The truth

[deepbreath]

Can anyone tell me what copd was called back in the 1970's

[Hidden]

As far as I'm aware it was called emphysema and chronic bronchitis as they didn't lump them together as copd until more recent years.  x

[Snodgrass in reply to Hidden]

Emphysema and bronchial asthma!

[mrsmummy]

Emphysema and chronic bronchitis - the two conditions covered by the COPD umbrella.

[Jessy11]

I'm sure it was Emphysema & Chronic Bronchitis. My father in law was diagnosed with Emphysema in the early 70's & died in 1978. I don't remember him being prescribed any meds to take & he never stopped smoking. He actually died of a heart attack, poor soul. 🌺

[Hidden]

news-medical.net/health/His...

[y_not in reply to Hidden]

That is fascinating! Thank you.

COPD in the 1600's made me wonder how smoking could be blamed as the cause so I looked at the history of smoking and found this from the science museum:

it [smoking] first reached England in 1565. By the early 1600s the habit was already causing concern. In 1604, King James I wrote ‘A Counterblaste to Tobacco’, which dismissed smoking as ‘loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain [and] dangerous to the lungs’ 

[mskpjb in reply to y_not]

Well I wish King James had shouted a bit louder y_not ! Maybe the tobacco companies hushed it up. What a fortune they`ve made from mugs like me. Sheila xx

[y_not in reply to mskpjb]

I'm in agreement - calculator tells me that I got through something over half a million cigarettes! 

In fairness(?) to the tobacco manufacturers it works out (at today's rates) that I've paid the UK government (including the NHS) over £200,000 in tax!! 

Which is three times as much as I paid to the manufacturer's - maybe government were more than happy to ride the wave as long as possible?

[mskpjb in reply to y_not]

Oooooh y_not don`t work it out ! That makes me feel twice as idiotic. Yes I`m sure the government were reluctant to lose all the tax income. Maybe we could argue that we pre-paid for our treatment ? Sheila x

[Parvati]

COPD/ emphysema/chronic bronchitis, has been around for as long as man - long before smoking. It is just more common in smokers.

[scorpiolass in reply to Parvati]

I think I read somewhere that bronchitis was called the English disease. The Roman forces occupying Britain had it & blamed it on the wet cold weather. X

[Snodgrass]

My GP yesterday acknowledged that working in a stables with hay, straw, wood chips etc on a daily basis probably did as much harm as smoking. Nice to know I have 2 things I can blame!!!!!!

[scorpiolass in reply to Snodgrass]

It probably is; stabled horses get copd. X

[Snodgrass in reply to scorpiolass]

Scorpiolass I ran a school teaching kids, disadvantaged financially and mentally handicapped, for 15 years funded through my husband's job and titchy fees and didn't know that! Would account for much of the broken wind cases. Off loading and stacking 4 tons of hay at a time wouldn't have helped me plus bagging wood chips at local mill as it came down the Shute to save money and mucking out with straw and wood chips. I am surprised I've lasted this long!

[Buzzytruk]

My hubby was diagnosed with mild copd two months ago. Although he gave up smoking 40 years ago  it was felt the cause to be peat.

Working in his nursery on a potting machine 5 days a week with dry peat dust coming up from the peat hopper & conveyors, even though it was damped down.   It was also thought not to have been a help to me just passing through.

Jo.

[cazer]

Think it was called emphysema.

Not sure if spelling correct.!

[onamission]

I don't know why they keep changing the name it doesn't make the condition any better the C stands for chronic I shall be so pleased when the government understands this and stops putting us all through these PIP assessments we are not going to improve  

[y_not in reply to onamission]

Maybe IDS thought we were all just putting it on - obviously he knew far more than any doctor!

Maybe he thinks that PIP assessments are a bit like tablets; the more you take the better you get?

Maybe IDS is a politician because he wasn't bright enough to join the real world of business?

[onamission in reply to y_not]

Tony Blair and Gordon brown who were the instigator of the system and definitely not the sharpest knife in the draw, the Tories should of changed this when the long contract was up for atos this will also cost them votes

[Maximonkey]

Hi deepbreath, it was called COPD.  Some doctors did not call it this but just said you had chronic bronchitis.  My mother suffered from it and our doc always called it COPD.

Treatment hasn't changed much, however, the medical profession now encourages exercise.  I wish it had done this in my mothers time as I am sure she would have lived longer.

Take care Maximonkey

[ericwood992]

Bronchitis.

[carpenter60]

I was to drunk in the seventies to know anything .

[Rosabeth]

I have never smoked a cigarette in my life and certainly had more exercise than most people I was a dancer who walked or rode a bike everywhere at 5.7 I weighed under 8 stone well into my forties I am only a little overweight now and have never been told to lose weight so it's only a little.my bmi is 25. i have always eaten a healthy diet and don't drink so I still have asthma, diabetes and various other problems so don't knock yourselves up over smoking as it got me regardless. I did have a bad case of measles at 3 years old and whooping cough at 5 and that was when my problems started they said I had a weak chest. I never had a single other childhood disease despite being in contact with other children who had various ilnesses my immune system was pretty good. I think I just chose a short straw.. Have a good night Rosabeth.

[FarmerD]

It was usually called" Bronchitis".

[Offcut]

Good Question my Father in Law died of emphysema in the 90's and I would of thought they would of now called it COPD. I had asthma and bronchitis most of my life and even in the 80's my doctor did not recognise asthma as an illness?