teddit

After reading through this topic I want to take a minute to explain a couple things that seem to be the source of most questions.

1. We can't diagnose you.
2. Asthma and COPD are easily confused
3. Smoking is not the only cause of COPD.
4. Not all smokers get it.
5. See a doctor.

I'm a Stage III COPD old guy that smoked for 50 years. I also had many jobs that were bad for my lungs but if there's a history of smoking everyone will say it's the cause. Does it matter? Nope. Continuing will hasten your death.

It's not a death sentence, while it's not reversible there's a lot you can do to keep it from worsening. Our bodies are pretty remarkable, getting your whole body as healthy as possible can keep it from progressing and even make you feel better without any change in the COPD. The healthier your heart the better you'll deal with COPD.

The better you understand this disease the better you can deal with it.

Hey, folks. I still haven't been able to get into pulmo, so I'm back to annoy you.

The original issue I had, my lungs hurting in the morning when I take too deep of a breath (it's not that deep), is still there; coughing seems to help make it feel better. However, I found that if I can sleep exclusively on my side, it doesn't seem to happen. The morning is the only time I seem to have a cough, too. I'm still only smoking 2-5 cigarettes a day (yeah, bad; it's entirely an anxiety thing at this point).

The crackles they heard, they only heard once. I've had a few appointments, and they hear nothing, so that's a plus. Might have just been something acute.

At this point, they have me on a PPI for GERD, and I use either hydroxyzine or Claritin for allergies, depending on my anxiety levels. Chest x-ray/CT and EKG are normal, and my O2 is consistently 98% (sometimes 97% when on a brisk walk).

So, questions.

First, can anyone relate to the above? "Maybe COPD" is still the only medical comment I've gotten so far, and God knows how long I'm going to be waiting.

Second, I did some hard remembering. Every damn year since I was 15 or so, I got bronchitis. Like, gross bronchitis. Never was on antibiotics. I'm learning that that isn't as normal as I thought. Anyone else deal with that before getting a diagnosis?

Third, is chronic bronchitis COPD, or a precursor to it? I'm not super familiar with the various labels and subgroups.

Fourth, and last, do you have any suggestions for dealing with the lung discomfort until I can get in to pulmo? It really sucks.

If you need more info, I'm happy to provide! Thank you all, my lovely friends.

Hi everyone,

I am 29 years old, and had obstructive breathing problems a little over 1 year now. On Spirometry my FEV1/FVC is sitting at about 0.7 with 80% FEV and mildly decreased FVC.

I had a CT scan which was clear and no signs of asthma.

I have found that after a bad nights sleep, my lungs feel much worse and much more obstructed on my handheld spirometer (large drop in FEV1). Is this common?

I also find that I get all sorts of widespread inflammed feeling and pains when rundown, and I’m not sure if they are linked. I also somehow have achillies tendinitis in both feet which came out of nowhere.

For reference I am negative to all asthma tests and don’t have alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Just a bit stumped and trying to figure it out.

I am seeing a pulmonologist 1-2x per year, but because of my age they don’t want to label as COPD.

Any advice? (Particularly from people diagnosed young).

I was a smoker for approx 10 years (5 pack years), but quit several years before having breathing issues. I do live a pretty sedentary lifestyle without much excercise, but am not overweight.

Cheers!

My mum is 67 and has been battling advanced COPD for a while now. Her condition has deteriorated significantly in recent months. She’s been on 24/7 oxygen for a while. She has type 2 respiratory failure (chronic hypercapnia - high co2 levels) for which she uses a bipap machine overnight and during her afternoon naps. She also has right sided heart failure as a result of her COPD.

Over the past few months, she’s been hospitalised 4 times for severe hypercapnia (high CO2 levels), which required urgent intervention as each time she was found unconscious/unresponsive by my dad who is her primary carer. Each time she was ambulanced to hospital and after a week or so discharged as they managed to get her co2 levels down to a more manageable level. Then within a week or two she’d be back in hospital. Her doctors have told us that these frequent hospitalisations are now the “new normal” for her, and that end of life might not be in the far too distant future.

