Would someone be kind enough to explain peak flow to me ?

[SunshineCake]

Mine is 250. Rubbish, I know as just seen the nurse who told me. I have new inhalers and have to go back for another test. Do I worry or not ?

Depends on your age and height. It's not horrendous but can't tell without those factors

My usual reading is 550 but when I had bronchitis (thought it was a cold so didn't go to doctors for a while) it was down to 210…. I was given steroids and antibiotics to get me well. The fact that they are managing it with inhalers is hopefully a good sign

As the previous poster said it depends on several factors, age, height, fitness levels. Mine is around 350 at the moment, it should be low 400s but I don't have any symptoms and don't need to take my ventolin inhaler so I'm not worried.
If mine drops to 250 I feel ill, I'm wheezy and short of breath and needing lots of ventolin.

Do you have asthma symptoms at 250? If not it might just be the low side of normal for you.

You can get a peak flow meter prescribed or you can buy one from the chemist (£10ish). Taking regular daily readings, two or three times a day is a good way of monitoring your asthma and seeing if there are any triggers.

www.peakflow.com/pefr_normal_values.pdf

The chart shows roughly where someone without Asthma should be based on sex, age & height. If you score less than 85% of your ‘Peak’ when blowing out hard, you may have uncontrolled asthma, lung infection etc.
So if you can plot your age and height on the chart, if will give you an idea of where 250 sits.
I am mid 50s, should be around 400 if fully fit , I am currently blowing 350 so my asthma is under control.
Hope that helps. Don’t worry if you are low, clearly that’s been identified and steps taken to address the problem., asthma Uk website can give you more

Thank you everyone. Sorry I took so long to come back. I forgot I'd posted. I've not been well and memory is rubbish.

My last peak flow was 400 something.

I'm 47, walk 1-2 hours every day.

I had forgotten I have a peak flow thingy so can test myself. I'm starting with a new inhaler tonight.

I think I've been having attacks but thought they were something else.

Peak flow is measured as best of 3 puffs in the meter.
I have COPD from chronic bronchitis so it’s always bad.

47 and how tall? Say you're 5"2 it's really not so bad for an sthmatic. If you were 17 and 6"1 it would potentially be more worrying. Basically it depends on your overall health, asthma severity and so on. It could be fine for you if it's carefully managed. It's a shame you came away from the appointment feeling you needed clarification. Best thing to do is request a personal action plan to fill in and have them add any relevant info from your file. It's a simple way to keep your details in one place and to refer back to. Hope that helps.

Curly I wonder about that chart. My peak of health pf is 380. I'm in my early 40s, so that's well off the bottom of the scale, but no healthcare person has ever shown any concern as it is my normal.

I would be in hospital with a peak flow of 250. It does vary for everyone and it's best to get a referral to an asthma clinic where they can work out your optimum measures and what to do when it drops. I have a nice chart that tells me exactly when to up my inhaler or start steroids and when to see GP or call 999. It's a good idea to keep a chart for a few weeks to see what it is doing, whether it fluctuates, increases or decreases, etc.

I am about 5 foot five.

I've done my first new inhaler puffs. Going to bed soon. Thank you for all your help. I'll read again tomorrow when I can take it in better.