I also have adult onset asthma. The only symptom I was aware of before my diagnosis was a persistent cough, like @pacathy. It took a lot of time and testing to rule out other causes of cough and finally diagnose me with asthma. During my testing period, they even thought I might have gastrointestinal reflux, and I was given meds for that. In the end the doctor decided I did not have reflux.

I was uncertain about my asthma diagnosis at first. I'm not sure why, but I guess I was surprised it wasn't mentioned before (likely cause it wasn't there yet, only allergies discovered in early high school). I think I also didn't want to be asthmatic. I realized over time I actually had inaudible wheezing. I also found Albuterol calmed my coughing, though usually temporarily. When I really could not get my coughing to calm down, usually post-travel, Prednisone did the trick. The medications working helped convince me that I truly had asthma.

@squire123 - I agree that asthma medications can be costly. We really take my meds for this under consideration each year when selecting our medical insurance plan.

Wondering if you would share more about your smart vest and how it's used?