Your message sounds like how I felt until 2024. I was on trelegy, albuterol, singular etc. I ended up going to the emergency room in 2021. My blood pressure was sky high and I couldn’t breathe. I had a cat scan. I was sent home with antibiotics for pneumonia after the cat scan showed tree in bud opacities. Couple days later I ended up in the hospital because my heart rate and blood pressure went sky high. I couldn’t breathe. Heart was fine after much testing. Another cat scan of lungs showed same thing as first time. Nebulizing several times a day helped along with oxygen while I was there. I went home but still had the same issues until we moved and I saw a new pulmonologist end of 2023. She looked at my history, including ct scans. She was determined to figure out why I had dyspnea and trouble breathing. I always told doctors that my difficulty breathing did not feel like my asthma, but I was also winded with fast heartbeat. My asthma felt under control. Doctors never heard wheezing.
I will always be thankful for the new pulmonologist sending me for more tests and thinking outside the box. I had a new pulmonary function test that showed asthma. I had another ct scan and turned in sputum a couple different times. The ct scan showed the same tree in bud opacities as previous ones. The ct scan dr. found I had bronchiectasis in three parts of my lungs. The sputum took two months for results. They revealed I had a bacteria growing, called mycobacterium avium complex (MAC). It is one of about 175 bacterias that can grow in our lungs. I next saw an infectious disease specialist. I’ve been on three specific antibiotics for MAC 10 months. I use nebulizer twice a day first with albuterol then with 7% saline. I still take singular but am off trelegy as it is not good to take with antibiotics. I should finish the antibiotics in May. At that time I’ll have another pulmonary function test and pulmonologist will figure out best asthma preventative medicine for me to take. I did a lot of research about both broniectesis and MAC-wow! There’s a lot to learn. I also researched dyspnea, talked with gastroenterologist and found out that acid reflux, GERD (I have both), and food going into lungs are among the reasons for it. I’m careful how I eat and sleep knowing this. I have lots of allergies so am seeing an ENT now too. I found support with Mayo for bronchiestesis and asthma.
It’s great you have a new pulmonologist that is thinking outside the box. I hope you have further testing to see if something else is going on with your lungs too.