I love Health Unlocked and just recently read some where that if you had a serious illness when you were very young that could be the reason why you have like myself COPD BRONCHITISUS ect only none of my family as far as I know suffer with there chests ect only when I was about two weeks old I caught phenmonia ( if that’s how you spell it and I am wondering now could that be the cause ???just wold like to know am 74 now so it’s a while ago thank you 🐾🐾🐾💛
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Is this true
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Suesal46
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In your case I would say yes its possible if your little lungs were damaged when you caught pneumonia at 2 weeks old. If that was the case though you would have had lung chest problems as you were growing up as well I would have thought, and depending if you smoked or worked in situations where substances may have compromised your lungs further lots of things can accumulate leading to COPD diagnosis, smoking is not at all helpful if your lungs are already damaged.
Of course this is only my personal opinion it does not make it factual, no one here can say its a fact and I suspect not even your doctor can know for sure unless you had a chest xray before and after the pneumonia and I doubt that will have been the case.
You can of course always put the question to your doctor.
Hope you are doing ok at the moment with the Bronchitis.
Stay home and keep safe and well during the lockdown and after.
Best wishes
Suesal46• in reply to
HiBkin thank you for your reply I only found out that my lungs were damaged 15 years after that I was working in a factory and at that time they sent these mobile X-ray s round asking if anyone wanted to have a chest X-ray we could go myself and two friends went thinking of getting out of work when we had it done they said they would let us know by letter and when my letter came they said I had a shadow on my lung and that’s when it all started take care keep well sue Sal 💛
Hi Sue, Well, funny you should say that, because I read the same. I have Chronic Asthma and some Lung damage mostly from a bout of Varicella Pneumonia, I had aged 43. But, the specialist said he could see 5 previous Pneumonia',s on my ex-ray. One he said was really old, damage. I had a bout of Bronchitis aged 2 and it now makes me wonder now, if that was in fact, Pneumonia. I also, had a very bad case of Measles aged 4. Which I read can also, cause damage. I'm 64. No, expert. Just a fellow sufferer. So I imagine that you are right and that early Pneumonia was the start of your problem. I believe these things leave us with a weakness. So that we are then prone to other Lung problems. We are lucky though, that there are Meds to help us. That wouldn't have been available, when we were young. Dee 💙
Thank you for your reply Dubba yes at one time I used to get bronchitis every year it as you know was awfull I just took tabs and went to bed till I felt better I do think you are right these things leave us with weaknesses and other lung problems about two years ago my specialist did some test and diagnosed me with Hemaphilus Influenza am sure have spelt that wrong but because of that my immune system is realy weak and now I seem to get everything that’s going and have a job shaking things off but as my husbands always saying got to KEEP ON TRUCKING an X lorry driver lol take careDubba 🐾🐾💛
You too n your Husband is right! Just gotta "keep on keeping on" From Dee ( an old hippy) 😉✌️
I used to get bronchitis/pneumonia every winter. I wondered how I could change the pattern. I mentioned this to my GP and his reply was “short of going to live somewhere like The Bahamas nothing we can do”. The following year my husband was posted to Bahrain where started the 6 healthiest years of my life.
Hi Kenya yes I know exactly what you mean when we went to Australia for 6 weeks I loved it not a bit of trouble same when I went to Italy I don’t think I hardly coughed ever in the summer hear but as soon as the winter gets going I change for the worst I hate the winter Please BE SAFE I have just seen that 600 people have died today how awful terribly sad love SUESAL 🐾🐾💛💛
I have had a good summer “touch wood” mainly because we have been very careful shielding and isolating since March. Not been exposed to coughs and sneezes. Things are not looking good for the next few months. Hopefully that vaccine will be available soonest. You stay warm, safe and well. Just seen the paws, do you have dogs or cats? XX
I think that Bkin as covered the answer. It is a possibility but I very much doubt that it could be proved one way or the other. The lungs have a certain amount of over capacity and most people would not notice any slight damage. Obviously as the lungs get older they lose capacity and the damage then becomes more noticeable. As you have reached 74 without noticeable lung problems it would suggest that the damage if any was minor.
I think that the important issue now is to preserve the lung function you have as looking in the past will not help. Diet, exercise and other healthy activities will benefit you greatly.
My consultant considered that I have bronchiectasis because I had whooping cough and bronchitis together at the age of two, pre antibiotics. In fact I did read one article that said it was hoped that this cause of bronchiectasis would decline with modern vaccination programmes. Something else for anti-vaxxers to think about. Btw I am 77 and was diagnosed in 2012.
