Hello. Do you have asthma?

Like how my pharmacist numbered all the inhalers for me?

I only went to work once this week - Wednesday. The rest of the week has been a mix of work from home and sick days.

I was officially diagnosed with asthma when I was 12 but have suffered with symptoms since I was six. I remember my mom, with a cigarette in her hand no less, asking the doctor why I was having trouble breathing when I caught a cold and would bark like a seal when I coughed. This would have been 1981 when everyone smoked - doctors included.

It wasn't until years later, when I was in the seventh grade and after a rigorous game of volleyball during gym class, I collapsed to the floor wheezing, my eyes watering, and feeling like someone was sitting on my chest, that a visit to the doctor (the same doctor when I was five) proved I had a problem. My parents had stopped smoking by then but the damage had been done. They don't like it that I blame them and their smoking (in the house, during dinner) but I have to understand that the dangers surrounding second-hand smoke weren't well known back then. I really should be blaming our family doctor. He was old school. His late diagnosis of my asthma was medically malicious as he's lucky I didn't die before I got help. Right? But I'm not bitter.

Anyhoo... yesterday I made my way to my doctor because I was convinced I had bronchitis (we asthmatics are very good at self-diagnosis). He agreed and put together a rescue plan for me and introduced me to two inhalers I haven't tried before: Ipratropium Bromide (Atrovent) and Ciclesonide (Alvesco). These two inhalers along with my old stand-by of Salbutamol (Ventolin) are to be taken all at once in the morning, with Atrovent and Ventolin taken three more times throughout the day, and then all three again at night. I was told to take all three when I got home, despite it being the middle of the day, and then take them all again when I went to bed.

Around 10:30 last night, as I drifted off to sleep, I experienced a spasm in my chest that felt almost like a seizure of the diaphragm. It felt like I was coughing on the inside. I called TeleHealth. The nurse said it was probably a side effect of all the inhalers and to only to go to the hospital if I felt tightness in the chest. It took four hours for the spasms to subside and I finally fell asleep at 3 a.m., but is this normal? The sensation was a first for me. I wasn't scared, just annoyed. I've put a call in to the doctor and pharmacist.

The good news is the coughing has gone from every five minutes to a fit once an hour. I've never been on Ciclesonide before. I'm looking to hear from others using this drug. Share please!