Yeah usually asthma produces a different set of symptoms and sensations. The way I've heard it described is like breathing through a straw during an asthma attack, so it's more of not being able to physically get the air you need vs. this air hunger where you can get the full volume of air but it doesn't satisfy the sensation of the need for air.

I don't know if exercise has to do with it, but in my experience it could be possible. I used to run quite a bit- not marathons by any means but I went on frequent long runs. When the air hunger started for me back in 2012, I continued to run and the issue seemed less when running. Then as time went on, running hard seemed to make it worse after the run. I did the Buteyko breathing method which made the symptoms go away almost entirely. So I did exercise again and was fine for a year, then backed off on the exercise which I think contributed to the breathing issue coming back. But what seemed to make the air hunger stick for the past few years was when I was running and pushed myself pretty hard. Suddenly, I felt the natural exercise-induced air hunger and a deep breath didn't satisfy it. So I had to stop immediately and it took a while for my breathing to normalize but the air hunger remained. So in that case, I suspect pushing myself hard while running trigged the air hunger to come back.

I believe exercise in general does help me a lot to manage symptoms to this day, but I've learned to exercise to the level which my breathing will tolerate even if I feel like I can push hard. I now go on mild jogs with mostly walking, and do moderate weightlifting with controlled breathing. This helps my symptoms to be less, and I can feel my air hunger increase slightly if I don't exercise for a while.

It may have something to do with contributing to overbreathing and chronic hyperventilation. The theory behind the Buteyko method is that you reduce your breathing to build up CO2 which allows additional oxygen to be delivered by the blood. Breathing a lot through the mouth would cause a higher volume of CO2 to be released, which also may be why the Wim Hoff method didn't help. As I understand, with the Wim Hoff method you try to expel as much as air as you can to get rid of as much CO2 as possible, which is the opposite principle of the Buteyko method.

So just a couple of things to consider. Reducing breathing seems counterintuitive when your body has the sensation that it's starved for air/oxygen. But experiencing first hand, when I first incorporated the Buteyko method, the sensation went away entirely- it was when I stopped doing exercise after a few months that I believe is one of the main reasons it returned. I still don't know the cause, but I can only guess that our bodies somehow are out of sync with our breathing. Something gets trigged to produce an air hunger sensation, causing a vicious circle of overbreathing and chronically hyperventilating. We're obviously ok and it's not life threatening. I think thinking this over time and maintaining the reduced breathing along with the breathing exercises has helped overall. It definitely takes perseverance- the 3rd time symptoms returned for me, it took a few weeks for them to reduce doing Buteyko exercises at least 3 times per day. But it's what has helped me the most, so if I can offer you hope and consolation, it might be worth a try.

You might find the rescue exercises helpful. When you're feeling especially bothered by the symptoms, you can do short breath holding exercises where you hold your breath for 20 seconds or so and maintain slow nasal breathing, breathing normally for 3 minutes then doing another 20-30 second breath hold and repeat.