Someone made a comment today on the article I wrote yesterday about ancestors passing down their genes etc.
Erindoors noted on a recent visit to Ireland that some of her people suffered from lung diseases...caused actually by working in a coal mine. And she wondering if that pre-disposition to lung disease ran in families. After all, for as many miners who suffered from a lung disease there were also those who didn't.
What I've found among my people...where there are death certs giving the cause of death...about 80% died from a lung condition...everyone from my Gt Grandfather who suffered a fatal asthma attack to a second cousin who was recorded as having 'a congestion of the lungs'...over and over again I've found those records where the attending Doctor has recorded some type of lung disease.
I think lung disease as other health problems seem to run in families. My GP said this as well, so probably Genetics plays a large part in our lives. If not, why do only about 80% of smokers develop copd? I think it is a pre-disposition, coupled with behaviour and environment triggers that form the basis of most diseases. Love Margaret x
I think the official figures are 1 in 4 will develop it Margaret. I think we lungies have a disposition toward lung problems which only really come to the fore when other factors come into play ie smoking. I think this is where the genetic issue comes in.
One of my great aunts was a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer but none of the rest of my relations had any problems as far as I know but I don't think any of them smoked. Any many didn't live in an era of traffic pollution either, or aerosols etc. Our lungs take more of a battering in the modern world don't they? x
My sister and mother are both in the 60's and early 70's of predicted for FEV1. Sister never smoked and mother smoked 7/8 a day for 10 years.
I am also struggling with breathing problems since 32 yo and a touch of chronic bronchitis despite a negative AAT test and also a minor smoking history. My grandmother died at 84 from emphysema having never smoked a cigarette. She didn't work in a coal mine either.
I know all about bad gene's.
The COPD Gene study in the U.S. is profiling 75000+ People with COPD over many years to investigate this exact issue fully. Let's hope they hurry up and get something that might give us enhanced treatment.
I was told I could actually have been born with bullos emphysema, my father had COPD and my uncle has it, doc said it could be a week chest in our side of the family, but yes we all SMOKED.
I knew a chap who smoked for 61 years with never any trouble until he was suddenly diagnosed with copd followed by lung cancer. It all came on very quickly and a week after diagnosis of LC he died.
He had recently given up smoking which sounds like, strange though it seems, that it was holding his disease at bay so to speak. He would have been better off not stopping methinks. x
My dad suffered all his life with asthma, I developed it at 3 years old & my son developed it at afew months old so I reckon there's a strong genetic thread running down our male line. My sister never had it & neither did my daughter. My dad died of a severe lung problem as well which largely went undiagnosed but was unresponsive to asthma medication so I assume something like copd/bronchiectasis, etc.
Actually it was a precious stone mine , some sort of crystal quartz. But the theory remains the same ! as it is the conditions of these mines ( damp, humid, cold, and lacking in air ) I suspect over the years some developed an immunity but others succumbed having perhaps passed on the problem ! Poor great grandpa and granny getting the blame!!!!!! Ah well its all knowledge, and if the day ever comes that they can identify an offending gene ..........the field of research amazes me .
I want to know more about the mine! Where is it...?
Of course the theory would be the same as a coal mine...I was horrified by the incredibly cramped conditions the men worked under...they'd cut away some of the tunnels so you could see...water dripping constantly as well...
Hi If you Google mines in Galway Ireland and surrounding area ,you should be able to find it, as it was a while back I really cant remember, I would think some 8/10 years ago and it was newly opened
Hi there yes it can be in the family on my mothers side there were 10 of them and seven out the ten all had lung desease my mum passed away when she was 53 and now I've got it and 4 of my relatives on my mums side also have it my mum worked in the cotton mills and her brothers in the mines so it does seem to run in the family
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