Exercise Tolerance Test

Hello I have been told today that I will be having various tests done tomorrow in the Lung Function Dept when I go to outpatients, I have never had an Exercise Tolerance Test, does anyone know what this involves?

Any replies would be appreciated.

Simi x

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hi Simi,

i have had 2 lots of tests done and have you blowing into a machine each time a different way so they can see how your lungs respond.also they show if your lungs are inflamed.Just had mine done again yesterday as a emergancy apointment as my doc rang up on thursday to get me in pronto as not responding to pred and other things.

the day after seeing the doc had to go AnE as couldnt breath and had tests and a severe chest infection.so when went for the tests I told them all about the hospital.

Had to have the results with a consultant the same time with out waiting to send them to my gp as doc put to bad to wait and urgent xxxxx

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I think i had this test but i dont know if yours might be anything specific. I did a lung funation test as soon as i arrived and then the consultant asked me to run up and down the stairs 7 or 8 times (you may do it on a treadmill though, as our hospital is tiny!). They encourage you to do the whole thing even if you feel bad, and then i had my chest listened to and then when id calmed down a bit did another lung function. Had 10 puffs of my inhaler and then repeated lung function. I hated it as it was so hard and they kind of force you to go on, but im sure they'd never let you get to a dangrous point.

Good luck

Annie x

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*Shudders* Oh yes, I've had one of them and I definitely have EIA. My consultant was most impressed - 'best' case he'd seen as they rushed for the neb and oxygen...

Basically I was told not to take meds before the test and when I got there had the whole usual lung function stuff, some where you blow hard, some long, some with some gas of some sort, all with a painful nose clip!

Then I had to cycle on an exercise bike all rigged up to monitors and with a mask over my mouth and nose that measured lung function, gas exchange and all sorts of other clever stuff and had to keep going at a certain speed for as long as I could and was 'encouraged' to keep going. Afterwards they took more specialised peak flow measurements and gave me an inhaled broncodilator then measured again to look at affect.

As it turns out, yes my asthma gets worse when exercising, but it gets much worse after exercise - apparently this isn't as unusual as it sounds, but I did give the poor man doing the tests a bit of a fright as I was clearly getting worse not better and he went off to get my consultant. Still it was worth it for them to be very clear of the issue and to see what was happening.

Hope that helps and hasn't scared you - for me it was a positive although not very nice experience and has helped in managing my treatment.

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Hi Simi

My exercise tolerance test involved walking on a treadmill which gradually increased in speed from very slow to a fairly fast walking pace, because this was when indicated was out of breath. You wear a pulse oximeter when walking, and don't have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable as the machine can be stopped at any time. I had to complete a couple of inventories as well - I think the MRC dyspnoea scale and the Perceived Exertion Scale. My 'results' at the next appointment were the sats and how far I'd walked.

Hope that helps

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Thank you all everso much for your replies, I feel a bit better knowing I have some idea about what might be happening tomorrow. Oh and thanks for such prompt replies.

simi x