opening a box of pandora worms

i didn't go to work today. instead, i went to the doctors office for yet another test to determine if i have asthma. the doctors have all been fine going along prescribing advair, which makes me feel better, helps me run better, allows me to participate more fully in life. but i decided to open a box of pandora worms and try to figure out what is really going on.

a few years ago i started having difficulty sustaining the same workouts that i had been used to - sometimes to the point of coughing fit, dizzyness, excessive sweating. at first i thought i was merely "getting old", but it simply didn't seem right. other people didn't age like this. it was like i was dozens of pounds overweight, when i clearly was not at all.

blah blah blah. medical journey. blah blah blah.

one of myriad doctors - a rheumatologist - suggested advair. i used it and within a week was feeling markedly better. super! since then i've been on a constant prescription for advair. end of story, right? well... not that i am one to question improved quality of life, but... i'm not diagnosed with asthma, so why am i taking an asthma med? do i have undiagnosed asthma? or, do i have something else that advair is relieving? and if the latter, is advair the best choice? and, more to the point, if this isn't asthma, what the hell is it?

so i've been questioning and pushing and prodding, and my primary care doc suggested this specialty clinic, so i went there and they listened to my history and did the same old baseline tests and said, well - doesn't look like asthma.

duh.

c'mon.

they scheduled a methocholine challenge for today. feel free to google that on your spare time, but don't expect me to waste time here telling you what it is. guess what? you're not going to believe it, but this test came back... normal! no asthma. so, i went over the results with the nurse and then the doctor made a showing for like 3 minutes, tops. those guys are constantly moving moving moving. i believe that if i could get some concentrated focus from a doctor for, like, 10 mins, i could really make some headway healthwise. i mean, look what happened with the rheumatologist who suggested advair? he listened and then made a spot-on suggestion. next time, i should block the door before the medicine man can disappear.

anywattle, the test today came back normal, and it's supposed to be a BINGO for asthma, so i definitely do not have asthma, right? wrong. the doctor has yet another trick up his sleeve - a mannitol challenge. it's a new test specifically geared to reveal exercise-induced asthma. unfortunately, they could not do it today because i had already inhaled stuff for the meth challenge that would affect the mannitol challenge. too bad, because all these separate visits are a bit wack.

i have a distinct feeling the mannitol challenge will come back normal because that's just what tests do with me. normal, normal, normal. you'd think normal would be good, but if i am normal then why can't i breathe normally? when i workout, i am stressed for breath, like asthma. when i'm between doses of advair, i can feel it if i don't take the next dose on time. first, my eyes hurt like prickly, how they do when you get tired, you know? then, i realize i am breathing through my mouth. then, i get a low-grade headache, and if i let it go much longer, i get a worse headache, and if i go without advair for a week, like you have to do to prep for the meth challenge, the chest pain goes into costochondritis.

the advair makes me feel better. i should just be satisfied with taking it and feeling better. who cares what the cause is, if there's a cure... right?

* sigh *