peak flow patterns?

does anyone else who takes a daily peakflow notice that they get highs and lows roughly on a monthly cycle. I'm not sure why, if I was female then (enough said) but us males don't suffer that problem, so why the pattern?

any suggestion, no matter how daft they sound.

Chris

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Could it be stress related in relation to your work cycle perhaps?

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Morning and Evening Variation

funny this topic came up... I was going to post to ask what kind of peak flow variability people show between morning and evening...

thanks Otter

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hi otter

I have wide variations between morning and evening peak flows. The morning is usually rather low and can be as low as 40% of my best but by evening it can be up to 80% of my best again-if i am well- i am a brittle asthmatic though and im led to believe through discussions with my consultant that this variability is not that uncommon!

I can spot difficulties with my asthma control when my peak flow does not pick up during the day or evening.

Hope this helps otter! Lv kat Xx

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Definitely get daily fluctuation. Usually slightly lower in the morning. I get my best readings at night. Also, asthma is worse at a certain point in my monthly cycle (not your problem tho, I realise!) but my cycle is pretty regular and very much in line with the moon, so maybe it's not my cycle, but the lunar phases. I'm always worse with asthma around the full moon phase. Could it be this for you?

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same here

i am always a lot lower in the morning and i a a bit higher in the evening. i can never get over 400 on the peak flow meter before my ches starts to really hurt. does that happen to anyone else or is it just me?

i think the reason its lower is because do u use the flow meter as soon as you wake up or not?, because if you do then your airways haven't had time to open up yet, i think and during the day the inhaler has worked so the airways are wider and able to let more air out. again thats just my opinion, tell me what you think and feel about what i have said please.

hope it helps and good luck with the peak flow device.

XXXxxxXXX

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thanks all, yes it's usuall for the morning reading to be lower, but not alwsys, hopefully not a huge difference etween morning and night though, <10% is ideal, 10-20% is OK, and 20%+ is usually a sign of poorly controlled asthma.

Kitanda - thanks, the moon phase suggestion was actually along the same lines that I was wondering. must make a note of the moon phases along with the PF readings, and see what results I get.

Melissa - the morning reading as soon as you get up is as far as I know correct, but have you experemented on positions you sleep in. On the side is usually better than on your back, or thats what I've noticed.

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Monthly variations

I also see a monthly pattern emerging after 6 months. Been through three different sets of medication, but am now on Seretide. My assumption was that as the reading falls away towards the end of the cartridge there was less medication coming through, hence lower peak flow readings and nothing so exoitc as moon phases!

I also see a spike through the day i.e. yesterday was tight at 440/460/450, but three days ago it was 400/460/410, there appears to be no reason for the variaiton though.

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Iggins , im on seretide as well, works OK, but I've looked and the fall in the PF reading doesn't correspond to the end of cannister, but nearer the middle. I'm still going to have to try and work out why?

Do you take the reading 3 times a day, or was that morning and night readings? I can get in a single session a reading of 560, then with the next puff 420, so not convinced of the effectiveness of PF reading, but surely averages would be better.

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i didn't know that

As i have just recentley been diagnosed i don't know much except what i read.

i will try the sleeping on my side thing, your proberbly right about it.

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peak flow patterns

Hi Woody-som,

I take the best of three readings, morning, afternmoon and last thing at night. As I still get phlegm on my chest and have to clear my nose overnight my consultant has started me on Singulair, in addition to the Seretide (does anyone else get excited over new medication!) so I'll have to see how this affects my PF readings.

regards

Iggins

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after watching Horizon about our body clocks, it got me thinking on this subject again, and have now found that there is a pattern, and it's roughly linked to our own physical biorythm, Biorhythms are periodic cycles determining our ability in different parts of life. There are four known biorhythm cycles: physical, emotional, intellectual and intuitional. Each of these cycles starts at the time of birth. From this point, each of the cycles starts to rise up through its active phase until it falls back to the zero level

Physical cycle: 23 days, determines strength, stamina, immunity to disease, potency, coordination, resistance to pain

Emotional cycle: 28 days, mental stability, sensitivity, moods

Intellectual cycle: 33 days, ability to learn, memory, analytical functions, logic, decision making

Intuitional cycle: 38 days, instincts, unconscious perception

mybiorhythms.net/ (download software version) or a web based one try bio-chart.com/