BEEN THINKING OUCH

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I HAD A BOOK MY HUSBAND GOT ME, ON COPD BY A PROFFESER, NOW !!!! OF COURSE THE 1ST THING HE SAYS IS SMOKING IS THE COURSE, OF COPD AND IT,S A HUGE WEIGHT ON HEALTH SERVICES THEN HE QUOTES THE NUMBER , OF MILLIONS OF COPD SUFFERS.......NOW... WHILE I GAVE UP SMOKING 10YRS AGO, AND IN NO WAY , ..DO ...I ...DOUBT..SMOKING IS A BIG CAUSE , SURELY , GLOBAL POLUTION JUST MIGHT ALSO BE TO BLAME?????? OF COURSE IF THIS IS SO , GOVERMENTS WOULD HAVE TO TAKE A SHARE OF THE BLAME , INSTEAD OF THE " MONKEY BEING PUT ON OUR BACKS. ...JUST A THOUGHT LOVE JUDE

[Lynne1955]

Well, although pollution is a contributory factor, I don't think there is any doubt that smoking is the biggest cause, I'm afraid.

Lynne xx

[ivyleaf]

Hi Jude. smoking....ah... yes...well i spose tis the main cause but they are investigating other causes. one of the respiritory doctors who saw me a few years back was discussing this with me. he asked if apart from smoking there was anything else that could have contributed, so i said yes i used to breathe

in a lot of solder smoke in my work.

they started investigating because they were seeing more patients who had never smoked.

mary

[banner in reply to ivyleaf]

mary love sounds bad but in sense that's great that at least they are recognonising that just maybe there are other causes if non smokers are getting copd then ??????? happy new year love xx jude

[jabber]

I've never smoked but I have COPD. I could blame parents and relatives - nearly everyone was a smoker when I was growing up, but my sister has never had any respiratory problems at all, so there must have been some other catalyst that set me off on the path of asthma leading to COPD. I'm glad if the experts are recognising that there could be contributory factors other than smoking.

[Gidge]

Seems to me if you have the genetic tendency for lung diseases then triggers will set them off; my dad worked in Southampton Docks and was heavily to exposed to asbestos when it was imported in hessian sacks. He developed pleural plaques around asbestos fibres, but it was the lifelong heavy smoking which got him in the end with COPD, whilst so many of his workmates died of mesathelioma(a lung cancer caused by asbestos). My husband, also a smoker, (not now) has pulmonary fibrosis - as did his father,who was a baker and worked with flour all his life, and his cousin, who was a pipe fitter and worked around asbestos. I guess a lot of it is down to the genetic cards you are dealt in life.

Anyway, Happy New year to everyone - it can only get better ! (where have I heard that before!) Gill

[libby7827]

Hi Jude, well, as Gidge says, there is a definite genetic connection. My mother had it (although she smoked very little) and, of course, I've got it (and I was quite a heavy smoker). My brother, who only smoked for two or three years in his late teens, hasn't got it, although he is prone to chest infections. Of all my old friends and relatives who did smoke, none of them has it. But yes, it doesn't need to be genetic, anything foreign in the lungs is bound to cause damage. Libby x

[Hidden]

Hi Jude,of course there can be other factors,but I dont doubt smoking is no.1 unfortunately!!

One of my neighbours,had never smoked,but was crippled with copd.Apparently he was a shoe maker in his day,& they said it was the solvents that gave it to him.I felt so sorry for him,lovely chap.Cheers Wendells xxx

[Bumley]

Hi Jude,

As a child from birth until aged 6 I lived in a house made of asbestos, a prefab given (Well it was rented and he had a priority) by a grateful nation to my father for service during the war. When I was twelve I contracted TB and was in a sanatorium in Lytham St Annes for six months. the best thing that happened was I joined the army as a boy soldier and got some country air. The air in Manchester was foul.

I was diagnosed with COPD two years ago as moderate. Yes I have smoked since I was 14 until 5 years ago. I have no doubt the smoking is what did it, but somehow I believe there was additional causes, remember the smogs.

David

[katieoxo60]

Well you have raised a very debatable subject, because people do get COPD who have never smoked, just like non smokers get cancer of the lungs ie Roy Castle to name one well known person.It also seems that many asthma sufferers are being diagnosed in later years as having COPD, which would suggest that anything that persistantly irratates the airways could cause COPD in the long term, not forgetting of course irritation by smoking both passive& nonpassive. We need to get professors to accept that as with cancer , COPD also has more than one cause. I would cite the case of Bronchitis as this is part of the COPD illness and can be hereditory,caused by air pollution,or last but not least smoking. Many people die in later years who had smoked all their lives but did not have COPD.Its the researchers we need to convince to take a different approach in respect of this illness,its diagnosis,treatment ands all possible causes.

[delphie]

Hi, I am a new recruit to the BLF community and this is my first blog. I was very interested to read this debate on causes of COPD and smoking. I was diagnosed about 10years ago with COPD but like a lot of you out there I have never smoked. I did however have a very clued up practice nurse who did a simple blood test and it showed that I have a little diagnosed but, not so rare genetic disease called alpha1 anti trypsyn deficiency. So I now get excellent treatment and more importantly I know why I am so poorly when I have never smoked. So if you feel that you are not always getting the right answers look on their website, get a printout of the information they give and go and have a chat with your GP. Good Luck and a Very Happy and HEALTHY New Year.

[1968]

Hi and a Happy Healthy New Year to you all.

I was amazed in a very bad way to learn about COPD especially Empysema which I have.

I was diagnosed in 2011 with very mild, not on meds and will be a non smoker for 2 years this March.

I Googled COPD and haunted myself with the diagnostics.

I only stick to this site now and learn from you's. I am amazed at the COPD illness and astounded that it is not highlighted much more. I would say prevention better than cure and I believe that COPD should be educated at ground level-the schools.

The early the better, drive by any school and you shall see kids congragating somewhere passing fags about, they have to be educated. If only they knew!!!

I know it's not only smoking which contributes to COPD however you read everywhere that smoking is the main factor so I believe the goverment should be more active and play a much more pro active roll.

My Dad had Emphysema, he worked in the shipyards in Bonny Clydebank, worked with all types of insulation and the dreded asbestos. I grew up in a house where Mum-Dad-Brother smoked along with visiting Aunts and Uncles etc. No double glazing in my growing up years. I still remember the coal fire with closed winds.

I stared smoking at 16 and stopped at 43ish, doc and rurse said i'm very unlucky to have COPD as i wasn't a heavy smoker, ah well the damage has been done and I have to carry the cross.

All the best for 2013 everyone.

David 1968

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THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR GREAT COMMENTS , I,M AFRAID I,M A BIT OF A REBEL, LOL, KATIE..... REALY MADE MY DAY BY SAYING WE MUST!!!! GET RESEARCHERS LOOKING AT DIFFERENTASPECTS OF CAUSES AND TREATMENT, I,M REALY CROSS!! AT RESEARCHING COPD , AND HEARING ITS UNCURABLE.....WHY???? WHAT ARE THEY DOING , TO FIND A CURE? PROFFS , DON,T SIT BACK AND TELL US , OH , SORRY IT,S UNCURABLE , OFF YOUR BUMS AND START SEARCHING, LAST EVENING I DID ! FIND STEM CELLS ARE BEING THOUGHT OF AS A WAY FORWARS, WELL I WANT TO BE ON A LIST, SO KATIE , OH YOU LOVELY LADY , COME ON WE ARE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT LETS TELL THIS ORGANISATION , OUR THOUGHTS PLEASE , WE MAY BE DOWN BUT NOT DEAD , LOVE TO US ALL, JUDE