hi guys! my name is mark. im 35 yrs old. 3 yrs ago i had pneumothorax(collapsed lung) and my doctor told me that i have emphsyema. like everyone else here, i am also very much concerned abt life expectancy when u have this kind of disease. i get chest pains most of the time and have anxiety attacks. last week was my first time to try spirometry. i would like to ask if the fev1 is different from the fev1/fvc?
my fev1/fvc is 76%. dont know where to locate my fev1. im not sure if this is the one it says pre-rx %pred 94? im not sure if the 94 is my fev1.
thank u!
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mauy22
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Hi, mauy22, and thanks for your post. As I understand it, your fev1/fvc 76% is the amount of your full forced volume that you breathe out in the first second. So 76% of your breath is breathed out in 1 second and the other 24% is breathed out in the rest of that breath. Mine is something the same and I have moderate COPD.
It will be a shock to you to have gone through a pneumothorax and have an emphysema diagnosis, and your understandable anxiety will be making your chest pains worse.
Keep reading what other people post on here and you'll find you may well be able to live a long and enjoyable life despite your condition. Hopefully someone will be along soon with more experience of your condition to comment further.
thank you very much!!! i appreciate it a lot.😊 so what should i expect that will be written from the comment and interpretation of the results of my spirometry? will they indicate that i have mild or moderate emphysema? thank u!
Hi welcome to the site. FVC and FEV1 and 2 different things. Your FEV1 is your lung function. It sounds like it is 76% as you would only have been diagnosed with emphysema if under 90%, not over.
Between 90% and 100% is a variation of the norm, 80% to 90% is mild which puts you at the high end of moderate. My FEV1 is around the same.
As long as you lead a healthy lifestyle ie good diet, not smoking, exercise etc. there is no reason why you can't continue to live a long and healthy life. You must learn to take your lungs very seriously and any infections should be dealt with straightaway as they can further damage your lungs. You must take your meds as prescribed as although there is no cure these can help you manage your condition.
To put it into perspective I was diagnosed around 5 years ago at the age of 56 and mine hasn't changed in all that time. My doctor told me that something else would get me first ie old age
I know it's hard but try not to worry so much and just carry on leading your normal life. I can still do most things including hills and steps (though I do get breathless) and you will be the same. x
thank you very much!!! i appreciate it a lot.😊 so what should i expect that will be written from the comment and interpretation of the results of my spirometry? will they indicate that i have mild or moderate emphysema? thank u!
Hello Mark. I'm not sure you can work out your FEV1 from that figure. You could contact the BLF helpline and they'll explain the results to you. It's 03000 030 555 9-5 Mon-Fri. Theres also lots on the BLF website about COPD (the umbrella term for emphysema & chronic bronchitis) Robin
hi mark welcome to the site , i have the same as you I was 38 when my lung collapsed and told I had emphysema that was 2 years ago ,2 years before it collapsed I was diagnosed with copd , when it did collapse had to have a lung reduction op to remove part of lung to , I get different kinds of pain think it must be a normal thing with this , I have been classed as severe emphysema , but if you take the advice from coughalot 2 we can live well into old age some members have had it over 30 years , im not sure if you had full lung test but on mine the print out gives the fev1 as the first reading on the list , take care good luck
thank you very much!!! i appreciate it a lot.😊 so what should i expect that will be written from the comment and interpretation of the results of my spirometry? will they indicate that i have mild or moderate emphysema? thank u!
that's a hard question really don't get too hung up on the stages thing every one is different in the stages its only a rough guide , The spiromentry test I had at gps showed there was a problem but not over bad but my breathlessness didn't really tally with the results after awhile doctor tried to stop my steroid inhaler I kicked up a fuss got sent to a consultant who done full lung test and ct from them results he wrote to doctor told her to double inhailer under no circumstances stop it as I was severe emphysema when asked him why would she stop it he said because from gp simply spirometry test I wasn't so bad and fv1 was reasonable and I should be so short of breath as I am but from full lung test he could see why and it explained that my dcol was only 36% very basically the air is being trapped in the lung so when breath in the lung still has air in and you don't get full breath there is more to it but that is quick explanation , Its not the same for every one I can only say what happened to me , but don't worry about life expectants we have more change having an accident than from this but do make sure you get flu jab and pneumonia jab as soon as possible , if your breathing suddenly get worse or you bring more gunk up off your chest get to the doctors as soon as possible because we are very prone to chest infection which need controlling asap if he has the slightest feeling it could be an infection you will get anti biotics for infection and steroids to help with the breathing , im on both at min , don't smoke try not to get near people smoking and exercise as much as possible the more you exercise the more your lung will be able to do , and also don't google it to much some articles on there frighten you to death and untrue , if you have any question just ask always happy to help if I can , sorry this is long post hope I haven't board you to much
With the best intentions, quite a lot of inaccurate stuff can get posted on here.. and eventually confuses people, so always best to include a link:
Fev1 (Forced Expiry Volume) is the volume of air that you can blow out in 1 second.
FVC (Forced vital capacity) is the volume of air that can forcibly be blown out after full inspiration.
Normal = should be able to blow 80% (arguably) of your total (FVC) capacity in 1 second.
Fev 1 is measured in litres ( so 2 or 3 or thereabout). If big number 25, 40, 60, 80 etc that is % of predicted (expected from 'normal lungs').
Men have significantly bigger lungs, and so different norms, than women. So:
Predicted numbers is an average of normals of your sex, that include big people with small lungs and small people with big lungs. So taken by itself Fev1 could look 'obstucted' because your blow is less than average... but you could have smaller than average lungs thus actually be normal!
Whilst someone else could blow 90% predicted but have bigger than average lungs and actually be obstructed.
So they need to take into account the size of your own lungs hence the ratio of blow(FEV1) to volume (FVC) where Fev1 divided by Fvc (FEV1/FVC) = 75%, arguably, is bottom of the normal range, or top of the obstructed.. depending on age, and depending of history, smokers likely to be deemed obstructed.
There is another measure that tells where the obstruction occurs. I fail on the last quarter of the FVC blow (FEF 25-75) which indicates small airway obstruction. See link
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