Information about medical problems you've had and their treatments. Detailed list of all jobs and exposures that may have accompanied these occupational activities. Detailed descriptions of your symptoms, including when they began and if anything seems to make them worse or better. You may want to write a list that includes: While you may initially consult your family doctor, he or she may refer you to a pulmonologist - a doctor who specializes in lung disorders. If a hobby is causing the problem, you may have to find a different hobby. You'll need to avoid known triggers as much as possible.įor example, if your job duties expose you to substances that irritate your lungs, talk to your doctor and supervisor at work about ways to protect yourself, such as wearing a pollen mask or personal dust respirator. Your doctor may also measure how efficiently your lungs transfer gases from the air into the bloodstream during exercise.Īnother way to assess how well your lungs are working is to measure the oxygen in your blood with an oximeter - a device that painlessly clamps on your finger.Ī diagnosis of pneumonitis may mean that you'll have to make changes to your lifestyle to protect your health. Computerized tomography gives much greater detail of changes in your lungs than what a chest X-ray can provide.Ī test called spirometry measures the amount of air that you're able to inhale and exhale in a specific period of time. CT scans typically take less than 15 minutes to perform. 
This painless test involves lying on a narrow table that slides into a large, doughnut-shaped machine. CT scans combine X-ray images taken from many different angles into detailed cross-sectional images.
X-rays take only a few minutes to perform. This painless test causes a small amount of radiation to pass through your chest to produce images of your lungs. Imaging tests are useful because in most cases, pneumonia affects only a small, localized portion of your lungs, while the effects of noninfectious pneumonitis are often spread throughout all five lobes of your lungs.
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