I've always had asthma and allergies though the only other person in my science class who had a better lung capacity than me was the chick who did triathlons. I think it was the not smoking thing. And the swimming. I used to be able to swim almost all of the 50m pool without coming up for air.

I was told I was allergic to furry pets, dust and pollen and there was no escaping any of them. There was about 4 months after our last pet died and mum getting a new dog where I was a bit better but I figured that if dust and pollen were things I couldn't escape I was going to have pets anyway.

Spent many, many years being so sick with the allergies that I'd lay awake at night unable to move because if I did I'd start sneezing again. I spent most of my childhood and teenage years on polaramine though it never worked very well. Once I was 17 I started taking Rhinocourt nose spray and Seritide puffer and things were much better. A few years ago they stopped working though and I changed to Phenergan 25 each night. My god the dry mouth was awful.
I'd tried the new non-drowsy allergy meds though and they didn't work and cost a fortune.

January this year the doc suggested I get a sinus rinse bottle and try that. I was skeptical but now for the first time in my life I'm not on any allergy med. I don't even remember to do it every day but the trees are in blossom and my eyes aren't itchy and I'm not sneezing all the time. I'm still taking the seritide and my lungs aren't perfect but I can walk to the post office without needing a puffer.

I'm kind of pissed that I wasn't told about the sinus rinse when I was a kid. Squirting water up my nose is not pleasant but compared to the shit I was getting from allergies it's a walk in the park. A walk in the park without sneezing. *g*

Hope you sort out the breathing thing.