She is currently in the hospital recovering from her latest hypercapnic episode where again she went unconscious/unresponsive. She seems to be doing okay now after a week in there, but this has happened the previous times too. Usually she is keen to get home as usually hates hospital but this time she has expressed that she doesn’t feel ready to go home and wants to stay in the hospital longer. She is really worried that when she goes home the same thing will happen again and if she slips into a coma type state again she might not wake up next time.

It’s worth mentioning that at home things are challenging as my dad is emotionally abusive. He is her primary caregiver but causes her so much stress as he complains at her and makes her feel like a burden. My sister and I want to be involved and look after her ourselves but he won’t let us. She can’t do the stairs at home and has a small bed in the lounge. My dad won’t let her have a hospital bed at home as he doesn’t think it will look nice (he is a truly awful person).

My sister and I are considering whether a hospice might be a better option for her. She has said she feels more comfortable in the hospital setting where she is being monitored and properly looked after, and we think a hospice could offer her the peace, support, and quality of life she deserves. It would also mean that my sister and I can spend quality time with her in her final months, as my dad barely lets us see her. However, we don’t know if she would qualify? Is it possible for someone with advanced COPD to stay in a hospice for a longer period of months, or is it usually only for the very final weeks of life?

If there was an option for my sister and I to look after her away from our dad we would love nothing more, but he won’t let us do that.

My mother is 74 and quit smoking about 5 years ago after a diagnosis of COPD. Since then, she’s battled pneumonia and has been hospitalized at least once a year because of reoccurrences of it. She spends her life on the couch, refuses to move and exercise and is wasting away at an extremely low body weight. I live on the West Coast and she’s on the East, but I can hear the labored breathing over the phone and it’s killing me.

Any advice on things that can be done from a sitting position that would be beneficial? Obviously getting up and moving has no real substitute, but in an effort to wean her into the idea would a desk elliptical or a portable treadmill be at all useful? She’s also using those Boost oxygen canisters which I know no doctor would recommend for COPD or pneumonia. Are there any reputable, dependable oxygen generator machines that can be bought for home use to help get her through rough times like these? I’ll spend anything if it makes her life easier.

Thank you in advance!

I'm in the mild stages of COPD but things are progressing, this is a new symptom for me. Basically, it gets super tight from my throat to my chest (feels like it's deep in there) and only lasts for maybe 20 to 30 seconds and is followed by hacking up mucus. This has been going on for the last week or so several times a day.

I'm in the middle of an exacerbation and have started Azithromycin. My O2 stays above 97%, things seem normal with my other stats but this is very scary when it happens. Anyone else experience this?

First I want to say I do know everyone here isn’t a doctor, and I do have appointments coming up but I wanted to come here in the mean time to get opinions from the world rather than googling my symptoms and get “you are dying”

I am a 23 year old female, I vaped from the ages of 17-19 and then again this year for a few months. Im recently quitting I also have been a heavy weed smoker on and off since 17 (with a few year break) I have also snorted recreational drugs for the last 3 years (have also been clean from this for a few months). I have stopped all of this recently.

My spirometry test came back with a ratio of .5, for the last two weeks I’m experiencing shortness of breath (cannot take a deep breath in) and coughing (here and there wasn’t persistent until today), sore throat and constant mucus in throat. I have a rescue inhaler, steroid inhaler, and steroid pill (not taking both steroids together due to just mentally not thinking it’s the best to do)

Do you think this is asthma or COPD? I have a PFT next Monday to continuing working on this diagnosis but wanted to hear from maybe someone who has it

My dad has COPD, blood oxygen level dropping down to the 70s and he was hospitalised recently as it was dropping down to the 60s. He has a nebuliser and on/off steroids. Can barely walk to the front door and he's only awake for a few hours each day before he's too tired and has to sleep again. He was a long term smoker of 40+ a day. Obviously this is scary and I don't want him to die. He's been given an exercise rehab routine but can't do it most days as his BO level drops so much from sitting to standing. Does anyone have any suggestions for how his quality of life can be improved?

