I had really bad asthma when I was a child 0-3 years old. I never had the wheezing kind though. I had my last asthma "feeling" at 12. I have been asthma free since then, until the fall of 2000. Then I started having trouble breathing, generally during the fall - the hardest allergy season where I live. Each year it has been in the fall, but in the fall of 2002 to present, it happens more and more, not mattering what season it is. I especially feel trouble after I exercise for 2-3 days.

I have Sarcoidosis, but my lungs are bascially untouched by it. (It is only in my lymph nodes). So my pulm doc did a Methacholine challenge. The results said I only dropped 14% so pulm doc said no asthma. Well, when I took the test, I felt my lungs get tight quick, so I faked inhaling the rest of the test med. That is why the results are skewed.

Is there some other test to see if asthma really has come back - that won't scare me to death?

Also, I have aerobid and albuterol. I will talk with my primary doc about starting this again - trouble is, albuterol makes me feel really shaky and nervous inside and makes my heart race a little and maybe causes some palpitations. (I have had alot of trouble with palpitations in the past and for the last 2-3 months, I have been palp-free, so I would like to keep it that way.) What other "Emergency Inhaler" would work just as well as albuterol and NOT cause these side-effects?

Thanx for any input.