my Asthma or something else

[darkangel123]

i have been struggling with my breathing since may 08 and have been admitted to hospital once and seen a emergancy doctor, when i saw the emergancy doctor i was told i was having a asthma attack and was put on steriods.
then on june 2nd i was taken in to hospital with what they suspected was a blood clot on the lungs but this was not the case and i sent home, still stuggling to breath.
i have a persistant cough that ive had 7 months now which is at night and the morning i also cough up phlegm which is white sometimes yellow in colour.
i can only take short shollow breaths, i have pains in my chest and back, im very tired and my oxygen levels drop from 99 to lowest 85 when i walk  - i also keep having palputations
i have seen the respiratory consultant who said my lung function tests where good except for my walking test where again my oxygen leves drop but this time my rsd and arthritis was bad so i had to do on my crutches so she was unsure the result was correct.
however when i had my previous test i walked un aided and my above results where the result of it.
any ideas what this could be?  i see the doctor again in 5 weeks and have been keeping a peak flow diary my best is 500 and im not above 300 mostly 250.
the doctor said my asthma is getting worse but im not convinced its my asthma
thanks

[National Jewish Health]

What you describe suggests that you had no obvious breathing problem prior to May, 2008.  If that is true you may have asthma, but the other details, such as the yellow phlegm, short shallow breaths, low oxygen levels, chest pain etc, strongly suggest that what you have is not just asthma.  First, your doctors should be absolutely sure that, given the sudden onset in May without signs and symptoms of asthma before that, you are not having blood clots to the lungs.  A CT scan of your lungs would be important to be sure about the clots, as well as to reveal other lung diseases such as interstitial lung disease, bronchiolitis obliterans and rheumatoid (arthritis) lung.  Also hard to believe that asthma is the primary problem when the lung specialist said that your "lung function tests where good".

You should not wait 5 weeks to see the respiratory consultant.  It is highly likely that what you have is not asthma.  You and the consultant need to figure it out without delay.  You should share the above opinion with the lung consultant and if he/she disagrees with the above, you should ask for a second opinion.

Do not delay.

Good luck.