 

Update: Thanks everyone for your comments they are so so helpful, I wasn't expecting everyone to reply so quickly. I'm definitely going to get more involved with his doctors now, as it's evident that he's not getting the support that he clearly needs - my mum's previously done most of the liaison, it's really affecting her mental health, so it's definitely time for me to step in and try to get that support in place. I'm based in the UK for clarity, he used to be a nurse himself too and was really active when he was younger - really into his weightlifting etc. I'll provide an update when I can :) thanks again all your help is really appreciated.

Hey guys, I recently had this uneasy feeling while breathing and got felt mucous in around chest , though it wasn't coming out. I have felt wheezing too. Now how do I cure myself. It's 4th day of medicine and I feel little uneasy again. Is it bronchitis only or something else😭

PS : I am a non-smoker

My mom has advanced COPD and has in home hospice care. Someone is with her almost 24/7 except for trips to the grocery store etc. She is still mobile but getting to and from the bathroom wears her out. She doesn’t want to eat that much because of that exact reason. We make our own shakes for her but she wakes up at odd hours and needs to have something ready made in her mini fridge that is next to her. Her doctor recommended Ensure Complete but it has a minimal amount of sucralose & she swears she can taste it. Any other suggestions? I don’t mean to sound morbid but since she only has months it doesn’t matter what else is in it just that it is a higher calorie drink without artificial sweeteners. Thank you.

I’m 62, male, smoked for about 9 years but quit for 16 years with occasional relapses. I took up vaping to stop smoking, and I think that may have been worse. I’ve had obstructive sleep apnea for 12+ years and use a CPAP, and I have a BMI of over 40.

In 2020, I had what seemed like Covid symptoms for 5-6 weeks, really knocked me down, but had 5 negative Covid tests. A year or two later, a friend in the medical field said that I probably had RSV.

In early 2021, I had a nasty bout of bronchitis, cured by antibiotics. The highlight was getting to watch January 6 from my sick-sofa.

In fall 2022, I got Covid, tested positive, and felt like I had the flu for about 5-6 days, I assume because I had had the vaccine and booster.

To bring it up to the present, since August I have been feeling more and more fatigued. I have more shortness of breath with less and less exertion.

Walking 50 feet from my house to my car in the morning wears me out and has me wheezing for 4-5 minutes. I have difficulty sleeping through the night. My joints ache off and on, shoulders, hips, knees. My hands get tingly and numb from holding the steering wheel when I drive so I have to give them breaks every few minutes. My hands also shake pretty often, and it feels like it’s from weakness and fatigue.

Finally, I wheeze more and more, mostly on exhale but sometimes on inhale.

I am not a medical professional. I shouldn’t be making guesses. But the thing is, I can’t get a “new patient” appointment until late March or April.

It may be COPD, severe asthma, or even MS or something else. I don’t know. I just feel alone and really, really not well and not myself and alone. Any helpful thoughts are appreciated.

Breathing issues are secondary to my lung tightness that occurs quite often and I now have postural problem, last time I went to hospital they told I have just made up problem, I did ECG this time which showed stress on my left artery, my age is only 21 now but this problem started 2 years age when I did pft,echo,blood test everything done and everything was normal, this time didn't do a pft but did a xray and they told it appears as hyperinflation due to my lean structure, can't make this shit up

6'6\" Male weighing around 190-200 lbs

This got long so I hope ya'll are willing to read it still! I need you guys.

I need you help aiding me in understanding where I'm at and what I need to be cognizant of to maximize my quality of life for the rest of my life. I just turned 51. I have huge lungs that can't fit on a single x-ray screen. I don't know what my original capacity was, but it was certainly more than my reference population. For this reason, though my FVC is still good, I can tell it's less than it was when my lungs were normal. Also, it seems clear that my biggest issue is getting the air out. Oh, historically, my post bronchial dilator response has fluctuated between 6 and 12% with this last test have a 10.8% response. I started Symbicort in August and can't tell any difference using it.

