Cheating....

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anonymous

New member
Hello,

I have a question about PFTs. If my son does rigourous exercise the morning of his PFTs his % is about 10% better than if he skips it. Are these results real or is he somehow cheating himself in some way...I hope this is clear. Do any of you do anything special before you do this particular test.....

Thank You!!!
 
L

luke

Guest
Nope not cheating.... just smart. I always exercise the morning of and go for a brisk walk right before my PFT?s You will also notice they will probably be higher in the afternoon than in the morning. Both have to do with airway clearance and opening up the lungs. You can actually look at one of the numbers of the PFT to see if there is an effort difference from attempt to attempt. But your son is most definitely not cheating by taking care of himself.




luke
 
A

anonymous

New member
Hi,

I am the original poster. He normally does not exercise like this but only the morning of his PFTs...Is this still OK...I guess I am just curious if he only does it before the test do the results represent a realistic picture of what his actual lung function is...Does this question make sense...

We are aware of how important it is for him to exercise to clear his lungs...he is just not interested on a daily basis but panics before the tests and works out extra hard....

Thanks Luke
 
J

JennifersHope

New member
I always do that as well.. I exercise.. the day of my clinic appointment. I also do extra airway clearance such as doing the vest longer and maybe even an extra nebulizer treatment for good measure.... It really does make a difference.. and it also reminds me how much clearer my lungs would be if I did this every day....(extra treatments and exercise)

I don't know if it is cheating or not, I wouldn't think that it is because from what I understand, the PFts are showing your true lung function, so the higher the numbers the better.

Jennifer
 
A

anonymous

New member
I do good therapy's before my clinic appointment. I used to be very deligent (sp? -I'm tired)and do more intense and thorough therpy's like 2 weeks in advance. But, I usually just shoot for a few days now. I have exercised in the morning. But, usually my clinic appt's are first thing in the morning and I don't like exercising at 530am.

Then I have tossed it out the wind and not exercise and have just done more of my normal therapy's, and really I have done well too. I thought I was going to play with chance, and it worked out alright.

I wouldn't consider exercise cheating. Your son is taking care of himself. We aren't health focused at all? When and where do you ever hear that exercise is cheating? It is kind of funny.

Keep it up, it's great for you son's health.
-Tessa
 
A

anonymous

New member
I see where you are coming from in a sense that it might not be "accurate," or representative of his real health, but if you think about it...if he is doing it each time that the numbers will still be relative to one another and you will notice either a decline or rise.

I, like everyone else, do a whole regimen before an appt. I try to make the appointments for as late as possible, but the latest ones i can get are 11:30...so I usually get up early so I can a) do lots of therapy, etc., and b) be awake for longer...since my lungs feel better the longer i am up and around..


Every once in a while I have dont PFT's at like 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and they are usually about 5 or 6 numbers better than the morning ones. I wish I could do them in the afternoon all the time just so I could see those higher numbers.

He is not cheating, the numbers vary so much anyway and you cant base your life on them or you'll go crazy thinking about them

Caitlin
 
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princessjdc

New member
What I do when I have a doc appointment, I sometimes will bring a balloon with me since it is an hour away from the doc, then I blow in the balloon several times trying to loosen up my lungs so I can get a good reading, but I dont know if that woked or not, cause usually I always make sure I blow in it at least 4 times and they only recommend 3, I think that makes a difference too, cause usally the first time I blow its not good, but the other two are better than the first one. This last appointment I decided to blow 3 times and my pfts was 4% lower, so I felt that if I went ahead and blew the 4th time then maybe it wouldnt of changed. but who knows.
 
E

EB24

New member
If his lungs produce whatever PFT, it is accurate. It isn't like you can have 25% FEV and cheat up to 40%. If you can get to 40, you have 40. See what I mean?
 
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JazzysMom

New member
I am assuming you consider it cheating because of the extra work he puts in just before the appointment. I understand what you are saying, but the point remains that it shows how well his lungs can do. If he went thru that effort & it made no difference that is one thing, but you know the extra work does pay off. I personally dont do anything extra before the appointments. I often dont even do my morning treatmemts depending on how I am doing over all. I would rather have my numbers low & no chances are its because I didnt do my treatment than to "cheat" & have to do it all the time to keep my numbers high!
 
A

anonymous

New member
I am the original poster<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">)

Thank You so much for your replies<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">) I just wanted to make sure this was standard...or I guess what most do.

Thanks Again<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
 
A

anonymous

New member
Since we are talking about cheating, how many of you take long, deep breaths when they have the oxygen saturation thingy-muh-jig hooked up to your finger? I've heard the deep breaths help your 02 sats to be higher so I do that.
 
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mustangmousa

New member
I do that!! I hate the pulse oximeter! It's my enemy! Ha Ha! Especially when they started talking about me going on O2, that's all I did, take huge breaths right before they put it on my finger. If that's cheating, oh well. Doesn't help anyway once I get up and start walking around!
 
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teknogeek1300

New member
Welp, can't say I've ever tried any of these methods :/... But it gets me thinking.... I remember my dad telling me he used to hyper ventilate for a few minutes, then take a breath and swim the hole high-school pool back and forth under water :/. Sounds like I'm on to something...... YAY!
 
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