Peak Flow Meter

[Banjo]

My Wife records her Peak flow to monitor Asthma. I had a sneaky go and blew 750 easilly. My height and age puts 550 as normal. Cheered me up , has to be mostly due to cycling as I dont do much other exercise these days.

 

[lulubel]

Nice. I'm lucky to get half that on a good day (but then I am asthmatic).

You did make sure you held it level, I take it. Pointing it downwards is cheating

 

[Lard Armstrong]

375 is good for me, I am 47, 1.81M, with asthma :-(

But I am still riding ....

 

[loadz]

600 when feeling fine. 41 and asthmatic. Got it pretty well controlled but it don't half annoy you

 

[MattHB]

650-750 for me. I have asthma but it's reasonably managed. I also used to scuba dive which increased my lung fitness hugely.

 

[fenlandpsychocyclist]

Mine is 460-500 with asthma (well controlled). I've been in this range for years.

Peak flow has jack s**t to do with lung capacity by the way, it's just a rough measurement
to show if you're lungs are "restricted" in any way.
I'm fine until i get below 350ml ... then i can't get air in and out quick enough to match my cycling
consumption.

Here's something to ponder:

My friend tried my peak flow meter once (he blew 750).
He can hold his breath for 65 seconds.
I can hold my breath for 130 seconds.

 

[col]

An old work mate and I used to have competitions on the ward years ago, he used to max it out, I was just behind but never managed to max it out.

 

[Manonabike]

I was diagnosed with Asthma in my late 20s and at the time the doctor was surprised that my peak flow was beyond the scale... over 800ml. I used to play football at the time but other than that, no much exercise. In my mid 30's the peak flow was about 780ml. Just before Christmas I had to go back to the Asthma clinic cause something was not right and they wanted to do further tests..... peak flow was 760ml which they said it was equivalent to an athlete in his 30's I just turned 53. (so why do I feel like 90 cycling up hills ? Well, the tests revealed that I have very large lungs ( I had been told that before) - my lungs are very powerful (well, I guess I knew that from the peak flow readings) but the problem was breathing in...... so they changed the medicine and I know feel great

 

[lulubel]

My problem is that my asthma was badly controlled when I was a child. I was born with it and diagnosed at 18 months, but it wasn't really properly under control until I was in my teens. It resulted in permanent damage to my lungs, so it doesn't matter how well it's controlled now, my lungs will never be as good as they could have been. It's something I just have to live with. It doesn't feel like a hardship because I've never known any different, but it must be amazing to have lungs like some of you guys.

 

[fossyant]

They used to have the tests at a place I used to work when there was a fitness test/health promotion. For a laugh I used to always do the lung test, and blew the highest reading (even bigger than some fit guys that were much taller than me). This cycling is good you know, and superb for those with asthma