Allergy Medication?

[vwgirl]

Hi everyone...I am new here. I was diagnosed with emphysema six years ago, and like a fool, have continued to smoke off an on. With the help of the e cig, I have weeks where I don't smoke at all, then I will break down, smoke a few, and then throw the rest out. I trust you won't berate me on my stupidity. I have been trying to quit for 20 years and the e cig is the thing that has worked the best for me. The last couple of months, I have found myself getting much tighter in my chest (almost like an asthma attack...have had asthma for 35 years too), and shorter of breath, when I never had shortness of breath before, unless I was running or boxing. I saw my PCP today, and she told me that she could not do anything for me, I needed to see the pulomonologist....first appointment they have is a months from now, so I was like, "Uh...what do I do until then?" The PCP told me I also have AWFUL allergies, and started me on Allegra. I was very skeptical of this, but I took it, and now 4 hours later, I feel FINE. No chest tightness, no shortness of breath. I am still going to see the pulmo, and get PFT's done, and I am done being in denial at having emphysema at 45, but is it possible that a simple allergy med could help so much?

[jillygirl Administrator LONG TERM WINNER]

Hi there vwgirl, welcome to quit support. Your answer to whether the medication can help you so much is yes. I have copd and the doctor has tried different medications for me and yes when I got the one that suited me it was much easier breathing etc. My medication is through inhalers but have gone through about 5 different ones before I found one that worked.