hyperinflation on chest xray

[littlebugs]

Hello,
I have a question: I have had althsma for years and have it under pretty good control with inhalers. I did a routine chest xray, it showed "hyperinflation". The xray technician told me to take a deep breath before taking the xray, and I took a really deep one - does "hyperinflation" simply reflect the fact that I took a deep breath, or does it have some clinical significance? Would any follow up tests be recommended?

[Inanga]

i was a chronic chest breather for years. I didn't use my diaphragm properly. In order to take a deep breath I overinflated my chest. This led to hyperventilation and panik attackes. I think when your upper chest expand you get a signal that you can' get anough breath so you try harder and enter a visciuos cycle. A few proper low slow diaphragm breaths sort it out. I had several frightening episodes that ended up in hospital - it felt like drowning and that led to massive adrenhalin and so called "panic" attacks. breathing retrainnig with a physio helped - and lots of practice. Also found that food allergies affected my stomach - bloating made it harder for the diaphragm to work against. Avoiding wheat gluten and soy cured the stomach and sinus/mucous problems and breathing has never been easier.

[National Jewish]

Hyperinflation of the lungs means air is trapped in the small airways so the lungs appear larger than usual on the chest x-ray.  This simply means that you were breathing hard when the chest x-ray was taken.  In the short term, it really does not mean anything serious.  This is a very common finding when asthma is poorly controlled, like during an asthma attack.  This same finding is seen in the lungs of chronic smokers.  It can also be due to a virus.  Unless you are a long time smoker, the hyperinflation may mean nothing more than that you need to be checked to be sure your asthma is optimally controlled.