How to frame question to figure out how lungs are feeling?

[Aboveallislove]

Yesterday I asked ou five year old if the treatments made his lungs feel better and if they ever felt like they needed it. He said sometimes when he hasn't had a breathing treatment in the afternoon after running he feels like they need it. I was trying to decifer if it is his asthma component from exercised induced asthma...normal lung feeling from hard running... or normal mucus moving from cf ...just normal when or have cf...or that something might be going on. He's explained it different ways...like he has gunk in it or a cough or that his lungs feel twitchy. Because I don't k ow what the feelis are, can anyone help me frame questions to try to get him to be able t hel me figure out what he is describing?

 

[ladybird]

For me the best way to figure out my lung function is to attempt a brisk walk. If I am struggling to maintain a brisk pace for 5 minutes, I know I have a problem and probably need hospitalization. (My lung function is low at 43%.) Normally however I am able to walk at a brisk pace for at least 5 minutes.

When I am suffering an exacerbation my chest feels tight, breathing feels shallow and it feels as if the breath goes in and just doesn't really go anywhere, almost like it is immediately expelled on the exhale. I also have a lot of wheezing, rales and crackles.

When I was younger and had better lung function, my lungs felt like "blue sky" when they were clear. There was a sense of expansiveness and openness.

 

[Aboveallislove]

Thanks! Since it is only after exercising and he has an asthmatic component, any idea how to tweek info to determine which?

 

[Melissa75]

If you are trying to make sure he's not calling/thinking that asthma and post-exercise fatigue are the same, then maybe treat him with albuterol after exercise and ask him how he feels 15 min later. Then don't treat him after exercise and ask how he feels 15 min later (use your judgment on the safety of this, please, as I'm not recommending you withhold meds in a dangerous scenario).

I don't have exercise induced asthma, but if I'm already in an exacerbated state or getting over an infection, I need albuterol after exercise. My lungs feel heavy and itchy.

My personal language is "itchy, catchy, heavy, tight, achy." My biggest triggers are smoke and wind, and being sick, of course.

 

[Aboveallislove]

Thanks so much! He hasn't had problems breathing so I've never given him any extra post exercise and doesn't really complain...it was more in discussing how the treatments helped he said it feels like he needs then after exercising. So is your take that it goes away with albuterol then more like asthma induced?

 

[Melissa75]

I think it's really hard to do truly scientific studies on your child or yourself because of the amount of variables that can come into play from day to day...but it's still worth a try imo.

So, yes, I'm thinking that if the albuterol helps, then he may be reporting an exercise induced asthma component or like you mentioned earlier a mucus-moving asthma component. I would treat both in myself--to end the twitch-cough (vs. the appreciated productive cough).

If you had a spirometer, you could maybe look at the numbers for more proof/information too? I think I would ask your doctor what he/she thinks on that because heavy exertion may change some of the numbers independent of asthma...?

Also ask if your dr thinks the negative of untreated asthma outweighs the negative of unnecessary treatment.

 

[Aboveallislove]

Thanks so much! So helpful. Yes, I was trying to figure out how to help him use words to tell me what was going on but also for me to know what they meant. like he was explaining by breathing heavy so maybe he thinks normal exercise fatique means his lungs need treatment? But I like the idea of asking 15 minutes after and seeing what he says. We do have a spirometer but haven't had luck getting good samples yet. Work in progress. And will definitely discuss at client. This isn't an urgent concern or I'd call. I'm just trying to be able to figure it out. They put him on QVar when he coughed with exercising and that went away totally but lately there has been some which is why I'm thinking it might be an asthama component, but again, he doesn't have any difficulty breathing. My biggest issues is that darn CF oversweat, which causes him to drop tro' after we do some heaving running (because his legs are too sweaty!), and me thanking my lucky starts we're doing gym class at home school! ;-)

 

[Melissa75]

Glad I could help a bit. Lol at the dropping trow. I'm a huge sweat-er, so I can relate. And synthetic 'wicking' fabrics make me smell baaad. So I'm a tank-top exerciser 99.9% of the time. Thankfully my legs aren't an issue because I would not wear micro shorts in public.

Good for your son that he's exercising so hard as to work up such a sweat. That is super!