Well, I apparently had asthma as a kid but hardly remembered until my mother recently told me so I suppose saying I was "newly" diagnosed isn't correct.

Anyway, I haven't had problems until this Spring. I have severe tightness of chest and labored breathing- I noticed it especially when I would be outside. I suspect I am allergic to the hay field by my house- when they hayed the field, I was the worst!


So, finally after suffering and realizing something really was wrong (at first I chalked it up to anxiety!), I got diagnosed with asthma.

They only gave me an albuterol inhaler. I maybe used it twice in the last few months until I flew to Alabama last week.

In Alabama, I woke up in the night literally gasping to breathe- I felt as if I was breathing through a straw. My heart was also pounding out of my chest. My inhaler didn't bring much relief. Thankfully, I just tried to calm myself down and it eventually went away.

I'm not sure if it was the humidity down there or my dad's smoking (or their dogs!) but it was likely a combination of all the above.

Even since I've been home i've been having a hard time so today my dr. put me on Combivent, Singulair and wants me to get a steroid shot ( I said no to that one).

They did a pulmonary function test and I could hardly blow- I was shocked at how winded I was. I'm only 27 and am pretty healthy otherwise.

Anyway, dr. wants me to see a specialists in a few weeks.

I am curious what I can expect?

They did run a serious of allergy tests today and I should know more next week. Hopefully I can figure out the trigger. This asthma thing is pretty scarey!

Any advice or tips would be welcomed. Thanks!