Quote:
|
'It's like taking a blood test but not having any blood to analyse'.
|
This is a very bad comparison.
Most reasonable physicians would repeat the test.
If It was truly impossible to draw blood they would be very concerned why and check it out.
You don't order a blood test for fun, but because you truly need to know the results of the test.
Yes, sometimes it requires sitting by a patient's bed for an hour or more, because they veins are destroyed by treatment they received, but you don't just give up.
Quote:
|
I have been told the results of my breathing test are 'uninterpretable' because I was not able to 'perform the task asked of me'.
|
I have been ill with significant respiratory involvement for quite a few years. The only time they were totally unable to measure my vital capacity was when I would have died hadn't I had my own respirator.
All the other times I had very low values, but they were measurable and interpetable. (given that they were seen by a competent physician).
The tests I had which were seen as non-interperparbable were always easy to interpert once they were done properly or interpreted by a competent physician.
For example:
In my first sleep study I had "unexplained" rapid breathing and a "normal" CO2 of 50. In my second sleep study (which was done by a respiratory neuromuscular expert) I had significant CO2 retention due to respiratory muscle weakness. (the numbers were quite similar to those of my "normal"/ "unexplained" test).
During an ischemic lactate test (which was normal) I had unexplained generalized weakness and breathing difficulties. This was due to a well described myasthenic phenomenon.
Quote:
|
Can anyone help me to understand what this result means?
|
It's very hard to answer this question without seeing those results.
Quote:
|
I wish that the test results had come back normal as this would be far more re-assuring.
|
I would too.
Quote:
|
I trust they know what they're talking about.
|
I personally wouldn't. They shouldn't be content with "no results" or results they can't understand. They should have put more efforts into getting those results.
Quote:
|
My breathing has been better recently but I don't know what I would do if it got worse again as it was two months ago.
|
This makes it even more unreasonable that they could not get you to blow into their machine and have interpertable results.
Quote:
|
I added that I am not able to breathe out forcefully as they had asked me to do, trying to do so caused me to become very breathless and faint
|
Sometimes tests can make you feel very unwell. Still, they have to be done properly. You can't analyze someone's blood if he doesn't cooperate with you when you try to draw it. If you are able to breath on your own, and at the same time can't blow into a device they ask you to, it appears that you are not co-operating not that you are having true breathing difficulties.
When you look at a flow-volume loop, it is very easy to see if the person has done it properly or not. Regardless of the underlying pathology, by the end of each cycle (inspirium/expirium) you should reach the same baseline point.
There is a test called MVV in which you have to breath into a tube as deep and fast as you can for less than a minute. When I had it done during one of my exacerbations it nearly got me into full blown respiratory crisis. My oxygenation went down during the test from nearly 100% to 90% and it took me a few hours to recover. Yet, this test was what convinced my pulmonologists that I require respiratory support and had I not put my efforts into doing it, they would have more easily accepted my neurologist's opinion (at that time).