I don't smoke. I can breathe better where there are very seldom any motor vehicles, (eg up in the mountains or by the sea, but have no means of moving to such places). An x-ray of my lungs showed nothing at all wrong. Without the nicotine patch I feel too weak to breathe or that it's too much effort. I've been prescribed anti-depressants, tranquilizers, & almost every asthma remedy & none of these seem to help much. (Antidepressants caused akathisia too, & that's how I thought of using nicotine patches. They work against AKATHISIA. It took much research to find this, as well as a lucky experiment on myself. Now I hope a better method than the patch will be developed - since it keeps giving me a rash wherever it's placed.) Thank you for paying attention. Have you heard of anything like this before?