copd and smoking

[music]

I hear so many diferant things reguarding the progresion of COPD and know that we are all diferant but have often wonderd if by excerice not smoking and looking after yourself better you can halt this disease and have lungs of someone who dont smoke or it just slows it down more.but then again i suspose if you could halt it that would mean you have not got COPD anymore would it not ?

I sometimes like to think that how long i live with this COPD if i did not have stopped the smoking it would half the time im here...anyway thats good enough for me to keep away from the smoke but still often crave for one after 10 months but just have a murry mint instead but that dont go with the odd beer has a fag did.. O WELL such has life

keep of the smokes everyone best wishes music

[rick1]

You've done the best thing possible stopping smoking, looking after your health in general exercising and taking your medication could slow down or even for the c.o.p.d. to not get any worse is possible.

[frank65 in reply to rick1]

here . here

[Hidden]

Whats the point if all you do is halt the damage is done and there is no turning round and coming back without a time machine. When asked if I want help stopping smoking I say no thanks I am going to enjoy my time not run after the end of the rainbow looking for a pot of gold. Think my doctor is honest with me and I should be the same not like them that tell him they have stopped when they havent. Make your own mind up not get pushed into doing what gets said without any proof that you will live to be a hundred with a magic cure.

nic

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

The point for many could be the difference between.....

living a longer healthier lifestyle, breathing easier, being more active, living successfully with COPD

or.......

a shorter life span, more ill health, increased exacerbations, more difficulty breathing, less ability to enjoy the smallest amount of activity, the condition forever being unstable.

[music in reply to Hidden]

hi blakeyc yep looking at your post i go with that..your lucky you dont live next door to me has would be for ever pestering you for info and advise lol

[Hidden in reply to music]

I usually do only talk lungs when people ask, here in the BLF community or with Breathe Easy friends

[Hitchcock in reply to Hidden]

Well spoken.

[teaky-19]

as someone who has just been given 6 months to live I have copd & pulmonaty fibrosis you would not be keen to be in my position at this time im 59 and can tell you it is better to stay off cigarets and live a healthy lifestyle you would not like what I am going through at the moment.try to stay of cigarets and your progression of your lung disease will not get any worse for a long time good luck

[music in reply to teaky-19]

Thank you teaky 19 for your advise that i will take

[carolg1 in reply to teaky-19]

I know its a sensative question but why at age 59 have you been given 6 months to live, is it more than the copd ,xx

[teaky-19 in reply to carolg1]

carolg 1 ihave replied to this question under steroids and antibiotics sorry didn't see your question

[Lynne1955]

I was diagnosed with moderate COPD 2 years ago. I no longer smoke and I exercise at the gym. My spirometry results have IMPROVED by 18% as a result of the exercise and losing excess weight. So is it worth it? Yes!

I feel better than I have done for a long time.

Lynne xx

[peege in reply to Lynne1955]

Really pleased to hear that Lynne (me too, after PR, learning the breathing techniques and rebuilding the immune system I may no longer have copd )

[Hidden in reply to peege]

Really? no longer have copd? Miraculous.

Hard to say if you are joking or other with your comment to Lynne peeg. either way

stopping smoking and exercise regularly will not normally reverse lung damage, it will however help slow or halt the deterioration in lung health helping to keep the condition stable.

Keep on breathing, keep on exercising, and please do let us know if your doctor says you no longer have COPD, that will be something to celebrate.

[peege in reply to Hidden]

Well I'm probably jumping the gun. when I last saw the con's registrar (I refuse to see the con) she said to go back in Jan and if all's well she'll discharge me from hospital's chest clinic.

Her words when I went in for last appt after the ct scan were "I'm really shocked, nicely shocked, I was expecting to see lots of holes and there aren't any". She showed me the damage on each lung and said I had a beautiful pair.!

I saw COPD on my medical records at the GP (they never actually tol me but then they never actually told me 10 years ago that I have osteopenia either). I'm hoping that was a mistake and that was just poorly controlled asthma for the last few years.

