Boy do I have a story to tell. My wife had suspected I had mild asthma for years It didn't seem to affect my riding or my work so I never had myself tested. 2 days before christmas in 2008 I was brushing my teeth and suddenly I couldn't breath well, I felt like I was trying to breathe through a thin straw. I sat down and it took me a good 20 minutes before I could breathe normally again. The same thing happened the next day after I brushed my teeth but I had my wife's rescue inhaler and it cleared me up in 5 minutes.
I went to the doctor who hooked me up with an asthma specialist, The specialist put me on Advair Diskus and prescribed a rescue inhaler. He told me I was allegic to mint and to avoid mint toothpastes. Things went along ok for 6 months or so then the Diskus seemed less effective. so he put me on a high dosage. a few months later a higher dosage. Then we started making the rounds of lung specialists who were all looking for lung cancer or some other disease. I tried using a nebulizer, it cleared me for maybe an hour before my lungs would clog back up.
Fall of of 2012 things got progressively worse, specialists were throwing their hands up in the air and proclaiming I was not taking the medications as prescribed or taking them incorrectly. My wife was sure I was going to die ( though she didn't say it at the time) By December 2012 I can barely get up the stairs at home without running out of breath. Now I'm thinking I may die. I secretly make sure my will and other affairs are in order just in case.
Just after Christmas I have been scouring the internet looking for causes or cures, I run across a post on a medical website about this Bariatric Surgeon, Tejinder(Paul) Singh, based here in Albany who claims that severe asthma can be induced from acid reflux diesease (GERD). I'm looking at it and saying I don't have acid reflux. Regardless I call up my asthma Doc and he says that is BS. I call up my (wonderful)primary doctor and he immediately gives me a referral to a gastroenterologist he knows. The gastro doc schedules me for a PH test the following week and discovers my stomach acid ph is off the charts. She knows Dr Singh and immediately calls him to see me ASAP. A few days later he examines me with a stomach scope and concludes that it is "silent acid reflux" from a weaken lower esophageal sphincter along with a Hiatal Hernia causing stomach acid to get into my lungs. He schedules me for "Laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplication surgery" to take place 4 days later, At this point I'm popping Nexum like candy and using oxygen to breath while sleeping.
The outcome was after 8 weeks of recuperation I now only have mild asthma symptoms easily controlled with a mild steroid. I'm breathing better than I have in 10 years. I got back on the bike about 8 weeks ago I feel like i'm 20 years younger in terms of output. I no longer have to worry about my weight, I have about 1/2 the capacity of what my stomach was, so 1 cup of food easily fills me. I'm wearing jerseys that haven't fit since 1985