Cough variant asthma - why have I never heard this phrase until now?

[hedgehog]

I've had this all my life and have been treating it (somewhat sheepishly) with the asthma meds my doctor gave me. I knew it wasn't classic asthman, the meds helped and the doc was willing to prescribe them for me. He's been our family doctor for 25 years and knows that with my technical background (I'm an engineer) that if I ask a question or make a suggestion it's worth considering. He knows my entire family has all sorts of immune system diseases ( allegies, asthma, rosacae, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and lupus), so he goes with what works.