Rubbish peak flow - what's wrong with me?

[FoxgloveSummers]

I recently got given a peak flow meter and never seem to get above 250. I'm 35 and 5'5 so looking at charts etc it probably should be 400 or more.

If this is "normal" for me does that mean I'm fine? Or might I have asthma or something else? Not that I'm looking for problems, but I do wonder if this explains why I've always been rubbish at sport etc.

Who gave you the meter, and why? Were you shown how to use it properly? If not, I'd strongly suggest you pop into a pharmacy and ask for advice.

A very low reading does not necessarily mean you are fine, even if it is normal for you. Mine was about 55% of where it should be when this was picked up. I am on an inhaler and it's now around 75% (on a good day) of where it should be. I lost a lot of weight and took up exercise which helped a lot and I am on the lowest dose possible of inhaler. You could have asthma although if you don't every have any symptoms you might have something else. I have some kind of small airways disease/damage but they don't really know what or when or why.

You should really get this investigated, although good luck with that given the current state of the NHS.

My DH has been having the same thing 'investigated' for several years now - actually all that has happened is they've given him an inhaler and now don't bother to even ask about peak flow readings. He's very tall and slim and his peak flow is about 2/3 of what it should be at best.

Thanks for replying! The doctor prescribed it when I was there about something completely different after I tried my partner's and was amazed at how low my reading was. I've been shown how to use it so it's not that.

Have the inhalers helped much? I already exercise although I have always found it hard due to getting out of breath easily, even as a slim fit kid. Interesting about improving diet though.

My lung impairment was discovered because I started getting episodes not of breathlessness as such but of feeling that I was not getting enough air when I breathed. It was disconcerting and worrying but I was not gasping madly or anything. The doctors investigated all manner of things, sent me for x rays etc, tried normal inhalers and only after about 2 years did they think to send me for spirometry. (I had never heard of it or I might have raised the question myself). Anyway, that revealed my woeful lung capacity and I was then sent for posher hospital spirometry to confirm the small airways damage. The inhaler is a steroid inhaler (Seretide) that takes time to build up but it did help. Then as I lost weight and got fitter we started reducing the dose. When I was on the lowest dose twice a day we went to once a day. I did go off it completely for a couple of years but the peak flow dropped back and I am back on it once a day now. Given you actually get out of breath easily when exercising (which was never a trigger for my episodes, oddly) I think it would be well worth considering further investigation and maybe trying an inhaler if the doc agrees. The doctor insists I have an emergency inhaler on hand (like asthmatics would use for an acute attack) but I have NEVER felt in need of something like that and it is gathering dust somewhere at the back of a cupboard.

@CovidCurious, do you know what caused the lung impairment in the first place? I am going to prod my dh to ask for spirometry.

@Blupblup - no. The consultant asked me whether I smoked (no), whether I had ever smoked (no, except for the odd cigarette in my late teens and I never inhaled as I was only ever trying to look "cool"), whether I had a history of respiratory illness (no) or family tendency to respiratory illness (no). I lived in London as a child and although the pollution levels back in the 70s were probably nothing like those now, that may have had something to do with it. My mother and other adults smoked around me as a child, so that could have contributed, and I spent a fair bit of time with relatives who heated their houses with open coal fires.

The spirometry was good in that it proved to the GP there was something actually wrong. All his previous tests came up blank and I think he thought I was making it up. The hospital tests were a bit disconcerting, if your DH gets that far. In one of them they put you into an airtight box (made of clear perspex) and have you breathe through a mouthpiece while they intermittently turn off the air supply. It's only for a nanosecond but it's surprisingly unpleasant. The ongoing benefit to me is that I know there is a problem which I can monitor. The inhaler has helped but I am glad to be down to the lowest possible dose, and I am on the right inhaler - they tried previous standard asthma ones which did nothing. I hate taking medication of any kind unless it is strictly necessary so it was important to me to be on the right thing. Because I knew about the lung issue I was inclined to take extra care not to get Covid (got it in the end but am pretty sure it was Omicron which at least doesn't go for the lungs). Also once you are on that pathway you get the flu jab and the pneumonia jab which I am glad of.