First, a little background. With IPF, your lungs don't process oxygen real well, which means that any form of exertion can leave you gasping for air. One thing that helps make things easier is being in shape. The more in shape you are, the less oxygen your body needs to get things done. As a result, one treatment they recommend is something called pulmonary rehabilitation. I'd gone through it around one and a half years ago and had kept up on exercising since, but just not with the same intensely and as a result I'd slowly slipped into worse and worse shape. So Last month when I saw my pulmonologist, I asked about going again and he agreed that is was a great idea and set things up for me to go again.
Before rehab starts, I have to go through a few tests just to get a baseline for how in shape I am and make sure that my body can handle exercise. The one I like the least, the pulmonary stress test, was yesterday. It isn't that the test is that bad, it's just kind of uncomfortable and annoying. First they wire you up to monitor your heart. Then you climb onto a stationary bike and hook you up to the oxygen. This entails them first putting this thing your head to hold the oxygen tube in place while you are cycling. There's a part that is a band that goes around your head, and then a piece of metal comes out from it to hold the oxygen tube right at your mouth. Next they put a clamp on your nose, so you can only breath through your mouth. You get a clip on your finger to read your oxygen, and they take your blood pressure. Now it's time for the actual test to begin.
Now you start pedaling. You first start off slow, with almost no tension, for three minutes to warm up. As you pedal, they also take your blood pressure every minute and ask how you are doing. After three minutes of pedaling, the tension on the bike slowly increases. And then you just pedal until you are either out of breath or your legs can't do it anymore, then they cut the tension and you cool down and it is over. Then they rip all the pads off for the heart monitor and you can go home.
I did pretty well yesterday. I went for 8 minutes and actually wasn't too wiped out by the end of it. Though, afterwards I felt ravenously hungry and had the munchies bigtime. I wonder if they are related some :). Now, I'm off to finish my coffee and take a nap.
