Breathing test at hospital

[elanaoali]

Hj all Happy New year Last week I had a battery of breathing test atl respiratory department in my local hospital. This was dine 4/5 weeks after being released from hospital after having pneumonia.

I

Has anyone else done this and would explain them to me.

I have follow up appointment on Wednesday with consultant.

[Troilus]

Hi elanaoali

Yes, I had them done. On each test the technician told me what each test was measuring, so I will try to remember.

The obvious ones are for fev1 and fvc - how much are you can push out in one second and how much air you can exhale (I think they say a “normal’ person can “empty” their lungs in 6 seconds - I think it must of taken me longer because he kept saying keep going , keep going)

There was also tidal breathing - to see if your pattern is regular - the air is going in and out as it should - you are not retaining air. They also calculate your residual volume and your total lung capacity.

He also took a reading of the gases in my breath and then I breathed carbon dioxide? (Might have been something else) This was to measure how effectively the lungs exchange gases.

At the end I had reversibility testing where I took 2 puffs of a blue inhaler to see if this had an effect on fev1 ( test for asthma)

In the follow up appointment with the consultant there wasn’t much talk about the results except the fev1 and the fev1/fvc ratio. I was referred to the in-hospital respiratory clinic which I attended every 6 weeks while they optimised my treatment.

[elanaoali in reply to Troilus]

Thanks for that was helpful. I did one test where you had to do short breaths. There was one with a machine where you had to breath out slowly. Getting the pointer in the green area. I didn't do the breath out as hard as you can. I done that 2/3 weeks previous and developed an hernia from it. So refuse to do it this time.

[CallysMum in reply to elanaoali]

That sounds like the "NO" test. Nitrous dioxide is produced in the lungs as a result of inflammation, so acts as a measure of inflammation.