I went to the doctors today about some infection in my ear, While I was there I told him I was a little concerned about my recent lung function test as it was 66%, a year ago it was 88% (this was done using the spirometer in the nurses station) What puzzled me was that she only took one reading ( I only had to blow into the tube once) I thought you had to have three readings.
Anyway to cut a long story short, last year I also had a test where I had to blow as hard and as fast asI could into this portable cylinder type thing, the reading was 245 ( whatever that means, Today my doc told me to repeat this test there and then and the reading was 378.
I haven't a clue what any of this means, is my todays reading of 378 better than last years reading of 245 ?
Sorry to ask, but I am totally oblivious as to what these reading mean. My GP said I was fine so I just left it at that.
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vangellis
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Hi , I was told spiromerty should be done three times by the respo nurse.
Regarding your reading of 245 etc I'm not really sure what it was you blew into, if it was a peak flow meter this is mainly used to monitor asthma and is used over various periods ie daily in morning and maybe evening over a few weeks to see if it fluctuates, asthma can fluctuate whereas copd stays the same.
Hi l gather you blew in a peak flow meter and 378 is very good the higher the number the better you are, l used to blow about 350 when l was better and it is always the best of three to give a more accurute read.
Hi, Yeah agree it sounds like you blew into a peak flow meter. It measures the fastest rate of airflow you can blow from your lungs. Yes todays reading is better than your last reading - the higher the better. It could be that you were unwell last time you did it. My peak flows went down by 100 of the norm for me recently when I was struggling. It's hard to say if a person's result is good with only that info. They really need to know your age, sex and weight. The key is to find out what is normal for you. Pleased for you vangellis.
Thank's to everyone for thier much appreciated comments. I feel much better now knowing that 378 is a much better reading than 245, I wasn't sure how those readings work, wether the lower the better or higher the better, I would assume higher is best, but thought I'd ask on here just to be sure and get some reassurance. Without going through all my medical history and end up boring you all to death, I have severe clinical depression, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder- (health related) and GAD (generalized anxiety disorder) So you see I don't really want to know too much about my condition as if I found out it was quite bad my ocd would kick in, then I would start worrying obsessively (ocd/gad) then I would go into a deep depressive state, which obviously I don't want.
With regard to my last spiro test the nurse only got me to blow into the tube once, that gave a reading of 66%, last year when I had the same test I had to blow into the tube 3 times the reading was then 88%
So I just keep as active as I can, visit the gym 3 times a week and just try to get on with my life, but it is very hard.
Glad your friends posts have helped you to feel better. Please never think you will 'end up boring us to death'. You are not alone with GAD, nor with depression. Have you tried cognitive behaviour therapy for your OCD? It's not invasive and not a talking therapy - it is learning techniques to help you gain control by turning negative thoughts into positive. You might want to take a peek at this site.
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