As a new member, I am unsure if I am asking this question is relevant in this forum. Today I was informed that my emphysema could ONLY be caused by smoking - true or untrue?
Emphysema.: As a new member, I am... - Lung Conditions C...
Emphysema.
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barneysbull
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Hello, and welcome to the forum. Emphysema is most often attributed to smoking but it is not the only cause. Other irritants can be the cause or an inherited gene. Only your doctors will know what caused yours. Who was it that told you?
It was a NHS respiratory nurse at clinic.
My uncle had it and never smoked at all.xxx
Cheers. I have smoked, but do not and cannot accept that this was the cause of my emphysema. I actually ceased smoking over 25 years ago, and cannot believe it would have taken from then until now to develop.
I agree with you.xx
Hello barneysbull. I packed up smoking 30years ago and in June 2017 I was diagnosed with emphysema and copd and the consultant told me it was caused through smoking. I found it hard to accept that it has taken 30 years to come out. He said that the damage had been done and it takes different times to come out in different people. Difficult to understand but as I have got it I thought well will just have to get on with life. Good luck. 👍🤓
Hi Roysieboy,
I think I may have a better one; I gave up smoking at 51 and two years later I came down with badder cancer, which I am still being treated for, and at 89 I was told I have emphysema. If that isn't bad enough, when they diagnosed me with emphysema they said I had 3 small nodules in my right lung but turned out to be non-malignant and was probably caused from smoking for 35 ears before I gave it up but if I had continued smoking would have developed into lung cancer for sure. Just keep going. Chuck (saramana).
Same thing happened to me. I was diagnosed with Emphysema in 2016 and stopped smoking 20 years prior to that. I think I had emphysema since before I quit smoking but it started getting worse as I aged.
Welcome to you. The info you were given is untrue. Smoking is generally the cause of emphysema but there are other causes too. Xx
Hi
Apart from tobacco smoking .
Other causes of COPD can include:
genetic reasons (alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency)
occupational dusts and chemicals
second hand smoke
frequent lung infections as a child
wood smoke and other biomass (animal dung, crop residues) fuel used for cooking.
Many thanks - my employment background was, in my humble opinion, guilty of causing my only recently confirmed emphysema. Unfortunately, because of todays meeting, I needed reassuring that my own opinion is as equally sound as that of a professional in the NHS.
Most of the nurses are great but a few...are not so great. As I said, smoking is the most likely culprit but smoke, fumes, dust, etc. can also damage the lungs, as can Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Have a look at some of the BLF leaflets.
blf.org.uk/search/site/leaf... and some further reading on A1AD - ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/a...
Thanks for the link to the info on A1AD. When I asked my " expert " nurse about this some time ago, I got the response that she had " never heard of that ". End of subject.
Maybe she should join here? 
I asked my Nurse about being tested for that yesterday as I’m newly diagnosed at age 62 and never smoked in my life.
She said she will look into that and is seeing me next week. I got my new Relvar Ellipta inhaler yesterday so hoping for some better relief xxx
Untrue but smoking is one off the biggest culprits x
Many Thanks. I will agree that evidence suggests that to be true, thankfully most of my own children and grandchildren are aware! I was born into a generation where smoking was considered a 'way-of-life', and perfectly non-sexist in its choice of victims.
And if you watch an old film or television programme even of “only” 30 years ago, everyone is smoking all the time, anywhere! Unfortunately damage done way back despite many years of non-smoking can make itself known a long way down the line. It’s just luck of the draw really ☹️
Smoking was allowed in so many places as you say beech 'only' 30 years ago......pubs, restaurants, buses, trains, work places, school staff rooms, cinemas, homes.......and hospitals. I used to share the day room with smoking hospital staff 24 years ago.
We also had coal fires, high emission transport, childhood diseases like whooping cough and less health and safety regulations at work.
As you say just luck of the draw I guess.
I was told sometime ago that anyone who has smoked, even if only for a short period of time, will have emphysema. Of course the longer you smoke etc. will make a difference. But as others have said many other things will also play a part. Over the years I did part time cleaning jobs (not helpful to lungs) my main employment in a wood mill for films (not helpful to lungs) lived as a kid in London during the good old days of smog's (not good for lungs). Now live near Heathrow airport/ M4/25 (not good for lungs).
As as 'smoking' was seen as the 'in thing' to do years ago, I think this new idea of 'vaporing' will be something that will also come back in years to come to bit them in the back side?!
I was diagnosed with it 20 years ago. I was a smoker but also spent my life as an electrician. I was told that I would have gotten it anyhow but my job brought on sooner.
Hi Chris b52. I am newly diagnosed and not yet sure of anything, just really frightened about what happens next,
You say you were diagnosed 20 years ago? Is that correct?
I was actually diagnosed with COPD in the mud 90s but that was before the internet and I didn't know what it was. I was diagnosed with emphysema in 97. I was 39 at the time. Honestly the disease really didn't start effecting me until about 5 years ago. I live in Arizona and I was still swimming and hiking. I quit smoking in 97 that and exercise I think keep it at bay. The thought of it is worse than it's bite. Even now except for bringing O2 with me everywhere I can still do most things I want.
Sadly smoking has become the main stay excuse for causing lung conditions, however as we here on the forum know there are several other causes contributing to lung illness. Roy Castle never smoked in his life but died of lung cancer presumed to be from passive smoking. Welcome to the site.
