There's your mistake. Don't panic. I have always dealt with attacks by taking the smallest breaths I could, so that they were easier. And take them through the nose; the nose warms and cleans air before it hits your lungs so your lungs don't react even more to cold or some irritant. Stay vertical so that you can use the natural aid of gravity to pull down on the diaphragm.
The critical issue, though, is that you should not be having attacks if your disease is being properly managed. Nobody knows better than I do how horrible long-term oral (systemic) steroid use is, but a short-term burst of steroids, long enough to get established on inhaled steroids, is not damaging.
If your personal physician isn't up to the ocmplexities of managing your disease, try to find a provider who has been trained at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver. This is the nation's foremost center for the treatment of respiratory/immune disorders, and they train a number of physicians each year in the management of particularly difficult cases of asthma. See their website at nationaljewish.org for direction and help on the management of your disease.
[[The critical issue, though, is that you should not be having attacks if your disease is being properly managed.]]
This was mostly before I went on advair- I used to just have the rescue inhalers, and life wasn’t so great then (but was much better than without them)- the attacks would only come when I’d overdo it- running, or hurrying- mostly they would happen during lousy rainy weather if it’d been wet for a few days- humidity was also a killer for me- since being on the advair though, I can do quite a bit more than I used to before gettign to hte point of chest tightness, wheezing, etc- I have slowed down quite a bit htough because of Crohn’s disease as well, but still try to remain as active as possible- just wish I’d had the advair 15 years ago when I was healthier as the asthma inhalers back then weren’t too god- but when I was young, the choices were even worse- that really cramped my active life- had this little device which would crush a pill, and I’d inhale the powder- that stuff didn’t work very well at all
Thanks for hte info- I’ll check that site out