New asthma toy

There’s a small subset of people with severe asthma, who often don’t sense that they’re asthma symptoms are getting worse until it’s to late — I’m one of those people.

In an attempt to keep better tabs on my constantly fluctuating peak flows , and to identify what the critical values are for me, the clinical airway research folks at UCSF gave me this electronic peak flow meter . I’m supposed to blow into it 4 times a day on a set schedule ; morning, afternoon ,evening and night. In addition , I’m to use it before and after exercise or whenever I start to feel more short of breath than usual.
The device displays and records my peak flows and other pulmonary function data, then stores it for analysis at a later time back at the clinic.

The hope is that by keeping a constant and close tab on my pulmonary functions numbers throughout the day, that I’ll be more likely to recognize the warning signs and symptoms of an impending severe attack, much earlier on. Even a few hours advanced notice could buy me enough time to allow the steroids to do their job, and hopefully reverse the attack before it gets out of hand
Just another tool in my anti-asthma arsenal.

Here’s more of my arsenal. These are just a few of the asthma drugs I take everyday in order to walk: