Sweat Chloride Test - Cystic Fibrosis Message Board

meg19 · 06-28-2002, 10:12 AM

I have question about the sweat chloride test procedure. After the electrodes are taken off the area that is stimulated, and the area is washed with a salt free solution, isn't the area supposed to be wiped completely dry? If it isn't and some of the salt free solution gets on the gauze, would it not dilute the results? I questioned the nurse doing the test and she said it didn't matter if the area was wiped dry because it didn't have any salt in it. This didn't make any sense to me because I thought the way the results are calculated is from the amount of sweat collected in the guaze. If the area being tested is not wiped completely dry, I would think the salt free solution would be counted as sweat collected. I am confused. Thank you to anyone who could clear this up for me

BeautifulMess · 06-28-2002, 01:44 PM

Hi meg, im not any help for you, yet if i may ask, why did you have this test done? The reason i ask, is my hubby after coming home from work each evening, if he wears a dark colored shirt, it is almost totally white, or looks like it has been bleached, it appears only where he would sweat...........he mentions that it is from the salts in his sweat.................can you help me with this?

meg19 · 06-28-2002, 04:04 PM

High salt content in sweat is a symptom of cystic fibrosis--but how does he know that it is actually from salt--is he just guessing? If he had cystic fibrosis, even a mild case, it most likely would have been diagnosed by now, and should have a lot of other symptoms (mainly lung problems, which is the reason I had the test). I talked to my husband, as he is in the textile industry, and he explained to me that if a shirt is made of fabric with poor colorfastness, then strong sweat can cause it to lose some of the dye (this is normal and happens to a lot of people who sweat a lot, especially when they're wearing new shirts that don't have good colorfastness). One easy way to tell if this is what's happening is to look at a bright royal blue shirt and see if the places where he sweats turn reddish. I hope this helps.