Spiromitry

[Purplejane]

I was given an asthma diagnosis abojt 25 years ago and this has been well controlled until the end of last iyear when thijngs hace gone decidedly pear shaped . Three lots of antibiotics just finishing the third now, two courses of pred all different kinds of inhalers thrown me. To cuta very long story short I managed to get an appointment with a consultant privatley, against my proinciples but needs must. He did a few basic tests took a history etc and will offer further tests if what he has decided does not work.

My question is my spiromitry results were as folows FEV 2.87 FVC 3.35 predicted 250/295 is this good, bad or normal. He didn't give any indication as to what this meant . He was however appalled that I had never had one before as it is good tool for diagnosis.

[Minushabens]

There is no 'normal' as such as it is based on your height, age & gender. There's plenty of charts online that can help you assess where you are, but an asthma specialist can also help you interpret it.

This is a good one as it also helps you with the definitions:

patient.info/doctor/spirome...

If your asthma has been well controlled, it's maybe not totally unexpected that you'd not get one down the years, but yes it probably should have been a fairly obvious thing to do if you were reporting deterioration.

It might be worth nudging the various docs to consider other possibilities as well (eg have they done CT scans, sputum samples, etc.?)

[Purplejane in reply to Minushabens]

Thanks for this, now makes much more sense. Everything appears normal. However, I shouldn't think that on it's own it is much of an indication of how things are really. I would have thought symptoms were more important, after all you could be having a good day although if I recall correctly I don't think it was a good day. Other tests have been mentioned if the current medication, Fostair MART 100/6, Nasonex and Lanomprazole doesn't work.

[Minushabens in reply to Purplejane]

It is an important diagnostic, but a good consultant/GP will consider general symptoms, or at alternatives to asthma. Hopefully your consultant will start to find answers. Next appointment, maybe go prepared with some questions & look to move your understanding forwards. People on here will help you with that if you need it