I've been in denial since diagnosis, it's easy when your mild. You can blame your age, your weight, next doors wood burner.
I can pretend to be healthy, I can still work, walk the dog, do everything I always could do. I just need an inhaler to make it all possible.
I have mild copd and I am petrified and no one really cares. I'm not ill enough to matter and I don't know what happens next. Can I stop this getting worse? No one can really answer me because no one has studied mild copd.
There's hundreds of thousands like me, encouraged to go for early diagnosis was and then left just hanging.
Do you have mild copd? Please contact me
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Wageslave
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There are people on here with mild COPD Wageslave and l hope they will come and chat. Please don't ever feel alone or that people don't care, on HU we do.
Take care and do speak to your doctor or the helpline on 03000 030 555. Xx
Hi wageslave, please don't feel that no one cares there are lots of lovely people on hear that you can talk to, do you have any family,
I have asthma , mild copd another lung condition and fibromyalgia , there are people here all at different stages and on different medications and tried and tested some others , are you on inhalers for you copd, the doctor can be bad at not explaining as much as we would like and then they wonder why people use the internet,
My mum has really bad copd and last year she could hardly walk around the house but she also smoked but thank fully she has given that up now and she is a lot better , she can even get out and about shopping now so things can get better, she dose have the odd flare up if she gets a chest infection but as long as she takes her inhalers especially her prevener as she was bad for not taking it every night but she is so much better,
I hope that once you get a better understanding of copd and treatments you will relax more , stress isn't good for your breathing so try not to worry too much, you may never get any worse and it's not a death sentence lol, sorry I forget to stop once I start,
I'm sure that you will get lots of tips and information here,
My mate is 76. He's had COPD for more than ten years. When I was diagnosed, he told me, "It's easy lad. Just have a puff of the inhaler evry morning and live your life". We're all different but I hope it's easy for you too.
Hi wageslave you have come to the right place for support, I once had mild copd but ignored all the advice given to me by Dr and consultants I thought I could keep popping the antibiotics and everything would be ok (how ignorant of me) I carried on smoking that was the biggest mistake so if you smoke STOP today take regular excerise these are the two main things. I am now on oxygen 24/7 although I stopped smoking 17yrs ago it was not soon enough you can avoid getting to this stage. I am ok as I have learnt to adjust along the way but would rather be doing the things I enjoy without being connected to the oxygen. Sorry if this sounds harsh but it is fact you beat it
COPD is a catch all diagnosis and the most common one is emphysema which is a progressive disease where the little bubbles in your lungs, in which the oxygen is taken in and the carbon dioxide passed out, start to get bigger by joining up with each other. This means that there is less active lung area and efficiency reduces. It is usually a slow process and the preventer inhaler helps to slow this down and keep the internal airways open. there are other inhalers like Ventolin that are complimentary to the preventer and can be used to overcome shortage of breath between doses of preventer but they are best used via an expansion chamber as they are dificult to use and very little of the spray reaches the required area. Regular exercise is the best way of keeping the lungs going. Unfortunately susceptibility to infection is higher than average and recovery is slower so some places will give antibiotics to keep at home in case of infection to take until you can get to see a GP.
I have mild COPD maybe got it from air pollution. But also had whooping cough as a baby so I think my lungs were weak. I go to the gym 3 times a week, do a 2 hour session. The COPD I have is could Emphysema all this means is aging of the lungs. When I first got it my lung age was diagnosed at 70 Years, now 3 years later it as gone down to 60 years. So the best advice is to stay active, eat God's foods. Not these man made ones. I also now when walking along a main busy road put on my pollution mask. The pollution is what courses this and it is killing many people. Also try not to eat big fish, always go for the small fish they have less pollution in them, due to the big fish eating the small. E.g Tuna not good. Just remember everyone gets emphysema in the end, we just got it a bit earlier due to environment. Yours would be the wood burning.
