stress, asthma, exhaustion, anxiety, help

[anp925]

let me explain my situation, and hopefully a doc will respond with good advice. I've really never been sick before, so I'll do this chronologically. Let me say also, that I am 33, male, and have no history of asthma or allergies.

around feb 10th (almost a month ago) the bottom of my left big toe starting feeling extra sensitive when I walked, but not really painful. It persisted for a few days, and I made an appointment to go to a local clinic (I'm living in japan now, and so my adventures with clinics and hospitals only makes everything more stressful). The day I went to the clinic, i also realized I was having a little trouble breathing. The guy at the clinic said all was fine, but they took my blood to check for anemia. A few days later, I was feeling much worse with the breathing, tightness in chest and back pain when breathing, and both toes were feeling the same thing. Living alone I panicked a little not knowing what was going on, and late at night went to the emergency room. They x-rayed my chest and did an EKG, and those were negative. They gave me oxygen and a few bronchial dilating pills for one day, and told me to come back the next day not in the emergency room. I felt a little better, and went back the next day. This time I had calmed down a bit, and realized that breathing out was much harder than it should be. The doc gave me the spirometer test, and confirmed that that was indeed the problem (even having taken the pills since the night before). They nebulized me in the hospital, and gave me a 7 day prescription for a tulobuterol patch to we stuck on once a day. The doc said it was probably bronchial asthma, but most likely temporary and due to some kind of allergic reaction to what was in the air this time of year i japan. This worked wonderfully. And also the weird sensation/sensitivity in my tes went away. 5 days later I went 2 days without the patches, and the problem started again. putting on the patches didn't help. I went back to the hospital, and they told me the patches were preventative, but didn't do much once symptoms started. They nebulized me again, and also gave me a prescription for an inhaler. And took my blood to do an allergy test. This time I didn't feel all that much better after the nebulizer. After a few days I was still feeling not right. But, still a lot better than it was when I went to the emergency room. But i was having a lot of trouble concentrating on work, and had a few panic attacks. I went back to the hospital, and they told me to let the meds have time to work, and gave me a mild dose of depasu (etizolam in english I think). He also told me the results of the allergy test, which was a big 0 for everythign they tested (house dust, pollens, pets, mold, some other stuff). Since then, i used the inhaler every day in the morning, and wore the patches and the breathing got better. although the strange toe sensation returned to my right big toe. Today I didn't use the inhaler in the morning, and by 6 pm, I started to feel difficulty breathing again. So I used the inhaler and ok.

In addition to this however, I have been totally exhausted, especially in the upper legs and I can't sleep throughout the night. needless to say this has caused me a lot of stress (as is being in japan, starting a new job, changing my life etc... I just got here in december). Currently, the medicine seems to be keeping the breathing issues in check, but the total exhaustion is starting to worry me more.

I guess my questions are:

1) were the doctors correct in treating me for asthma? is that what I have? could it be something else?
2) if it is, why did I get it for the first time now, and will it go away?
3) my 4 year old nephew has bad asthma and uses a nebulizer every day with other meds. Should I ask for one instead of the inhaler? are they more effective than inhalers?
4) is there some connection to this thing in my toes, or am I just being paranoid?
5) is there a connection to the tired legs? or is that just due to lack of sleep and stress?
6) how likely is it that the breathing problems were stress induced (although I didn't feel real stress until I started worrying about breathing ...)
7) I'm pretty worried, and tend to panic that I'm dying etc. Is there any real chance of that? (please say no)

Thanks for reading. hopefully I wasn't too thorough.
if you're a doctor, I look forward to your thoughts,

-a

[anp925]

thanks, I'll give anything a try.

[Vera71]

Ok...I did not imply on allergy test, yet on lab tests on specimens such as stool, sputum etc. Some kind of fungus infections in respiratory system can mimic asthma symptoms. Check possible outcomes and even immune functioning. Hope this is of any help!

[anp925]

yes, one of the allergy tests was for fungus, but I'm not sure which kind.

[Vera71]

Did you done lab test on fungus?