I'm wondering if many people use spirometers at home and track numbers on a weekly or daily basis. I bought a Microlife spirometer back in 2010 when I was on home IVs and working my numbers back to baseline (88%) from 60% and have used it on and off since then.
Since this May I've been looking into how I can push my lungs to be the absolute best they can be. My work and schedule are very demanding and my health has been a limiting factor that I felt could be remedied with some data and well informed changes in regimen. I was maxing out meds so reducing those while maintaining or increasing energy and lung function were my goals. Exercise and supplements seemed like good approaches. I broke out the Microlife spirometer to measure progress.
So here I am 2 months later, my FEV1 numbers have gone from 3.88 L to 4.73 L (80% -> 97%, baseline typically 4.25 or 88%). I'm off Cipro, but still on Bactrim and Colistin/Tobi (depending on the month). I started a few supplements, particularly high dose NAC. Exercise has been increased but very inconsistent. I tested FEV1 fluctuations between treatments, before/after exercise, after coughing up something, different postures, the best method of breathing/blowing that got the highest numbers, making mental notes along the way. I now feel like I understand my disease a TON more as well as what exactly is being measured with FEV1. (I always understood the concept, but putting the numbers to how I feel and actual symptoms in real time proved invaluable) I feel the best I've felt in years and I think (as I had suspected before) that my baseline of 88% is based more on sick visits than when I am healthy. Additionally (and suprisingly at 97%) I am seeing that there's more progress to be made. I'm still feeling symptomatic deeper in my left lung, where all the trouble typically lies for me. For those spots I think I'm going to need different numbers (FEF25%-75%, FEV6, FVC) to detect and understand changes.
So my question is what, if any, spirometer do you use at home? Do you measure consistently? Have you made any interesting correlations? Are there any spirometers that are reasonably priced that measure numbers beyond FEV1? I'd really like to look at FEF25%-75% on a daily basis and run some tests. Having FVC or FEV6 would be very valuable as well. From what I've seen I'd have to drop at least $500 to get a device to read these numbers, which I may consider, but I'm wondering if there's a cheaper option that anyone else has seen or used.
Since this May I've been looking into how I can push my lungs to be the absolute best they can be. My work and schedule are very demanding and my health has been a limiting factor that I felt could be remedied with some data and well informed changes in regimen. I was maxing out meds so reducing those while maintaining or increasing energy and lung function were my goals. Exercise and supplements seemed like good approaches. I broke out the Microlife spirometer to measure progress.
So here I am 2 months later, my FEV1 numbers have gone from 3.88 L to 4.73 L (80% -> 97%, baseline typically 4.25 or 88%). I'm off Cipro, but still on Bactrim and Colistin/Tobi (depending on the month). I started a few supplements, particularly high dose NAC. Exercise has been increased but very inconsistent. I tested FEV1 fluctuations between treatments, before/after exercise, after coughing up something, different postures, the best method of breathing/blowing that got the highest numbers, making mental notes along the way. I now feel like I understand my disease a TON more as well as what exactly is being measured with FEV1. (I always understood the concept, but putting the numbers to how I feel and actual symptoms in real time proved invaluable) I feel the best I've felt in years and I think (as I had suspected before) that my baseline of 88% is based more on sick visits than when I am healthy. Additionally (and suprisingly at 97%) I am seeing that there's more progress to be made. I'm still feeling symptomatic deeper in my left lung, where all the trouble typically lies for me. For those spots I think I'm going to need different numbers (FEF25%-75%, FEV6, FVC) to detect and understand changes.
So my question is what, if any, spirometer do you use at home? Do you measure consistently? Have you made any interesting correlations? Are there any spirometers that are reasonably priced that measure numbers beyond FEV1? I'd really like to look at FEF25%-75% on a daily basis and run some tests. Having FVC or FEV6 would be very valuable as well. From what I've seen I'd have to drop at least $500 to get a device to read these numbers, which I may consider, but I'm wondering if there's a cheaper option that anyone else has seen or used.