Yes when I was a baby and had phemonia there were no drugs like there is now my doctor told me this would not happen now because they have got the drugs to help it🐾🐾💛💛
Hi Suesal,
there are a number of causes of bronchiectasis. I’m not sure how beneficial it is to know the aetiology of the condition unless there is a genetic cause eg. Cf or PCD. It is true that bronchiectasis can be caused by an insult. In my case I was diagnosed with bronchiectasis at the age of 5 months old in 1948, following double pneumonia and whooping cough. I spent lots of my childhood in hospital. Different times. Penicillin was at that time widely used. I had a double whammy aged 19when I caught measles.
Much better to concentrate on trying to keep well.
Love cx
• in reply tocofdrop-UK
So true C. It is what it is and for 30% of us lifelong bronchs the initial cause of the lung damage isn't known. Keep on keeping on brave lady.x
Suesal46• in reply to
Yes so true littlepom keep on trucking thank you so much for your reply luv sue 💛
Things r so different today.i thing the asian flu of 1957 unbeknowingly started my bronchiectasis, especially as ive fairly recently diacovered ive immune deficiecy, i was born with.haemophillus influenzae is 1 of many nasty bugs we bronchs seem prone to.ask if they will check yr HI antibodies as u can be immunised against it
Damned predictive txt!! I wasnt born with haemophillus influenzae!! But have had many times
Iv just remembered,my mum had home births & her+ dad used to say i was born black!! Obviously baby deprived of 02 + in distress! They never got me looked at by dr 😭!!! Plus they both smoked,q heavilly.
I remember factory smoke and home chimneys - and the bACk blow from lighting coal fire, and paraffin heaters to warm bedrooms.happy days.such a gd recall of past times 😍
Hi Patk1 thank you for your reply a few years ago I was diagnosed with Haemophillus Influenza and don’t think my immune system can shake anything off must have been awful for you in those conditions but then that’s all we had and I suppose very lucky to get through it you take good care of yourself and BE SAFE fingers crossed for this vaccine love SUESAL 💛🐾💛🐾
I think your post was meant for the poster Suesal as she is the one who mentioned HI.
My main pet is pseudo. However I used to be plagued with HI and was referred to an immunologist. The previous one used to vac everyone with HI, but the one I saw said the vac used is for type B, the infection kids get, whereas the HI we get is non type. However I have heard some folks say they have had the vac and have had exacerbations less frequently, so who knows!
Cx
Soz.yes it was meant for Suzie.i was plagued with HI,for years.my immunologist gave me the HI vaccination + pneumococcal.HI not appeared since but recently had a different pneumococcal vaccination,in attempt to reduce infections/pneumonias. Its taken bout 15 YEARS!! to get someone to look at immunity ( ffs!!) Xx
Hi cofdrop yes I have had the vaccination twice at the hospital my specialist there sent me for it I am not sure it did me any good?? And at the moment I have been feeling not so good I have been getting bladder infections quiet regular and that has realy got me down but got to keep on trucking I think what with this lockdown and not going any where but fingers crossed we are all going to get this new vaccine so long as it comes through the test ok 👌 take care cofdrop -uk love SUESAL 🐾🐾💛💛
Interesting. I too had pneumonia as a baby. Whooping cough when I was 4, then years of bronchitis.
Hi Angelagone more or less the same as me had bronchitis more or less every year and now I know why thank you for your reply keep well STAY SAFE everything is crossed now hopefully they have found a vaccine 🐾🐾💛💛
I had whooping cough, measles, Asian flu, and bronchitis as a child.....I remember hallucinating with bronchitis . Then double pneumonia at 47.
I could never keep up with my friends when they were exercising.
But it could be part genetic , or caused by living with smokers .....my grandmother, mother, me, my children were/are all wheezy breathers, short of breath and now my granddaughter has crackly lungs on occasion.
And I must admit I smoked for a short time , forty years ago now.
So difficult to know the cause, thank goodness for antibiotics, except of course I was allergic to penicillin when it was introduced .
Best wishes, and thank you for the thought provoking post.
Hi knitter thank you so much for your reply although by the sound of it you had a pretty rough time of it my bother my sister were nothing like me and no one in the family that’s why I have put it down to my pneumonia Maybe when I was two weeks old I did smoke till 1972 but I was only 3/4 cigs a day and when I had my last baby in 1972 I stopped because as we all know it could harm your baby it was just a thought what crossed my mind when I read something about it but I do believe that having bad illnesses whe you were babies /children has got a lot to do with it and of cause then we never had the tablets to deal with it you take care and BE SAFE LOVE FROM SUESAL 🐾💛🐾💛🐾💛
That is what happened to me., when i was 2-3 years, now have Bronch. I think genetics also plays a part, my mum spent time in a sanatorium when I was young, but I am not a doctor and only speak from personal experience,
Stay safe and take care, sopsx
I have bronchi, but never had any bad lung diseases in childhood, only the usual childhood spotty diseases. I did live in London, so had the benefit of the smog ( I thought it was fun), plus the then usual dose of cigarette smoke on buses, tube trains and at home. My dad smoked, but not that much indoors. So no obvious cause in my case.
