 12-14 years old. When I was younger than that I never really had a problem with asthma (and I have always been an active person). I always played different sports, but then one day at a soccer practice we had been running hard and I was pushing my self to my limit and had an asthma attack. Back then we didnt know what it was a result of, we even went to different doctors (pediatrician, pulmonologist, cardiologist, then back to the pulmonologist and finally we went to a asthma specialized doctor). After this long process they told me what I had was exercise enduced asthma.

Now, I dont doubt that I have exercise enduced asthma because when I do exercise hard, it gets very hard for me breath, although I have learned to control it (by playing hard at times and taking a break for a little, then going back to playing hard again)

But recently, I have been having trouble breathing doing ordinary everyday things. Going up stairs at my work (from 1st floor to 2nd floor) I find myself to run out of breath. Or if the temperature rises (both inside and outside) and it gets really hot, I also have trouble breathing. I do exercise so I dont think its that I'm out of shape.

I dont know if this is how other patients with asthma feel, but when I feel short of breath, it is like I have a pocket of air stuck in my lungs, and the only way to get rid of it is by taking deep breaths. It's kind of like when you have the need to yawn, and you feel like a pocket in your lungs, and you want to yawn, but it just doesn't happen.

Sometimes I can get rid of the  "pocket of air" that I feel by doing my breathing exercises (of breathing deeply for a couple of minutes), but other times I just cant get rid of it. I do have a puffer and I do use it, but it doesnt help too much. Honestly, I dont really like to use it because 1. I feel if I dont need it then dont abuse (so I only try to use it when I REALLY do need it, like when I cant get rid of my "pocket of air") and 2. when I do use it, it makes me feel light headed and kind of weird. I dont really like the way it makes me feel. So that is another reason why, if I dont NEED IT then I dont like to use it.

Basically, I have the puffer and it doesnt always work for my lack of breaths I've been getting lately. So I was wondering if anybody knew if this was a result of asthma or not and if I could do something to help get rid of the "pockets of air"

PS: I do have an appointment to see a pulmonologist, but it isnt for a while, so I just wanted to know if there was anything someone here could suggest.

Thanks,
Andy