3 year old, rapid breathing

[CapeCodMommy]

My daughter Rose is 3 1/2 years old and has always had an awful time when she catches a cold.  Her breathing is normal on a daily basis but when she gets any sort of cold it always ends up going right to her chest causing rapid breathing combined with the chest and tummy rising and falling dramatically.  The pediatrician has prescribed Xopenex and Pulimicort to be inhaled via the nebulizer in the past.  After researching the negative long term affects of the pulmicort I have decided not to use it for my daughter.  I used to always rush her into the doctors but in the past year I have gained the confidence to try and treat her on my own.  

What I am wondering is....

Why are her cold symptoms always worse then normal?
Should I continue the Xopenex every time she gets a cold?

Her symptoms this time around are... runny nose, sore throat, chest congestion, rapid breathing (varies through out the day... 35-45 breaths a min), and slows down at  night to around 30 breaths a minute... no fever, decent appetite, fair mood, drinking plenty of fluids, and she has a fair amount of energy.   Currently I am only giving her Childrens Musinex.  She does not seem to ever want to cough unless its uncontrollable... could the reason of the breathing be that she is not wanting to cough?

any insight into this would be greatly appreciated...  

[AngeleL]

Have you had her checked for asthma?  My 18-month-old son has been hospitalized 4 times now for distressed breathing.  The first time he had pneumonia, the second was for rhino-virus, the third and fourth they diagnosed it as asthma.  As soon as he gets any kind of cold virus, it attacks his lungs.  Resulting in rapid shallow breathing, chest congestion, wheezing, ...

We have tried using steroid preventatives and releavers but Singulair is really working well.  He has been breathing well ever since (2 weeks now) which is a huge change.