I had a problem breathing yesterday while driving 200 km to get my oxygen unit serviced. I have never had a problem driving before as I have the aircon on ..Then I remembered what the instructions said about using an oxygen concentrator in that you must have a window open or you will use up all the air in the room.
Now the penny dropped when I drive the car with the aircon on I allays recycle the air to keep it cooler but with two of us in the car on a long trip I am now Shure I was running out of oxygen so turned the aircon to flow through ventilation and started feeling better,. There is not a big volume of air in a small car. and I think we had used it up.

@A MyCOPDTeam Member,

I appreciate your continued explanation, but I would explain a couple of things further. The point of the PFT is to measure airflow, determine lung volumes and measure diffusion capacity. Spirometry determines the airflow issues, but the "box" is required at this point to accurately determine lung volumes and diffusion capacity. I was just at a meeting with several docs who have developed a formula using the spirometry values that they believe is very accurate in determining lung volumes. They were encouraging the publication of this formula and it should be done this year. Diffusion is still going to require the box unless there's some sort of breakthrough.

The use of nitrous oxide is for something beyond the typical PFT. It's used to help determine the necessity (or not) of inhaled corticosteroids and measures the level of inflammation using eosinophils and the likelihood (or not) that inhaled corticosteroids will reduce the inflammation. Here's the citation: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC44...

While it's certainly possible that a PFT can wear some patients out and the blow, blow, blow can cause coughing and being short of breath, the chance of triggering something major is very slim. The only immediate danger, and this would be to a very small number of patients who would be identified easily, is a pneumothorax. I would suspect that in most cases, those patients wouldn't have one done.

As for the 6 minute walk, whether for distance or to determine the need for supplemental O2, that's part of good clinical assessment (The American Thoracic Society's guidance is not to use a treadmill, but do a real walk), as is the administration of some measure of quality of life, such as the St. George or the CAT and a good history.

Mentioned Users

A MyCOPDT...

Be SURE and get a copy of the results. That's going to be your most accurate way to track the progression of your disease!

@A MyCOPDTeam Member, thanks for the info. especially about how tiring the test is. I just asked my husband to drive me to my appt. because I wasn't feeling confident enough to drive after. I think I'll treat him to a cup of coffee after the appt. ☕

Mentioned Users

A MyCOPDT...

One of my pulmonologsts says it's outdated and mainly for younger asthma patients, the other relies on it to see if you're stable oxygen-wise or not. Who knows? If I'm "full of mucous" my readings are lower than "normal"...otherwise they are in my normal range.