Specialist time or regular care provider?
In all honesty, when reading this sub, I finally realized how bad my asthma might be
I've had asthma as far as I can remember, and my parents say they used to steam the shower when I was a baby to help with wheezing and coughing. I had a nebulizer with one of those fish masks, and I still have/use it twice a day during spring and fall (not the fish mask, unfortunately). My dad also has asthma, but he doesn't have a prescription for inhalers anymore and doesn't need it as much as I do. He spent a couple years growing up in a bubble in the hospital when he was a kid in the early 70s. I've always had a rescue inhaler of some sort, and as far as I can remember, I've had to use it often. Lately, I feel like it's been getting worse. I'm not sure if it's because of the time of year, in which case I can probably hold off on trying to get an appointment. Never been hospitalized for asthma or asthma related issues.
I've listed some stuff below for context, but the above text kinda gets the gist of it. Does it warrant finding a pulmonologist or can my regular PCP deal with it?
Common flare up causes
-Exercise
-Laughing
-Coughing
-Sick
-Allergies (maybe? This is what we've been guessing makes me wake up in the middle of the night not breathing)
-Bad air quality (Dust, pollen, pollution, smoke, etc)
-Low humidity
-Allergies but cooked (I have nut and shellfish allergies, so either of these being in the air makes me wheeze after some time)
-Drinking alcohol (I don't do it often-)
-Intense scents (Sephora, I'm so sorry)
Things I think means it's worse
-Recuse inhaler sometimes doesn't work
-Using rescue inhaler 4-5 times a day regularly (I do work a physical job at an airport which probably doesn't help. Will gladly take suggestions on how to lower this number)
-Not breathing at night
-Back pains/sore intercostal muscles when breathing regularly
-Faster flare ups
-Dizzyness after using inhaler (nearly falling down more than a couple times. Goes away pretty quick though)
Current meds
-90 mcg/actuation Albuterol Sulfate: Current long standing prescription. Used 4-5 times a day since March, one or two puffs after a flare up or before exercise/predictable flare up causes
-45 mcg/actuation Levelbuterol Tartrate: New ish. Had it before, no idea why they stopped it. They just prescribed it again about a week ago. The last time I used it was about a year ago, then they changed it
-0.63 MG/3 ML Solution Albuterol Sulfate: Long standing prescription, probably modified doses as I got older. This one is for the nebulizer, I've had prescriptions for it at least once a year since I was young.
I've had other meds, can't remember the names, but one gave me bad stabbing chest pains when I inhaled, and I'd have to hold my breath until it passed. Happened so much I finally gave up and stopped taking the med