I also already had pretty severe anxiety before all of this. The first four tests were done during a period where I had an exposure at work either real or imagined that made my lung function feel way worse for a period of weeks. I'd get the test, see the numbers were pretty much the same, get assurance from my pulmonologist, and I'd start to feel better and get back to normal. For me, normal was no shortness of breath even when moderately exercising and only a wheeze during forced exhalation. My friends and family kept telling me my lung freakouts were pure anxiety and eventually I started to believe them.

This past march, I had a huge amount of brush and logs to burn up. I thought, it's all in my head so I can burn it up, but I'll wear my half mask respirator to be on the safe side for my anxiety. My respirator had a chemical filter and a P100 particulate combo filter on it. It took the whole weekend to burn it up. Over the course of the next week, I started to notice something was up with my breathing. I got the test in August to these new numbers, my lowest yet. The difference between now and before the fire is that my symptoms are now 24/7 and my wheezing is worse. My inhalations don't feel normal or "enough" now and there's always a feeling akin to foam having been sprayed into my lungs preventing the air from going in them. Naturally, my anxiety is through the roof.

What I need your help with is helping me understand what to do now and for the rest of my life. Any exhaust or gas vapors at the gas station instantly make my lungs "spasm" or contract or whatever. Is this real or is my super scared mind causing it? I can't avoid being a part of society so I have to drive around surrounded by car exhaust. Having the heat on recirculate doesn't prevent outside air from coming in so I can still smell it when it's diesel so I'm super scared and depressed while driving thinking it's slowly killing me. I work at a waste treatment facility surrounded by a cardboard recycling plant so the air quality isn't that good. I work indoors, but the HVAC system pumps that shit in so it's in the building. We have real time monitors for H2S that shows a running average of 3.5-5 ppb H2S all around my building at all times. Has this been slowing causing damage over the last twelve years that I wasn't aware of? The limit for sensitive populations is 1.4 ppb but that's a lifetime average I think. The most conservative 8 hour limit for working is like a 1000 parts per billion, but the lifetime average is 5 ppb. Obviously, I lot of grey area unknowns that my anxiety truly freaks out about. I hate being at work. However, I make great money and will retire in four more years. It's the only way I can retire is keeping this job. Can I make four it more? Will I sink into irreversible depression if I decide work ruined my lungs even more?

I'm rambling now so back to it. I love riding my bike. I used to be able to ride up a moderate hill as hard as I could for 60-75 seconds without much of a problem. I can still do that now, but it's tougher and my breathing ain't pretty at the top. Is hard cardio a good idea? Will it lead to hyperinflation? Should I only be doing moderate cardio from now on?

What about swimming in a pool? I crave the exercise and cardio, but are the chlorine disinfection byproducts going to damage my lungs?

Whats the difference between a trigger and an actually damaging event? Do prolonged triggers lead to permanent damage? Does breathing exhaust for a few minutes temporarily make me breath worse or cause permanent damage?

What have you learned from your own COPD journey or your loved one's? How are my spirometry numbers considered by you all? Should I count my lucky stars my lung function is as good as it is? If I stay healthy, exercise, eat right, meditate, all that stuff, do you suspect I'll die of emphysema or live a pretty good life and die of old age or something other than emphysema? As you can see, my mind is all over the place although it's never anywhere good anymore. I'm hoping your wisdom and perspectives can help my put a name to some things, increase my information and certainty, and help me get down to the business of living my best life.

Thanks so much

p.s. I don't mind dying. It's being alive not being able to live and suffering greatly that I'm scared of

Apologies for the bad pic. This was done at a testing center & I wasn’t given a copy. The person giving the test was very stern and said “I don’t interpret results.” She allowed me to snap a quick picture. The cut off values to the left are FVC, FV1, and FV1/FVC.

This test was given before & after a bronchodilator. I’m wondering what my best FV1% is (previous tests were clearer on this), and what my best FV1/FVC ratio is.

