COPD

[Darcy2000]

I really don’t understand how a 73 year old with good lifestyle non smoker very active slim develops COPD. Kind of pisses me off ( excuse the choice of words) as I assumed wrongly it was a disease more of lifestyle. I guess I was wrong. Granted I do have some heart issues but from everything I have read the two are not connected. Any thoughts on this ?

[Hidden]

Hi Darcy,When i was in hospital 8 weeks ago having had a heart attack, i learned such a lot about the heart, and of how seemingly fit, healthy people could have underlying heart issues or even heart attacks. It all boils down to genetics or heriditory factors i'm afraid. Mine was in the hereditory catagory, as everyone on my mother's side of the family has had heart problems. the good thing is that it was caught early and i have no heart disease. had to have a stent put in, but small price to pay for being alive.

[Darcy2000 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for info..hope you are doing ok now

[Chappychap in reply to Hidden]

We might have to agree to disagree on that one Doora! I side with the view that approximately 90% of heart attacks can be explained by lifestyle choices.

I don't want to hijack Darcy2000's thread, so I'll just give one argument to back that position.

Between 1975 and now UK deaths from heart and circulatory diseases have more than halved. But we had the same genetic profile back then as we do now, so it's difficult to believe that genes could possibly be the dominant factor when faced with hard facts such as these.

Yes, it's true that improvements to medical practises will account for some of this improvement, but the highest estimate I've seen is that medical interventions account for no more than half this improvement. Personally I think even that's high as we also see marked reductions in death rates from 2000 to today, but the key changes to medical practises were in the 80's and 90's.

The biggest explanation for the reduction in heart and circulatory disease deaths is the reduction in smoking. Sadly we're now seeing an explosion in obesity that's likely to undo all this good work and we may see these declines reverse and start trending up again.

[10gingercats]

My husband has borderline COPD and is very slim and a lifelong vegetarian. Does not smoke and only had a fleeting fling with it as a teenager.

[Darcy2000 in reply to 10gingercats]

Just curious what his symptoms were. I don’t have shortness of breath just a dry persistent cough for last 2 years

[10gingercats in reply to 10gingercats]

shortness of breath from time to time and esp. in the morning plus dry cough.Sometimes there is mucus.He sees a hospital specialist about twice a year and it is slowly getting worse.

[Darcy2000 in reply to 10gingercats]

Thanks so much for info .. so far not to much evidence of COPD.. but time will tell. The respirologist will do more tests and I am hopeful that it is something other than COPD

[Hidden]

Hi Darcy as I understand it, copd can also be caused by environmental factors, polluted working conditions etc. Also there is a genetic condition called A1A antitrypsin deficiency which means that the substance which rushes to protect the lungs when there is an infection or other attack on the lungs, is absent. This means that the lungs become damaged at a more rapid rate than normal. You can get a test for this condition.

[Trishe in reply to Hidden]

Hi Darcy and Little Pom,I am a sufferer of Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, this is indeed a genetic condition, I have the severe sort " zz" which are 2 defective genes, I also have copd, and a few other things, including having a stent put in, in February, the majority of causes of Copd is smoking, I don't smoke but I used too. Littlepom is correct, we have Little antitrypsin, and most of that is trapped in the liver as its the wrong shape, thus people can be liver affected or lung and liver.

Hope this helped.

Trish

[Chappychap]

I know very little about COPD, but when I meet people with exemplary life styles who have atherosclerosis/heart disease I would make two points.

Firstly, it's entirely possible that, but for wise life style choices, their heart problems might have occurred at a younger age (we should never forget that the single biggest risk factor of all for heart problems is simple age) or may have been more severe.

Secondly, life style covers many more factors than just smoking, exercise, or weight. For example a major cause of heart disease can be gum disease, but daily flossing is not what springs to mind when most people think of life style choices! Another example of a less obvious life style factor is sleep. Sleep apnea is a proven cause of heart disease, and shift workers have an established higher risk of heart disease.

[Aopl in reply to Chappychap]

Yes, definitely gum disease is now a well known factor. At the age of 40 after a lifetime of neglecting my teeth due to very bad experiences as a child, I ended up with raging gum disease and now have a pretty dreadful set of gnashers to my eternal regret as they look horrible. Nowadays though I have got my act together. At night I floss, brush between the teeth with Te-pe’s and use my electric toothbrush for 4 minutes which seems like an eternity when you’re tired. In the morning I just brush for 4 minutes and then use an ordinary brush for my tongue. I am now 68 and all the disease has been kept at bay. I also visit the Hygenist every 3 months. In recent years I have read about the benefits of this including Alzheimer’s which my Dad died of so consider I have given myself a good head start. It is important.

[GracieOS]

Hi, i understand your frustration. I have, always have had, a healthy lifestyle. Never smoked, healthy weight, veggie/fish diet (since my 20s) freshly home cooked 90% of the time and regular exercise. I also have no family history of heart disease. Yet aged 55 I was diagnosed with heart failure. Its just bad luck sometimes. As my husband pointed out, without the healthy lifestyle things would probably of been much worse symptoms and outlook wise. Just keep doing what you've been doing as it will help with symptoms and keeping well for as long as possible. Good luck and take care.

[Darcy2000 in reply to GracieOS]

Thanks so much

[LBCdance]

I think Gracie is spot on, and you can't explain everything, but her husband's comments are also right and helpful as a sensible and healthy lifestyle must help and could well prevent a worse situation.

[R3mi]

COPD Is more common than people think.

A lot of people I know have it and most of them were either construction workers or did work like window installers and painters. It is not a very nice thing to suffer from at all and like some never smoked. Not every illness is influenced by smoking but does contribute to a lot of things but like anything not every one gets it.

[Handel]

Hi Darcy2000.

Chappychap and Happyjo have captured much of what I would have said.

Don't suppose any tablets you're taking could have made things worse?

Just thinking of hubby who in 2018 needed a quad bypass. He was on 80mg Atorvastatin until early 2020 and because his cholesterol level readings were 2.0, the dose was dropped to 40mg (readings now 2.7). The dry annoying cough he suffered with disappeared a few weeks after the dose was lowered.

We're all different though so what I've just written could be irrelevant!

Good luck and I hope you get some answers soon. Jan xxx

[Darcy2000]

Wow thanks so much a lot of good information and questions for my respirologist

[Qualipop]

MY sister in law has advanced COPD but hers would be classed as lifestyle; a very heavy smoker yet so was I and my lung function is so good my GP couldn't believe my scores. Husband's father died in his 40s of lung cancer- never smoked in his life and as far as we know had no environmental factors.