I promised to write on this board & get the message out in the ev...

I promised to write on this board & get the message out in the event that they figured out what was wrong with me after approximately 4 months of progressive shortness of breath. In April/May 2008, I felt a very slight pain in my chest/lung area. At first I thought I may have stretched a muscle during basketball, working out or painting a house. I went to my primary care physician who ordered an X-Ray & a CT Scan. The CT scan showed some consolidation. At this time I had no shortness of breath and played basketball for hours a day. I merely had a very slight feeling of pain in my chest area when breathing deep. My primary care physician based on the xray/ct scan results and my concerns, sent me to a lung specialist. The lung specialist gave me a pulmonary function test, one with and without a bronchiodilater. The specialist indicated that I have Asthma. I refuted & said that I have never been diagnosed with Asthma and how would that be possible? I ran the 2 mile in JR High school, played basketball all the time & am extremely athletic. At the age of 32 I've been working out on the bench with 225 lbs and been playing basketball in leagues forever. In any case, the doctor said that I had exercise induced asthma and stated that I likely had asthma but never caught it. ----- I did not believe it or agree. I was put on Proventil. For whatever reason, I got very sick the next day after visiting with the lung specialist for several days & recovered about 10 days after my visit. I believed it was from taking the bronchiodilater or being on their machine or around all the sick people - who knows to this day. I failed to mention that my specialist did not view my CT Scan or XRay while diagnosing my problem, he relied solely on my Pulmonary test. He said he'd get the CT Scan/XRays, review & give me a follow up call. He never called. I started calling a couple weeks after my visit to see if he had seen my reports, but no response and my condition was not getting better. I tried taking proventil twice a day, then just 20 minutes prior to my basketball game and even during my basketball game. I tried everything, but nothing improved. I dropped off the CT Scan cd for the lung specialist to review, since they stated they never received it from the hospital. --- I had no problem getting it, why would a doctors office have problems getting it & if they couldn't get it, then why weren't they calling me????? Finally in late July, I was able to schedule an appointment with the lung specialist again. The lung specialist did another CT Scan & Pulmonary Test. The verdict after reviewing these tests - the specialist states that I don't have Asthma. I refuted again & pleaded with the doctor that I had a serious problem & could not play basketball like I use to. I could no longer jog 50 yards before short of breath. He then suggested I try their bike test with EKGs and measurements of my breathing. I got on the bike & in approximately 4 minutes I was short of breath and my oxygen levels went from 95 to below 90!!!! I could barely bike anymore. The verdict after the bike test, my lung specialist indicated that the results looked odd, but more than likely it's exercise induced asthma yet again. He prescribed me ADVAIR. I took ADVAIR as prescribed 2x a day. My condition got progressively worse....shortness of breath even worse... it got to a point that I could not walk 100 feet with my briefcase without being short of breath. I was starting to get very irritable & stressed as a result. I read all the online side effects about ADVAIR leading me to this website & was disturbed by the readings like all the others. I scheduled another appointment with the lung specialist to tell him my feelings & that Advair was not helping after a month. He indicated that the report received from my CT SCAN A MONTH AGO showed some calcification in one of my lower left arteries & that I should visit a cardiologist to take a look. He prescribed 2 months more of ADVAIR to see if I'd improve, because it takes time apparently. I met with the cardiologist the next day, they did a Stress Test & Echo cardiogram. The stress test showed up normal & the echo came back ABNORMAL. It indicated that I had pressure on one side of my heart due to the lungs not receiving or exchanging enough oxygen for some unexplained reason!! The cardiologist stated that we'd have to do a Cardiac Cath to determine the cause & treatment. This seemed very major & can be a risky procedure although done frequently I was told. Another CT Scan was performed. AND FORTUNATELY, now listen up..... A VQ SCAN was ordered up to be performed before the Cardiac Cath. During a VQ Scan they inject radio iodine and have you breath-in a radio active substance. THE VQ SCAN SHOWED BLOOD CLOTTING ON BOTH SIDES OF MY LUNGS!!!! I am literally now in the Hospital being treated CORRECTLY for blood clotting and on blood thinners. The moral of the story on this message board for ME is THAT ADVAIR WAS NOT HELPING, BECAUSE IT WAS NOT THE RIGHT TREATMENT. I was MISDIAGNOSED and there was not enough follow up from the doctors in my perception, because it took approximately 4 MONTHS to determine. If I had stayed on ADVAIR, supposedly treating "exercise induced asthma", then I may have DIED due to LUNG FAILURE or HEART FAILURE! DISCLAIMER - I am not a doctor & this is only a synopsis of my personal experience. Again, I promised to share this information, so others could hopefully benefit. My recommendation - If you never had asthma are athletic over the age of 30 and the doctor prescribes ADVAIR for ASTHMA, then I would highly recommend you have a VQ(Perfusion) scan performed. I hope this saves someones misery or life. I'm still in the hospital, they are treating my blood clots and continue to try to determine the cause of my blood clots. If anyone has any theories as to where my small blood clots may have come from, then please oblige.