What lung percentage do normal people my age have and how much does that...?

[Enzo2311]

And how much does that percentage drop for them every year?
My last check up said that I have 113% lung capacity (or whatever it is). How much does that percentage drop a year for someone with cf and how much does that percentage drop a year with someone who doesn't have it? What's the average lung capacity a CFer has and a non CFer has?

 

[Cados]

Varies a lot for anybody CF or not. It is hard to put an average on the lung function for somebody with Cf. Some go up, down, up, down within a year. Some slowly decline, some rapidly decline. For me i've lost it in chunks, i was 95-105% up until i was 11, then it got knocked down to 75 that year. Sat between 75-82% for years then when i was 18 i picked up pseudomonas for the third time, although i couldn't rid myself of it. After 10 months i dropped to 52%. I'm now 20 and sit between 50-55%, still profuse levels of pseudomonas.

 

[Printer]

The average person of your age, height and weight would test at 100%. Everything is factored from that.

Bill

 

[CrisDopher]

Additionally, if you get a printout of your PFT results, you'll see the exact numbers that are used as the 100% benchmark. These numbers were taken from a number of healthy subjects a couple of decades ago and, since they do not vary, are what everybody else is measured against. This is a fixed scale, then, not a sliding scale like IQ.

 

[LittleLab4CF]

Thanks guys I have wondered about this measure myself. I have gone from good to even better being at 92% ten years ago to 105% recently. Notably my oxygenation has always been low so like any physical exam, even just the lungs requires balancing several factors to say how healthy your lungs or whatever are.

LL

 

[DonM]

I have looked a lot of places and can't find anything on it, but how and what environment do you pick up a pseudomonas? Luckily I haven't acquired that bacteria but most have so I'm just curious.

 

[scarecrow]

Pseudomonas is one of the most common bacteria. It is virtually everywhere. The problem is when the thick mucus in your lungs traps it, you can very easily get a lung infection and once you get pseudomonas it is very hard to get rid of.

 

[DonM]

Thanks for that, that actually explained a lot considering that every I have read just describes the bacteria itself all scientific like.lol

 

[JustaCFmom]

Our nurse explained to us that PA likes water, so it is often found around the faucets, showers, just water sitting around...

When my kids were first diagnosed last year, the 2 older ones had staph, but the 8 yr old had staph AND PA. We did what they called the "elimination protocol" and, thank G-d!, after 3 months he was all clear and we haven't seen it again. He had to take Ciprofloxacin (?) oral antibiotics, and 2 Tobi inhalations daily.

I think a lot of the problems start when the bugs develope biofilms or resistence to the drugs. I also got the impression that what type of bug is in the lungs may indicate how well the lungs are functioning. I am grateful the other 2 didn't pick it up from him. It is a real pain to have to do the extra inhalations!