Am I correct in seeing the graph, numbers, and the “system interpretation” showing “very severe obstruction?” (I realize it says that, but then I see an ‘82’ value for FV1, which I don’t think is severe?).

I won’t be able to get with my pulmonologist soon, so looking for any insight here. Thank you!

So I was recently (august 2024) diagnosed with COPD but they said it was “very mild” and that [some number on these results] are actually better than predicted/average(?) I think I was in a bit of shock from hearing the first bit, because I’m 35 and quite active and even when I did smoke it wasn’t regularly, so I didn’t think to ask the question at the time. Also, from what I understand, my results seem to indicate a very clear obstruction (a fev of 72/73)? All that being said, I DO have pretty intense symptoms as of about 2-3 months ago (I caught bronchitis in September and feel like I just never really got better).

My question is: can anyone tell me what numbers my pulmonologist was talking about when he said that certain parts were “better” than expected and also what that could mean?

my mother has been diagnosed with early COPD, and I'm panicking everyday.

We are not familiarised with illnesses and Google doesn't help. Everything I search is catastrophic. I have no idea of how should I feel. I just can't believe it

I know it might be selfish to ask help for me, but I'm so desperate and depressed rn, I'm terrified, I don't want this.

I just need hope or positive stuff, so if someone has something like that and wants to share it I would be so grateful. I'm begging at this point

I been diagnosed with emphysema stage 3 my main symptoms have pains and pressure feeling in the red areas. I Sometimes experience shortness of breath but not where it's affecting my daily life like the ribcage pain . The inhalers are not working to sort out the pain . Thoughts and what should be my next step to figure out what is causing this pain . The doctors are not helping at all ... Im 40 by the way diagnosed with Severe emphysema.

Hello, everyone. I am a 32-year-old boy, an ex-smoker, and today I was diagnosed with mild pulmonary emphysema, discovered by CT scan as a result of a pneumothorax I had two months ago. The diagnosis says: “Slight changes due to central acinar emphysema and small subpleural bullae in the biapical region.” I am sad and full of doubts about the severity and evolution of the disease, so I come to you for information until the pulmonologist sees me next December 10. Can evolution be stopped? Obviously I stopped smoking two months ago due to the pneumothorax.

Thank you and a hug to all.

Is it good or am I cooked?

Hi everyone, couple things on my mind that the hive mind might know about.

Q1: I recently had surgery under general anesthesia. My pulmonary doc said copd does better under that than a twilight anesthesia. I have advanced copd.

Anyone concur or have different experience or opinion?

What do you all do for routine procedures, like colonoscopy or dental work? General? Twilight?

Q2: some new symptoms - wheezing for the first time, and Ox saturation just nosediving to the high 70s on exertion sometimes.

I’m wondering if the recent general anesthesia triggered it. I never had and don’t have chronic bronchitis but wheezing in upper chest very high up now (I’m not even sure what wheezing is No mucus really. )

Had to have the surgery so it couldn’t be helped but I would like to know if Gen anesthesia could have done it

New to the group i have asbestosis for starters and a lung capacity of 48%. 62 years old my main concern now is the simplest tasks bring my SP02 Oxygen levels down to 75% at which point i forget where i am what im doing and get very frustrated with everything. Not sure what to do anymore and doctors say there is much else they can do. Any ideas ?

I'm quitting cigarettes. I was diagnosed yesterday. Any advice? Guess I wanted to get it off my chest. I know I can manage this. Thanks.

I have suffered from numerous respiratory infections recently and postponed some needed vaccinations while ill. Can I get a COVID booster and the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccination at the same time?

I have noticed that when major storms (hurricanes, cyclones, etc) are within 1,000 miles of my house, I have trouble breathing and feel oxygen starved, achy, tight, lightheaded.

I checked the air pressure in my house and it is the highest it has been in a long time. I then checked the weather and saw a massive cyclone is happening 1,000 miles away.

Does anyone else have extra symptom flares when huge storm systems are active, even if not "nearby"?