Do the doctors ever get it wrong

[darren1970]

I was diagnosed when I was 33 now I'm 42 with copd still only in the first stages which makes me wonder if I was miss diagnosed

[Hidden]

NOW THAT IS GOOD NEWS,,,if you dont smoke and do exercises on a regular basis also eat well,it has a very slow progression.However if you doubt your diagnoses,go back and see your gp and have a word,, a simple xray or ct scan will set your mind at rest..............

[derrylynne]

Probably not. I was diognosed in 1987 and for many years seemed to chug along fine. For the first 12 years or so apart from getting a little out of breathe, and comments about my heavy breathing I was not too bad. Why do I breathe so heavy I was often asked. Then started to decline quite rapidly. It is probable I was coping and managing slight worsening over the previous years but at a certain point it became much more noticable to me. Six years or so ago I took a sudden dive into very severe copd and retired because of ill health. Now dependant on oxygen for mobility I use a mobility scooter for getting around due to breathlessness. You could ask for another lung function test. I have had them quite regular although once you get into the very severe stage these seem to be much less often. Keep active, don't smoke, sleep well, and eat well is my advice to go along as long as possible with copd. so far I have had this around 26 years. 40% of my current lifetime.

[music in reply to derrylynne]

hi derrylynne i think you have done very well with this nasty COPD may i ask why you got diagnosed in the first place was it SOB and did you smoke i wondering if you were mild stage at first and are you dependent on oxygen all the time..

just hope i can go has long has you have

very best of luck and best wishes to you

[Hidden]

In my case it was chest infection saved me .. Might sound odd but with out it a would not have known my lungs was bushed as it pushed me other the edge ... Not that my GP helped he said it was stress and told me to blow in a bag

As it turns out is worse thing you can do if you have lung comdition ... Turns out it helps finish you off ...

[katieoxo60]

It's a very unpredictable illness COPD as this site shows, and often overlooked unless you have some sort of crisis and the tests uncover it.Also doctors do sometimes get it wrong as symptoms don't seem to have a specific nature as is seen in the fact that many are diagnosed as asthmatic. But one thing is clear the longer you keep it at stage one the better, as after that it seems to deterriorate quite rapid.Getting an early diagnosis of lung disease also seems to help the outcome in respect of disability and long term health.Keeping good health habits is the key to slow progression as mentioned earlier

[Lynne1955]

Do you still smoke? If so, stop and you will be fine.

Lynne xx

[Puffthemagicdragon]

I was diagnosed straight in at very severe for some reason. That was 2 years ago. It doesn't seem to have got any worse so I'll just have to see how it goes. If it stays the same as this for the next 38 odd years ( I'd be just over 100 then ! ) I reckon I can cope with that !