Spirometry

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beckydsl

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Hi there. I came on the boarRAB a month ago when I was told had asthmatic bronchitis, no history of asthma. I returned to the doctor with no improvements, chest tightness, coughing, and just general fatigue. I was put on prednisone that is reduced each day for six days, Flonase, 3rd round of antibiotics, and told to continue to use the albuterol inhaler. My doctor now thinks it is allergy related and told me to return to do a spirometry test to check for asthma f I do not see improvements.

I felt significantly better on the prednisone but now that I am done with it, I have been finding myself waking up unable to catch my breath, using the inhaler helps. I also still have occasional chest tightness, nothing as bad as when I had chest tightness that lasted 2 days even with the inhaler, that brought me back to the doctor. I have days when I feel perfectly fine so I am not sure if I should go back to the doctor.

How does the spirometry test show asthma? If I am not having symptoms when I do it, will it show asthma or do I need to make sure I am having symptoms when I do it? I am very overwhelmed by all of this, and have not felt my best for almost 3 months.
 
Spirometry measures your lung function. Generally they'll administer the test 3-4 times (by having you breathe normally then blow out as hard as you can through a small mouthpiece connected to a computer that measures the rate and volume you exhale), give you albuterol, and have you re-take the test to see the difference. There are additional tests that will also show the amount of inflammation in your lungs (by measuring the amount of exhaled nitric oxide).

You don't need to be having symptoms for the test to be accurate
 
I had a spirometer test done a year or so ago and it was normal even though I do have asthma. I thought that was kind of odd myself.
 
Sometimes they will do the test, then administer albuterol to see if the nurabers rise.

Sometimes they measure your lung function, then have you inhale something called methacholine to see if the nurabers drop.

In any case, the doctor may be able to pick up some restriction even if you are feeling well that day. Just don't use your inhaler the day of the test. (Unless you really need to, of course!)

My spirometry results have always been "technically normal," which lead the doctor to undermedicate me at first. The doctor is finally convinced that, while there are some perfectly healthy people who get those nurabers all the time, results right at the bottom of the "normal" range are not healthy for me!
 
Unfortunately, I do think that these breathing issues are going around, especially for those of us who already have a compromised respiratory system. :(

I want you to be assured that you have my sympathy. I have been in similar situations before.
 
Thanks for all your responses. I have been feeling well the past week and then today I am starting to get a cold and the chest tightness is back ever so slightly. I was hoping to wait until next year to do the test because my health insurance has run out for the year, and I am now paying everything out of pocket but if things get bad again, I guess I'll be going back to the docs to do the test.
 
I'm like you janewhite1. My lung function tests are always between 90% and 120% of expected normal. It gets pretty infuriating when some doctors just look at those nurabers and ignore all symptoms. Just because you get a certain percentage on the test doesn't mean that's good or bad for you.
 
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