Hi Alberta 56 yes this awful Smogs I dident live in London but I lived in Leicester Leicestershire and they were bad enough must have been so much worse in London please take care BE SAFE love SUESAL🐾🐾💛💛
Yes, whooping cough as a child and London smogs for me too. Both parents had had TB (Mum, twice, first in 1939 with no antibiotics, so was in The Brompton and sanatorium in Frimley, and lived to over 95!). I had countless coughs and colds as a child and bronchitis. Dad was an indoor smoker. But yes, Badbessie is right: onwards and upwards. Singing and walking have helped me tremendously, and were responsible for reduction in my lung age! Seriously warm scarves at throat from now on, everyone, when going out for walks.
Love walking but have got to admit during this lockdown and the rain not done no where near as much thank you for your reply B B BE SAFE LOVE sue 🐾🐾💛💛
Amazing, my mum ran rhe village pub, very smokey, and was in a sanatorium and lived to 10:days off 98 with weak lungs!
Sopsx
Hi I think there is some truth in it. I had whooping cough at 6 weeks old. I have asthma and COPD. However my dad smoked and I can remember the London smog and fog and I smoked for a short time plus everyone seemed to be smoking when you went out anywhere.
My consultant asked me if I’d ever had measles as a child ,at the age of 2 my twin sister and I contracted this and I was covered in measles on my torso.He says that may have damaged my lung although I was not diagnosed with Bronchiectasis until in my fifties and had never suffered with chest infections until then x
Hi -a leaflet I was given by my hospital clinic ( about 12 years ago)says that Bronchiectasis is a possible result from having childhood ailments such as measles and whooping cough of which I had the double whammy when I was 4/5 . I too suffered with extremely bad coughing bouts from a young age and found running sports hard work. x
Yes Dickinson I do think it’s a matter of how you got on in your early years when we lived in Leicestershire a village it was then called Shepshed it was a very close knit community the doctor the (dr Patterson used to drop in and see how I was getting on and show my mum how to get the phlegm off my chest leaning over the arm of the chair but of cause they never had the tablets then so they did the best they could for you BE SAFE DICKINSON LOV SUESAL
My consultant sent my CT scan to a center of excellence for an opinion.
I was told I had had a severe chest infection as an infant , no antibiotics were available then , hence the damage . It's similar to copd , but not quite the same . .My occupation called for regular chest x-rays but nothing was ever seen. Or if it was , not recognized.
I remember growing up there were odd events where I would gasp now and then ,but it was when I got to 60 years that the breathlessness really started. I spent 10 years with a diagnosis of Copd from the surgery nurse.
Until I insisted on seeing a chest consultant .
Jo.😊
Ps... I was born in the black country .....Bilston . south Staffordshire ......
Where you awoke each morning to hear the birds coughing .....😁
Thank you for your reply Buzzytruk it made me smile about the birds but oh so true that’s how awful it was then You take care and be Safe love SUESAL 🐾🐾💛💛
I was just up the road in Dudley!
Sopsx
Worrow arr kid. I was a cadet at Burton Road ..H...... that was many moons ago it's all changed alot.
Moved out of Bilston when I was 18. Worked various places
Been in South Linc s about 45 years.Still got old work friends in Sedgeley ,and Gornal............so nice remembering .......
Jo 😁
Worrow to yo. Wow, have not heard that greeting for a long time. Lovely to read your e mail. I went to Brierley Hill Grammar and worked in Dudley. Left there for the heady heights of Solihull. But clearly was not posh enough for them.......
My eldest son lives in Nettleham in Lincs, a lovely village , and i still have family in Wombourne.
Now in Oxfordshire, so have moved around but never far! Have been here for 38 years in the same house. is that sad?
Sopsx
Hi woody49 yes unfortunately you do find this woody thank you for replying to me love sue Sal 🐾💛🐾💛
Hi Suesal. It could indeed be the childhood illness. My late mother told me that until the age of 7 I was very healthy. I then developed what the local doctor called a heavy cold. I became delirious and was rushed to hospital with double pneumonia and my parents were told I wouldn't last the night. I recovered but started with bad asthma and was in and out of hospital until I was 14. The pneumonia had scarred one lung.
