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Respiratory Disorders (Expert Forum)
Had my 2nd Meth. Challenge Test
Answered by
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Had my 2nd Meth. Challenge Test
by Jess2132000, Jun 18, 2004 12:00AM
I went to get a second Meth Challenge test done and the reason for the second test was becasue my first Meth Test I passed had 4 doses but was only off Advair 8 hours before the test so my Pulmonary Dr wanted to rerun the test with me being off Advair for two weeks.The second test was interesting to compare to the first because when I started out this time my lung function was better then when I was on the Adviar. But I had a bigger drop this time and on my 4th dose of the Meth. I hit a postive 20% decrease.I had tightness in the chest and coughing-raspy voice. He said that he wanted me to go blow again harder and get two more results so when I did this I got my numbers above the 20% mark so we went to 5 doses and my reading where still pasting the 20%.He said people with Asthma usually can not get their numbers up on their own. And maybe I was not blowing hard enough.He then gave me a Albuteral treatment at the end and the tightness and coughing seemed to improve. He looked over my last test and said that there was a bigger drop this time then last but still would say that I passed the test. I guess that is up to my Pulmonary Dr to figure out. He said no test was 100% but this test is usually pretty good at ruling out asthma.
Can a person still have mild asthma if they do not hit 20%? Some time my hand held Albuteral seems to help and other times it does not.I know that the Albuteral treatment in the hospital helped. My Pulmonary Dr said some people with asthma can also have Vocal Cord Disfuntion. I guess I just want to make sure that I do not have asthma of any kind.
Can a person still have mild asthma if they do not hit 20%? Some time my hand held Albuteral seems to help and other times it does not.I know that the Albuteral treatment in the hospital helped. My Pulmonary Dr said some people with asthma can also have Vocal Cord Disfuntion. I guess I just want to make sure that I do not have asthma of any kind.
Doctor's Answer
by National Jewish, Jun 28, 2004 12:00AM
, Jun 28, 2004 12:00AM
As you mentioned no test is accurate 100% of the time. However the methacholine challenge is the gold standard for diagnosing asthma. During this breathing test you will blow into a spirometer before and after each increasing dose of an inhaled medicine called methacholine. This test is generally considered to be positive for asthma if the result after the inhaled methacholine is 20% lower than it was before the inhaled methacholine. As the technician who did your testing noted usually people with asthma improve only after getting inhaled albuterol. It is possible to have vocal cord dysfunction (VCD) with or without asthma. Your pulmonary doctor will need to interpret your results in order for you to know the answers to your questions.
Member Comments (2)
by Jess2132000, Jun 18, 2004 12:00AM
I think I made a typo in my last comment When I had my 4th dose of meth. I had a 20% drop but when I did it again I did not have the 20% drop so I was took to blow as hard as I could.On the 5th dose I still was not getting a 205 decrease but was heavy in the chest and coughing with raspy voice.Can it still be asthma or could it be vocal cord disfunction? I felt better after the Albuteral treatment he gave me????I am stumpped??
