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Athletic Activity with Bronchitis
Aug 28, 2009 08:55AM in the Respiratory Disorders Expert Forum
I agree with your friends who have advised you to “skip the race”. You are only 27 years old, your training will not have gone to waste, and there will be plenty more races in your future. You should definitely take time off, work at being well hydrated and get plenty of rest. The following is more important. While you probably have either bronchiti...
CT chest and PAH
Aug 27, 2009 04:26PM in the Respiratory Disorders Expert Forum
The most important concern for the physicians managing your respiratory problem is to secure adequate ventilation during sleep and, while both awake and asleep, to make sure that your blood is adequately oxygenated at all times. I address that below. The CT measurement of the pulmonary artery size provides a reasonable estimate of the PA diameter but is...
asthma???
Aug 24, 2009 02:46PM in the Asthma and Allergy Expert Forum
There is a correlation between asthma and allergy, especially when the allergic state is as severe as yours would appear to be. It is possible, but unlikely, that four doctors, acting independently, would be mistaken in concluding that you do not have asthma, but the validity of that conclusion would depend, of course, on the comprehensiveness of their evalu...
Outdoor Working in Winter with COPD
Aug 24, 2009 09:52AM in the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder Expert Forum
The decision regarding your job is clearly of the utmost importance to you, especially if it is your only, likely source of income. Fortunately, even with moderate to severe COPD/emphysema, you probably need not give up your job, out of concern regarding further, accelerated lung damage from the cold air exposure. That doesn’t happen. You only need be co...
PFTs and progression of emphysema
Aug 24, 2009 09:46AM in the Respiratory Disorders Expert Forum
Given that your son is just 12 years old, one would in the usual circumstance expect his FEV1 to increase until he attains his full height. Thus looking simply at the absolute value of his FEV1, one might falsely conclude that his lung condition is improving. The predicted value takes the change (increase) with age/height into account and so would, as you s...
Safe to take Inderal?
Aug 24, 2009 09:42AM in the Asthma and Allergy Expert Forum
Yes, Inderal and similar drugs (beta blockers) can worsen asthma, at least to the extent of causing acute worsening of breathing, for a few hours after the drug is taken. However, I know of no evidence that using this drug in this fashion has any effect on the long-term (months-years) course of asthma. I assume that you are taking the short-acting form of t...