Asthma and Exercise

I'm going to preface this by saying I have ZERO intention on restarting my exercise routine until after speaking with my pulmonologist next week but I'd like to get an idea of how others in my situation have handled things.

I've always been asthmatic but I haven't really had any major issues with it since elementary school. Once or twice a year I'd get bronchitis and I'd have a little trouble but otherwise I've been symptom free for years.

Before September, I was doing aqua aerobics 2-4 times a week plus walking 2 miles a day and cycling or exercise videos as I felt like. The first week of September, I came down with an upper respiratory infection. A bad one. 2 rounds of antibiotics, 4 rounds of steroids, countless neb and inhaler treatments later the infection is completely gone but the breathing troubles were still hanging around. It got so bad that I ended up in the ER while out of state for my niece's 1st birthday with a pulse ox dipping well into the 80s. Continuous neb treatments for 5 hours plus an IV of magnesium and a shot of steroids finally started getting things under control and within a few days I had the ability to breath deep for the first time in a month and a half.

Now, two weeks later, I'm finally almost back to normal. I can do my everyday life but exercise is still off the table. I can't even go grocery shopping without getting winded. And walking down the flight of stairs to get in my basement is completely out of the question. The asthma that has hardly been a blip on my radar for 30 years now seems to have come back with renewed force.

I'm ticked off and irritated that I can't get back out there and exercise like I want to. And when you add on the weight I regained thanks to the lack of exercise and 4 rounds of steroids in less than 2 months, I'm really not a happy camper.

Again, I have no intention on exercising until my pulomologist gives me the ok but I'd really like to know how other asthmatics handled beginning/restarting an exercise program and any precautions or suggestions that might make things easier. I'd like to have some ideas in mind for when I meet with the doctor on tuesday.

Thanks for reading this long post and for any ideas you might be able to share.