I’ve been thinking a lot about how it’s said our lung function can change up to 10%, even on a daily basis. My lung function dropped 140 mL in one year, when all prior years it had consistently dropped just 20 mL per year.
So, I realize that lung function can vary, but I’m still so afraid. It just seems so uncharacteristic and I can’t figure out why. Every single pulmonary function test had an exact 20 mL drop — until this last one when it plummeted 140.
I have two questions percolating in my brain:
1) I had two pretty awful respiratory infections in the winter and spring of 2024, both of which resolved six months before my pulmonary function test in December. Could they be responsible for the drop in FEV1? Will my lung function ever return or improve?
2) The night before my pulmonary function test, my husband and I attended Christmas Eve service, and we were surrounded by hundreds of burning paraffin wax candles, all of which were blown out during the last song as is tradition. It honestly never even occurred to me that standing there with my candle 4 inches from my nose was an issue, until I felt a burning sensation in my lungs, at which point, I held the burning candle at arms’ length away from me until the service was over. As I said, at the conclusion of the service everyone blew out their candles, which emitted a smokiness in the room from all the candles being extinguished at the same time.
Then 30 hours later, I went for my pulmonary function test. Could this be part of why my FVC and FEV1 numbers plunged so uncharacteristically? My husband thinks next year we should depart the service right before the lighting of the candles.
Please Dr. Mannino and others, please give me your opinions on my two questions. Can respiratory infections cause this huge drop AND will FVC and FEV1 ever recover, and did my exposure to all of those candles have any effect on my pulmonary function test taken just hours later?
Thank you so much, everyone!