peak flow meters

[Guest guest]

Ursula:

has a tendency to have green or high-yellow peak-flow readings when he

has " rattles " in his chest. Sometimes it's from improper usage--he used to

spit into the peakflow to try to best his best--and other times the rattles

were from a cold or allergies. I do notice that there are times when

's peak-flow readings are low, yet his lungs are perfectly fine and

times when he says he's tight and his readings are high. I started to keep

a diary to help us figure out if there are unknown reasons for this. We

found that at school, there are certain periods of stress when he starts to

tighten up. Our docotrs have said that anxiety will make him feel tight

when his lungs are perfectly normal. ( I'm not saying this is what is going

on with Macey, especially since she is younger than and doesn't have

the same pressures at school, but the diary idea seems a good one for anyone

with a child who has chronic illnesses.) I've also found that when

was around 5 and 6, the peak-flow didn't seem to be as good of an indication

of what was happening as just good old fashioned mother's intuition! Good

luck and I hope this helps a little.

-mom to , dysgammaglobulinemia, luekemia-in remission, etc.;

, allergies and asthma, and , allergies.