I have had asthma for 18 years and it has been controlled by various preventative medications as well as an emergency inhaler . The Over the last year I have found it increasingly difficult to exercise; now I m winded after climbing a staircase (about 15 steps). I have always been athletic and have never had so much difficulty. When I really push myself I get sharp pains in the centre of my chest that last sometimes up to three days afterwards. Also, when I lay down at night my chest tightens and it gets dificult to breathe. I recently had an exercise test done by a respiratory technician and my results showed that I dropped 20% after running 5 minutes at 80-90% on a treadmill with a 5% incline. I had very sharp chest pains for almost 3 days afterwards. I have a sister who is asthmatic and also has a heart murmur . Can a murmur cause pain or is this most likely just the asthma?