Welcome!
My mother and her father died of Empysema-I have COPD only smoked 10 per day stopped 25yrs ago-Chest consultant said it was genetic in my family-and to make sure my daughters stop or they too would get it later in life-
Education helps
Janzo
As a respiratory nurse I would expect that someone would have smoked the equivalent of 20 per day for 20 years (10 per day for 40yrs) for smoking to be the cause of copd. I would normally do a blood test to check for alpha 1anti trypsin in those under 40 or those that don't have this smoking history to see if it is genetic. Occupational dust is another consideration. I am noticing more employers bringing in the use of masks etc to try and reduce this risk
That may be what you've mostly observed Carole, but Ive read in a research paper fairly recently, sorry don't have the link, that 10 a day for 20 years is plenty to cause emphysema. I smoked 10 pack years (10 a day for 20 years), and I quit 15 years before dx. Though since that was at mid-moderate, I obviously had it earlier. I find a huge variation in what respiratory practitioners say.
Both and, I think. My mother died of emphysema 17 years ago. I was diagnosed with COPD 4 years ago, aged 61, having smoked for 15 years but stopped 30 years ago. I think I have a genetic predisposition to lung problems, but also that smoki g is extremely bad for the lungs and has contributed to my condition. I’m so kicking myself for smoking as a carefree young thing...
It is normal to obsess about what causes it when you are first diagnosed, and I mean no disrespect when I say 'obsess'. We try to make sense out of what feels like a desperate situation, and especially if we gave up years before or didn't smoke that much.
Any or none of the following - smoking, occupational and environmental pollution, and hereditary factors - can cause copd. The stats Ive heard of from respiratory practitioners are that only 20% of people who smoke get emphysema, i.e. 80% don't get it, and 20% of people with copd have never smoked.
I believe that the stigma associated with copd due to smoking gives rise to an over-emphasis on causation which for me is pointless - if it's happened, then it's happened. I find people often ask me if I smoked, to which I reply with the stats Ive quoted above, prefacing that with "it's interesting you should ask, but 20% of people who smoke etc etc - and that's all you need to know" - i.e. it's none of your damn business.
Hey Barn~ welcome and whatever your questions may be somebody in this group will likely be able to relate or point ya in the right direction. I feel like you’re fishing for another answer. If you do, in fact smoke, that’s where ya got it. If you never smoked cigarettes then there’s another story and you certainly got it elsewhere. And the word emphysema is thrown around quite loosely in some hospitals. My week on life support in 2012 had me awaking to the words: emphysema, pneumonia, CoPD and all related terms. Then I saw my PCP and she said” you don’t have emphysema you have this, that and the other but not that” here in the USA they use the term COPD as all encompassing breathing issues whether it’s related to allergies or lung cancer. Bottom line is DONT SMOKE my friend, I feel like you are searching for someone to co-sign for you to smoke. Nobody’s gonna do that b/cuz most of us understand how it feels to not be able to breath and we accept that has happened from our past years of those cigs and we know in order to breath smoking is no longer one of our options no matter how much we miss smoking or think”one won’t hurt” and that same”one won’t hurt” put me in hospital w/pneumonia for a week in 2016. But yes you could get emphysema if you perhaps worked w/asbestos or you were a firefighter. Hope you get what ya came for out of this forum🖖✌️
My question in no way suggests that I am searching for any kind of approval - if I did decide to return to 'sucking the tarstick', then it would be my choice and I would certainly not come to a forum such as this to seek acceptance for such a stupid move. I purely and simply needed reassurance that not all advice, even when given by so-called speciallists is factual. This has been reinforced by almost all of the contributions here, for which I am truly grateful.xx
Untrue there are various factories which can cause Emphysema however Smoking is one of the main causes.
Not true we had one lady in another forum just this week and she claimed to only in her mid 40's very athletic cycling running etc and has been all her life and was diagnosed in Jan with emphysema. Said she never smoked in her life so how could she have got emphysema. Had the Gene test and was negative.
LungNorm
Hello barneysbull, my cats called Barney so I like the name 🙂welcome to our forum. I have very severe Emphaseama and was told it was due to smoking as I smoked for 40 years, but I feel it's the easy way out of the discussion for doctors. It's like "well what do you expect after smoking all those years" also they are adament about it and over ride other risk factors. We all know smoking is bad for us and I chose to give up the same as other people, but like it has already been said there are other reasons. 🤔
Hi my father was a smoker most of his life and he died of Emphysema at the age of 83 years! I have never smoked but from birth lived in that environment for 25years and now 46 years on I have been diagnosed with Emphysema/COPD. I understood this to be because of the damage to my lungs all those years ago I’m facing the consequences for that now!!! Back then no one knew about the damage smoking could do even though in my case it was passive ☹️ I am learning that exercise and eating healthy does help. Now the weather has improved I must get back to the gym and make more of an effort as this really does help body and soul 😀 hope you find something that works for you.
Hi, many thanks. I too am finding the change in the weather beneficial. I have just got back from taking my dog for a walk for the first time since returning home from hospital - big bonus! (3500 steps of my 10000 daily - so my daughter informs me! My response - one step at a time please!) We will not be beaten, lifes too short.
You sound like you have a Fitbit too or similar like me. The weather is forecast to be greatly improved this week, so time to get going....😊 Hope to get my lawns mowed as well but that’s on a sit down mower 😀 Have a good week.
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