When I go in January I really must take a list of questions, top of the list will be "do I have copd or not"?

I smoked 3 years when young then for 3 years as a mature student & stopped over ten years ago.

x

[Hidden in reply to peege]

I hope you find things work out in your favour peeg.

[kimmy59]

I do see Niccolo's point. I stopped smoking the first night I was taken to hospital 31st December 2011, it took a while to sort my meds out but by the following June I had double pneumonia which took me 3 months to recover from. Undeterred I went to PR dietician and did everything I was told, continued to exercise everyday and for 7 months I felt great. Then end of May I woke up in agony Pneumonia again and I've not been able to get well since, I'm suddenly reliant on oxygen have had several infections and can honestly say I've never felt so ill since I gave up. I've really tried I don't know what else to do.

Kim xxxx

[dukes in reply to kimmy59]

Pneumonia is something that you contract from another person, kimmy, (I picked it up from someone on hospital transport on the way home from 'Lung Function Clinic') so be careful of the company that you keep !

[kimmy59 in reply to dukes]

I know but it's a bit difficult when you work and with the public, I take every lotion and potion to stay well doesn't seem to work though.

Kim xxx

[carolg1 in reply to kimmy59]

Dony feel too defeated kimmy I followed exactly the same path as you and feel the same , very despondent , keep trying to stay away from them is hard when there are no benefits x

[Hidden]

I know lots of people who have become really ill after packing the cigs in !! I too had pneumonia 4 months after stopping smoking but only ill that once, lucky for me! I know what your saying but I do believe smoking keeps things at bay and you were going to get these illnesses whether or not you smoke, I have stayed off cigs and feel better not smoking

[WeymouthJohn]

The overwhelming evidence is that smoking makes things worse. That doesn't mean that stopping will make things better. We humans are so diverse that there is always bound to be someone who smoked eighty a day and lived to be a hundred but you don't get many of them.

I smoked fifty a day and stopped because I wanted a healthier lifestyle. About sixteen years later I "fell for" COPD. At (nearly) seventy I'm quite sure that if I had carried on smoking I wouldn't still be around. I can't prove it but why take the chance?

If you're still breathing don't smoke. There are no guarantees but it certainly improves your chances of staying around.

John

[music in reply to WeymouthJohn]

well said weymouth john and i think this could be very true

[ptliverpool]

We all have good days and bad but I am sure I have more good than bad since my body got used to no smoking. I stopped 9 months ago but I am only feeling the benifit in the last 4-5 months. I am doing very well at Pulmonary Rehab and I know I could not have done these exercises 6 months ago.It's worth giving up just to feel better even if it does not prolong your life. PT x

[kimmy59]

I don't intend to start smoking again anytime soon, I'm just saying I've not felt the benefits of stopping and it's not for the want of trying which depresses me. I feel ill all the time so what's the point.

Kim xxx

[music in reply to kimmy59]

Hi kimmy59 sorry your not feeling the benefits but has weymouth john has said above maybe if you had not stopped smoking you would not be here now or feeling worse..keep up the not smokeing and hope you feel better soon

[kimmy59 in reply to music]

Thank you I'm due to see a consultant on 11th my one is on maternity leave, I'm hoping they might just suggest something to make me feel better she barely looks up from writing never see the point in going. So fingers crossed.

Kim xxxx

[meagan123]

I have been a member of this site for a while but never posted. I have COPD. My father and my gran both had it. My father never did stop smoking he was 82 when he passed away, smoked 40 cigs a day and enjoyed every day of his life at a slower pace than most. He was hospitalised once in the 20 years he had this disease. Never had chest infections and his GP gave him very little help or medication. He never complained just got on with his life.

[music in reply to meagan123]

meagan123 thanks for this info this is amazing just goes to show how we r all differant

[onamission]

I had a similar conversation with my local councillor this morning telling him we can't turn back the clock as the damage is already done, I asked him why people with lung problems finding it difficult to get DLA & ESA and why we did not get the winter fuel payment as we have to keep warm he is the sectary to our local MP and he has sent my letter to the minister of DOWP.