Everyone starts has mild copd ,Dont be like me I was in denial a long time and smoked and I'm still fighting this demon now .I now have severe copd and I find people dont understand because I look okay ,Do what the medics say and has I have been told something else will probably get you before the copd .It is a progressing illness and cant be has yet cured but many people live long active lifes because they do has they are told ,I found that when I was told I had this I was left hanging like you I had to google a lot and I then frightened myself be careful what sites you get information from this site is brill for information take care x
Lots of people on here would love to join you in your diagnosis of 'mild' COPD. or 'mild' any other lung condition. Be thankful that you were diagnosed in time to help you preserve and protect the lung function you have. I, for one would be over the moon if my Bronchiectasis was mild, rather then very severe and extensive.
I think many of us went through the "nobody cares" stage, my dear. You do matter because so long as your illness is "mild", you can carry on as normally as possible. It's when it gets to "very severe" that problems reach screaming pitch.
What happens next? It will get worse. No doubt about that, unless you find a No. 69 bus in your way tomorrow. What you must do (repeat, must), is make sure that you stay away from anyone with a cold, which will cause you to have an exacerbation, which will damage your lungs. You can do all kinds of things to help to slow down the process: if you smoke, you just _have_ to stop. No two ways about it. Smoking is the greatest cause of COPD. Keep moving -- exercise is another "must", to keep your lungs at maximum capacity. Eat well and healthily. If you have an inhaler (probably a Ventolin, a reliever), use it before you do anything strenuous, so you don't stress your lungs any more than necessary...
I could go on (but won't). We ARE here to listen, to try to help, but self-help is the best answer. Above all, watch out for dark moments which stay dark for too long. They need to be dealt with quickly. Be happy.
Exercise, Exercise, Exercise....Eat a good diet, if your overweight lose it, if your underweight see a dietitian. Some copd suffers use a lot of calories just breathing so you cannot afford to be under weight. Have you had your pneumonia and flu jabs? Take your medications religiously. There are various breathing exercises you can use...All demonstrated on YouTube. There are numerous exercise videos as well. The worst thing you can do is nothing. Walking the dog is great but remember the upper body as well.
I was diagnosed with mild 5 years ago was shok at first never smoked but I was ok b for they told me always had ashma but inhalers kept it under control never realy suferd with breathing problems until they said I had copd all suden my chest was tite had good days and bad days I am 55 male always trained kept fit weights martail arts but this copd thing put me off every thing wanted to pak my life in then after 6 months I got positive thought wot the hell it aint going to beat me now I do have bad days were my chest can b a bit tite but I go to work and am a tree surgeon carrying heavy logs also I have anemia but take irion tabs for that I go the gym and spar on the bag lift weights I can fast walk up ten floors stairs my breathing ok just my legs get tired you got think positive look forward to life and want to beat it so I don't worry about it now if you think of the worse it wil get worse you have think I can beat it attitude b leive me it works I am 60 now and still working hard
I've read everything, it's taken me forever and I appreciate every answer. I realise how hard this is for all of us. Accepting you have COPD is not easy.
I thank everybody for their responses but still, I learn every day.
I still think that those of us with mild copd are ignored, we aren't ill enough to be taken seriously.
I believe mild Copd is reversible with a great deal of hard work.
Exercise as much as possible eat a healthy diet (need a lot more calories to breathe with COPD) Use Inhalers as needed I was on the verge of needing Oxygen started sniffing Eucalyptus Oil no Oxygen at mo & my blood test from earlobe went from just over 7 to well over 9 only problem Euacalyptus Oil can rise b/p so use sparingly if you have Hypertension. Stay away from smoky/dusty atmospheres try to keep weight down or up if needed. Look up Pulmonary Exercises which shw you a lot of exercises to help lungs we are all here
Yes you can halt the progress I have had COPD 20 yrs been near needing Oxygen for years before i took control of it read the first reply & any help needed remember we are here to help each other. I look really well (put a bit of make up on to go out) Have Heart/Lung/Bowel Diseases very high b/p, Obese & waiting for womans op to see if i have Cancer but have started to care more for myself which has made an awful lot of difference to my breathing. Remember we all care for each other here do not be afraid to put messages up XC
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