At age 19 I started smoking !!!!! Youth !!! I was diagnosed with COPD 15 years ago. The good news is that I am now 72 and in between flare ups I am really happy.
So try not to worry. Just take every day as it comes. Look after yourself.
Ann xxx
Hi AnnieLoisa thank you for replying to my e mail my goodness you are doing really well I just wondered why I would get these things when most of my family were healthy and I had read somewhere that it could have been through childhood illnesses and by the amount of E mails I have had back it’s got to be the reason I hope you are keeping well AnnieLoisa and you just keep safe love SUESAL 🐾🐾🐾🐾💛💛💛💛
I was very healthy until I was 62. No serious childhood diseases. Now have Bronchiectasis and bronchiolitis obliterans.
Never smoked or worked with chemicals etc.
I have bronchiectasis and asthma and had whooping cough at 6 months old which is thought to have damaged my lungs, had chest problems all my life and I'm 72 now!
I had whooping cough aged one in the 1950's and lived in London-as a child can still remember the smog especially on the underground and have had lung troubles since then.
My daughter had pneumonia aged 18 months ,diagnosed quickly and treated with antibiotics and other than mild asthma is fabulous.
So maybe you are right ,lung disease as a youngster years ago may have lifelong consequences.
How lucky we are with the health care we have today.
Keep well.
Hi suesal , like you I always wanted to know why I had bronchiectasis : lung disease . It was suggested it was because I had pneumonia following Asian flu as a child. When I retired I googled “ Pink disease “ as I had this as a 6 month old. Lo and behold this was caused by Steadman’s teething powder which was given to me to ease discomfort. Then I found out that this caused amongst other problems lung damage. I felt so angry that the disease that had blighted my life could have been avoided. Apparently many babies died so should think myself lucky. I am also 74 so just wondered if you had pinks disease as a baby. Before diagnosis I was training as a nurse in my twenties and following lectures on infectious I self diagnosed bronchiectasis. Later confirmed by a consultant. Many lung diseases go undiagnosed during which time more damage is done. More awareness and research is required but the overall attitude is that “coughs” are caused by smoking so little interest is taken. I have never smoked but lived in an area with poor air quality which doesn’t help. I feel that I have to fight for my care in many ways which isn’t easy when you feel ill. Take care all and demand good care in a diplomatic way of course.
I fear diplomacy in asking for care means going on and on at them until they say 'It's that **** woman again- must do something to get her out of my hair'. Unfortunately that's hard to do when you are feeling bad.
It certainly is Alberta when I feel ill nowadays I don’t seem to cope like I did I don’t want to bother anyone but needs must and I stick up for myself a LOT more than I ever did love suesal
I agree that persisting when you feel really ill is tough. I admit to my daughter grabbing the phone off me and talking to the consultant. Soon afterwards I was admitted to hospital and put on IV antibiotics as I had a pseudomonas infection . We all know when we need treatment. Never doubt yourself. Take care. Marlbee
Bless your daughter. My daughter's done something similar. It does help to have someone riding shotgun for you. Take care. xx
Hi I honestly can’t tell you about Pink disease but I must agree with you about have to sometimes fight for you care I was quiet poorly the other week and could only see a Practice Nurse and she was new to the job I had a real job with her because I have had a few anti biotics she actually offered me 2 capsules of Amoxicillin I just said to her you keep them they would not touch me I know they have got a hard job and I know they are trying to safe money for the NHS but I felt so poorly and couldn’t wast my breath any longer but thank goodness they are not all the same and I agree try and be diplomatic 🐾🐾💛💛
I am lucky these days as we now have a respiratory nurse who listens to problems on the phone and relays them to my consultant. Treatment suggestions then follow. I always send a specimen initially to the hospital to put docs in the picture. Before I used to ring the secretary which I never felt comfortable doing but persisted anyway. All patients with lung disease need a specialist respiratory nurse as a contact. Hope you are feeling better. Marl bee.
That was not adequate treatment. Not fair on you; not even very fair on a rookie nurse. Your surgery needs shaking up.
So interesting to read all the comments here! I also had a bad case of pneumonia aged 2 whilst I was having chemo for ALL, always had difficulties with my chest growing up lots of infections and breathlessness but it was never really taken seriously. By the time I was 19 my left lung kept collapsing and in the end had to have surgery, it wasn’t until 4 years after that when I continued to have problems that I had a CT and was diagnosed with bronchiectasis. My consultant told me it was very likely the damage was caused when I had the childhood pneumonia - getting more used to things now and taking better care of myself 
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