Okay, so hind sight is 20/20.
When I was in high school, I ran the 2 mile and hurdles. I knew I wasn't terribly fast, and I never was faster than 2nd place. My lungs would feel like they were burning, but I thought that was normal.
As a young mother, I tried to get into shape by running. My lungs would hurt so I learned that I could quick-walk 4 miles in 45 minutes, and felt like that was good enough.
As a singer, I battled the "winter cough" every year. It would start in the fall and last through winter. It was annoying, but I never really thought much of it.
I could feel a constant drainage down the back of my throat, and thought the phlegm that I was constantly coughing up was because of that... Well, that's partially right.
I went to an ear-nose-throat specialist once, and he said I had scar tissue on my vocal cords (no doubt from all of those years as a cheerleader yelling myself hoarse and being proud of it) and that I also had some nodes in my sinuses. He said that they could surgically remove them, but that they would probably just grow back.
Later, I went to another ear-nose-throat guy who said I didn't have any nodes, and that the urge to swallow was being caused by acid reflux, not true drainage.
So, then I wondered where all of the phlegm I constantly dig up was coming from. It's not that I like the taste!
Finally, one day I was having a coughing fit that was particularly difficult. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I've had many years of tightness in my chest, and difficulty breathing, but I thought it was just stress.
Dave suggested that I see our doctor. He said it was asthma.
The rumbling in my chest as I was breathing was not even funny! I had just gotten so used to it (this last cough had been going on for about 9 months) that I thought life was just going to be like this for me from now on.... Silly!
Dr. Fuller said that when the muscles in our lungs spasm and tighten, they create mucus. That's one part of it...
I went to an allergist who tested me to see if an allergy was the catalyst for these flair ups... The skin test showed that I'm only mildly allergic to an outdoor type of mold. They did a blood test to verify it because it is very unusual to be so allergy-free. The blood test (once the lady was finally able to get some blood out of me after a few tries!) confirmed the same results.
Okay, so if it wasn't allergies, what starts this every year?
We still don't know, but the inhaler I've been using has helped a lot! And I take some nose drops to help with the drainage. Long yucky subject, but the result is...
Now I know what has been going on for all of these years! Duh!