Advice please

Hi guys..... I'll greatly appreciate any responses

I'm British, 30, smoked 10 yrs, live in a VERY polluted city in latin America I've been out of the UK for 5 years.

quit cigs jan, used to smoke weed and then when started getting a slightly tight chest the following day and/or slight diff breathing in smoky environments quit and removed situations from life, was just hoping it would go away and my lungs were healing ....

then started with increasing tight chest after exposure to smoke... this developed to include some slight mucus prod. this typically happened the morning after being exposed to smoke the night before....

went to the beach for 2 weeks and all symtoms pretty much went away.....I didn't smoke obviously.

got back to city and had some near immediate clues that my lungs weren't happy, slight small little pains or tightness.... this was temporary but got worse after each exposure

saw an ear,nose throat doc and he said respiratory allergies without being specific and gave me a steroid inhaler and some asthma tabs.

took those for a few days after a party bad tightness episode the following day. so I went to see a pulmonologist and he checked me out and said I *might* have early COPD though without doing a PFT....

he put me on celestone, took me off ENT's drugs, a powerful gargling mouth wash as I had a super sore throat esp on one side, an expectorant and antibiotics just in case. the expectorant cleared lungs in about 2 days but inflamed throat like crazy...that got better quick.

left city again and some improvement in symptoms tho went to NY and Phila so although like mountain air compared to home I was still sensitive to irritants, especially perfume I noted started giving me tightness for an hour or two after slightly prolonged exposure (a few mins)

since back I'm now on Zenhale 200/5 2x2 day which I feel helps a bit but it's not a super help. have had some wheezing, maybe 2 or 3 times but since taking meds it's only happened once.

mucus is a minor issue now, after exposure to irritants. cough, none to speak of apart from once or twice every couple of days.... chest tightness for an hour or two following perfume is most noticeable thing.... no idea qwith smoke as I run a mile if someones smoking....

day I got back home from trip (my home here is polluted and at 7200 feet) I woke up with some shortness of breath and a little wheeze was a bit panicky, took inhaler (from ENT) and celestone and within an hour or so I was ok....

what do you think? Any and all replies will be greatly appreciated. several folks on COPD forums have suggested I have asthma rather than COPD.... I need to wait for permission to do a lung function test cos doc says so....

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It could be either - and the way to find out is with proper lung function testing. I'm sure you know that after 10 years of smoking, COPD is the likely issue. I have had asthma since childhood (am now 40) but they now think I have more of a COPD picture though this is uncommon in non smokers. I hope you can get some decent respiratory tests and a treatment plan based on those results.

Lynda