It took me until my mid-30's to finally get my asthma under control. I moved to a more rural area, and the doctor I see at the clinic I go to took my asthma seriously. He ordered a pulmonary function test at my initial visit for a baseline evaluation, and is very receptive to modifying my treatment plan. I now almost never need my rescue inhaler.

The doctor I saw beforehand at the big city practice was more about volume than quality of care. He was a good doctor, and by all means competent, but it's just the reality of how urban health care works. When I would go in for my normal fall flare ups, the 1-2 minutes I had with my old doctor would either yield something like a Symbicort sample, or he would say that I didn't need a controller medication, and prescribe prednisone. I just accepted as normal to burn through 1-2 rescue inhalers a year. My current doctor tells me to call or come in if I'm using my albuterol inhaler more than twice a week.