Sounds like what I was told... only it was called "non-specious" asthma, back in the 80s. My chest hurt like hell, but I wasn't wheezing. I took so many courses of Prednisone, no wonder I have osteoporosis. And that awful older drug, Theophylline. It felt like I was on speed. This was before all the drugs we have today were invented. I stopped seeing the pulmonologist at that point, and went to an allergist and restarted allergy shots for the 3d time in my life. I felt horrible after every shot, so eventually I quit that, too. As it turns out, a couple of years after I moved back to MA (which cured my asthma), I found out that the allergist who I went to in Tempe (his brother lives near here) was the principal inventor of Advair.
I wish you luck, Pax. I truly understand how you are feeling.