Hi Amanda, I'm Rachel. Hopefully your asthma will get mild soon.
How's
Elidel working for you? I'm looking into getting some...
I don't really know of any non-medicinal treatments, besides magnesium as someone already said. I've actually heard that with some people, caffeine restricts their airways further rather than opening them up. The same goes with alcohol.
I'm pretty sure taking Qvar is a good idea for taking with an upper respiratory infection. Check with your doctor first though, no matter how much you hate him.
Sometimes I notice the thing about the milk also, but I'm not allergic to it. I read in some places that it makes mucus thicker and in other places I read that it doesn't. But for me it seems to gather post-nasal drip or something. I dunno.
Take care.