Is it really asthma?

[kaioss]

About seven years ago my mom had some breathing problems and was diagnosed as having asthma over the few years her breathing has deteriorated meaning she had to retire on grounds of ill health (shes only 48) unfortunately over the last six months shes been admitted to hospital twice as her sats got really bad and the doctors are still claiming its severe asthma and treating just the symptoms not knowing what the cause truely is. What is baffeling is that during her last stay her peak flow was at 550+ but her sats were at 95 on 7li of oxygen (dropping to 89 on no oxygen) with resps of 35 she also had tachycardia about120 bpm. what is so baffeling is the contradiction of the sats to the peak flow this does not seem like asthma as surely the peak flow would be bad as well. we monitor the peak flow daily and on good or bad days its always about 500. we feel a bit brushed off by the doctors and would love to know is it something else that could be wrong here so we can go armed with questions for our next hosp visit please help

[PERKINTINE]

I SYMPATHIZE WITH YOUR PROBLEM.  I'M NOT A DOCTOR, BUT I HAVE HAD ASTHMA FOR YEARS.  I ALSO HAD HIGH PEAK FLOWS WHEN I FELT LIKE MY ASTHMA WAS ACTING UP.  I FINALLY LEARNED AFTER YEARS OF USING MY METER THAT I WAS USING IT WRONG.  I DON'T KNOW IF YOUR MOM MAY HAVE THIS PROBLEM OR NOT.  I WAS 'PUSHING' WITH MY TONGUE AND REALLY PUSHING THE NUMBERS UP; 550-600 ALL THE TIME.  DOCTORS AND NURSES NEVER NOTICED.  I'M STILL NEVER SURE HOW PRECISELY ACCURATE MY NUMBERS ARE NOW, BUT IT MIGHT BE SOMETHING TO CHECK IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY.
GOOD LUCK!

[starion]

What testing has your mom had done?  Has she had a complete PFT test pre & post bronchodilator, with lung volume & diffusion measurements?  Has she had a high resolution CT scan?  When she's at the hospital, are they taking her arterial blood gas measurements to determine her O2 saturation & CO2 levels?  Sometimes those rates are different from the pulse oximetry rates as well.

If your mom's doctors are truly baffled, it may be worthwhile having them refer your mom to a hospital with a great pulmonary department such as National Jewish Medical & Research Center, where she can get a GOOD evaluation and start a good treatment program which will allow her to live a fuller and healthier life with fewer hospitalizations & scares.  If you're interested the website is www.NationalJewish.org.  There may also be other large teaching hospitals with great respiratory departments closer to your mom's home who may be able to help her.

I'm sure the National Jewish LungLine nurse who responds to the questions posted on this website will have more helpful information to share with you and your mom.

Best of luck!  Aloha, Starion