About the Microlife digital peak flow

[majasus]

I just bought a manual digital peak flow from Microlife to measure my fev1 for copd. I tried it and it shows values higher than the doctor's office. I wonder if someone has experience with it and can you please tell me if they accurate compare with other more professional spirometers. Am I wasting my time with it? Should I use the readings as a true value? How many litres/ml difference from others? Any info about this would be great, please. I just got an answer that the Microlife tends to run a little high. I like to know if it is by a much. I want to have an idea that my readings are close to what my real fev1 is. Someone please have more info on this.

[knitter]

Hi, I have just got a ordinary manual peak flow meter from my GP.....just the plastic tube one with a sliding scale...and the reading on mine can differ from the surgery one.

Have you looked at the reviews for the Microlife on The Amazon website?

All I can suggest is that you make an appointment with your respiratory practioner and ask them to compare the readings.

Best wishes.

[Ergendl]

The main thing to check is that the Microlife is reasonably consistent. Then, if it is, even if it does read slightly differently after checking it with the respiratory practitioner, at least it's telling you whether you're okay or not so good. I too have a plastic one and found that differed because of the quantities it measures in. It was really helpful using it while I was taking different meds during the months before diagnosis, but now I've got my COPD diagnosis and the correct inhalers, and I'm off the beta blockers, it's pretty stable at 320 - 360.

[O2Trees]

Hi majasus, i don't quite understand this, maybe there's something Im missing, but a peak flow meter is different to a spirometer which measures copd. A peak flow meter doesn't measure copd, its a measure of asthma.

Unless there is a way that your machine can switch between these two functions, I don't understand what is happening here, or your query. If I'm correct here then there would be no reasons to expect your peak flow meter to give the same reading as the fev1 you get from the doctor's spirometer.

If there is a meter which reliably measures both peak flow and fev1 Id love to hear about it.

[soulsaver in reply to O2Trees]

"If there is a meter which reliably measures both peak flow and fev1 Id love to hear about it. "

There are:

microlife.com/products/asth...

And theirs is not the only one.

[O2Trees in reply to soulsaver]

Thanks soulsaver. Do you have one yourself? And do you know how much they cost? I checked out the link but without logging on i couldn't get further. Energy fails at this point!

If you do have one, are you happy with it, does it work well?

[soulsaver in reply to O2Trees]

Hi O2 - No, I don't have one, I'm happy with the Wrights manual one, at least for now, but had noticed that digital ones with fev1 are available - I don't know which is the best or best value, either. We could do with a Which? report on them From £55ish - one in the link was £70.- & have seen £200 ones.

Best wishes, hope energy improves..

[Offcut]

The best thing to use a peak flow of any type is for a base line reading. If you have a regular reading of say 450 and it goes above that is showing a better exhale if lower a poorer exhale. If it corresponds with SOB it will detect if the lungs or other organs are the cause.

I have RLD and can blow a good Peak so for me it is not a good way of seeing if my lungs are running to their best. But it will give me a marker to see if it is up or down?

Be Well

[soulsaver]

I think we need to be clear - manual is not digital - and peak flow is not Fev1. Peak flow measures the SPEED at which you blow out (usually in litres pers minute); Fev1 is Forced Expiry VOLUME - how much air you can expel forcibly in one second, measured in Litres.

So peakflow will be say 300 litres per minute, whilst Fev1 in the same person could be 2.5 litres.

And maybe you know all that - but it's not clear in your question what meter you're using and what differences you find:

So..

What is the actual measure you are getting with your meter, what spiro measure are you comparing it to?

And if you are looking at Fev1 on your meter, is it consistent day to day? Because Fev1 will vary depending on how much you've eaten, whether its a warm afternoon, or a cold early morning, whether you've used your inhalers.. after exercise..etc. So you will see a slightly different result on spiro at the surgery next time , too.

Best wishes.

[soulsaver]

"manual is not digital..." ..except for prostrate check... lol!

[rubyred777]

Hi Majasus

Your replies for the microlife were all mixed up. Did you find out how accurate it is? I have the piko and the microlife. The piko is very tiny and I don't feel I can blow into it right. It usually says I'm around 145-150. The microlife says 160- 167! Its a much better size to get your

mouth around. A year ago I was 168 at the drs. Hope to get a test done soon to see which is better.😊

Rubyxx 😊 😊