I had a chronic cough that got worse when I was out in the cold or talking (singing, laughing, etc). My chest felt tight. I didn't normally wheeze or have unusual breathing sounds, although my doc (primary care doc) heard it a time or too. I've also always had bad chest colds (or asthma attacks?) that last 2 months each time - when I was a kid, I was the only one in the family (6 kids) with my own vaporizer! Once I also had a collapsed lung from coughing - our family doc (at the time) called it "bronchitis". Now I wonder if that wasn't just childhood asthma.

I do NOT have allergy symptoms, so this has been a tough diagnosis. I am also the only one in my family to have this - not surprising, since it is nonallergic asthma.

I use Asmanex, Serevent, and Singular as controllers - the highest dose of each. I use Xopenex as a rescue med - both inhaled version and nebulizer. I know that use of the spacer is supposed to make the inhaler as effective as the nebulizer, but *I* think I get a bit more out of the nebulizer...at least when I use the nebulizer, I get side effects (shakiness) that I don't get from the inhaler w/ spacer...that's my theory - maybe a flawed idea? :confused:

Most of the time I feel pretty darned good these days, which is wonderful - seemed to take forever to get the right meds. I use Xopenex before I go out in the cold for more than a few minutes; I think it makes a big difference.

Do you have a good pulmonologist? I had to fire one doc - he said that I just had repeated bouts of "post viral cough" - that some people just had a long period of coughing after every cold, and that inhalers would help me! Hmmph. Sounds like asthma to me! Maybe he didn't want to slap me with the asthma "label"? I don't know. My life really hasn't changed now that I am considered to have asthma - it is NOT a big deal to me.

But I have a great lung doc now - he puts up with my wierd sense of humor and seems to know what he's doing!

Sorry to ramble...:jester: