What Could Shortness Of Breath Indicate?

Hello Allison, Thank you for asking at HCM. I went through your history and can understand your concern and confusion. I would like to know more about you like your age, nose symptoms (nose congestion, running nose, nose itching, etc), whether you are exposed to passive smoking/polluted environment, etc. However, at present, from your provided details, I would like to make suggestions for you as follows: 1. To confirm whether you have asthma or not, I would suggest you a test known as spirometry with post-bronchodilator reversibility. This will help to know your lung capacity as well as status of airways, whether they are obstructed, etc. 2. Inhaler made you feel better suggests possibility of asthma. However, if you have not had such problems in past years, it could be a simple episode of bronchitis or infection which lasted long. (please note that some episodes can last for 4-6 weeks until complete recovery). If you have shortness of breath in past years (even childhood), it would more favor diagnosis of asthma. 3. I would like to mention here that most of the patients with asthma have normal chest X-rays. Chest X-rays are not useful to diagnose or to rule out asthma. Of course, Chest X-rays are helpful to know if you have any other lung related conditions like pneumonia, etc. 4. In general, I would also suggest you regular breathing exercises and avoidance of smokes/fumes/dusts to improve your lung capacity on long term basis. If you are routinely exposed to such environment, I would suggest you personal protection measures such as using face mask, etc. Hope above suggestions will be helpful to you and will help you solve the confusions. Should you have any further query, please feel free to ask at HCM. Wish you the best of the health ahead. Thank you & Regards.