How should I prepare for spirometry testing?
Your preparation for a spirometry testing is quite simple. Most labs, I would guess all labs, will tell you beforehand or give you a sheet of paper telling you what to do and not to do. But you should wear loose-fitting clothes that will allow you to be comfortable and allow you to take a deep breath, nothing thight-fitting around your neck. You'll want to not smoke before the test, of course you should never smoke, anyway. But before the test, avoid smoking. You'll want to avoid taking any of your inhaled medications prior to the test by six or seven hours. Some labs will say twelve hours. But you don't want to use any of your bronchodilators because we want to see what the lung is like and it's native state without any treatment. You should be reminded that it's painless,there may be on some occasions a request that a blood test go along with it, so the drawing of the blood test which will come from the artery may cause a little discomfort but usually everything is done very simply and very painlessly by the respiratory therapist. And all that data, then, is brought to bear together so that we can diagnose best what is going on with the patient's lungs.
