Originally Posted by lungdoc
A good test is a methacoline/histamine challenge - bronchoprovocation where we try to elicit a 20% drop in airflow. If we can't provoke that, you don't have current asthma. If you don't have asthma, you don't have exercise induced asthma. A positive test doesn't prove asthma, a negative test excludes it. Easier than an exercise challenge, though sometimes those are also done. If you're well insured you can even talk yourself into a free V02 Max cardiopulmonary test
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Lungdoc, thanks for the input. So when you talk about a 20% drop in airflow during the challenge, which pulmonary variable do you measure for that drop? I always learned that a 10% fall in FEV1 post-exercise/challenge may be indicative of EIA...not proving that you have EIA, but just may indicate that it's a possibility in that person. Are there other measures that you can look at as well? Does that percentage (10%, 20%) vary with geographic location at all? I think your profile said you live in Canada and I thought that maybe there was a difference because I learned about all of this in the States.
Thanks!