OK... I'm a little worried here.
I'm a decent swimmer (not great, not bad). I've swam lakes before, swam a tri before. No problems.

Tonight I added in a wetsuit. I was excited to get out in the lake and give it a try. I got in the suit, no troubles. Got in the lake -- not that cold with the suit on! In my excitement, I took off swimming without a warm up, immediately focusing on my stroke.

Suddenly I realize how much trouble I'm having breathing. I feel like someone is standing on my chest. I pull the suit around a bit, keep going. No better, getting worse. I undid the neck and unzipped about 3 inches to see if it was truly the suit -- I felt like I could pull the chest away from my body with some ease, so it didn't seem that tight.

Soon, I started coughing up lots of liquid -- I had not inhaled any water that I can remember. But my chest was tight and the liquid seemed to be pouring out with each cough -- each deep breath I tried to take in sounded rattling -- wet. I immediately though that this must be what asthma is like. But I don't have asthma!

It has been 3 hours since I got out of the lake -- breast stroked all the way back, calm, but coughing constantly. I am still uncomfortable breathing in deeply, and with any effort to talk or move around, I'm still coughing (improving, but not over it yet).

I'm a little freaked out now -- never been an issue before! What happened?
Any ideas?

I know I didn't warm up, get comfy with the suit -- I will do that next time. But is there such a thing as some type of induced asthma that I could have triggered somehow? I know that cold can, but honestly, I didn't FEEL that cold. My tri last summer was MUCH colder and I didn't have the wetsuit.
Jes