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After a chest x-Ray, I was informed by my primary care doctor that I have emphysema. I am 45 years old and until I had a possible TIA last week, thought I was in excellent health. I am in shock. Does anyone else on the forum have this disease? If so, how long have you lived with it? How has it progressed? i understand that life expectancy will be significantly reduced with this disease.
It's Emphysema today but if you are a smoker and continue to smoke you will eventually end up with COPD too! How does it progress? Over time your lung capacity will decrease and when you can't breath on your own you will need oxygen. Eventually the oxygen won't be enough and when you can't breath you die.
How do I know? I watched this disease slowly steal my late husband's breath for years.
I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt, but smoking is how most that have it get it.
Yes, I smoked socially years ago. Not a lot, but obviously enough.
I am sorry about your husband.
Thank you! It sounds like you no longer smoke then. That's good! We were married 35 years and he smoked during each and everyone of those years. Not just a pack a day; way more than that and it didn't stop at cigarettes either. He started with one respiratory inhaler and over the last 10 years of his life, added 2 more. He would not quit and when I realized his tobacco abuse was going to kill him, I had to prepare my mind to accept that. Smoking should never be more important than your family and my husband did a good job of convincing me that all he cared about were his cigarettes.
Emphysema is expensive. Too bad we don't realize this when we start smoking. I smoked for 37 years before finally quitting 5 years ago. In my mind, I'll always be at risk for this disease.
If you don't need inhalers today, beware of the day you get your first because at some point you will need more than that!
The FDA is supposed to protect us from products that can harm us. But our government has never protected us from the death the tobacco companies sell. Am I bitter? You betcha!
Thank you! It sounds like you no longer smoke then. That's good! We were married 35 years and he smoked during each and everyone of those years. Not just a pack a day; way more than that and it didn't stop at cigarettes either. He started with one respiratory inhaler and over the last 10 years of his life, added 2 more. He would not quit and when I realized his tobacco abuse was going to kill him, I had to prepare my mind to accept that. Smoking should never be more important than your family and my husband did a good job of convincing me that all he cared about were his cigarettes.
Emphysema is expensive. Too bad we don't realize this when we start smoking. I smoked for 37 years before finally quitting 5 years ago. In my mind, I'll always be at risk for this disease.
If you don't need inhalers today, beware of the day you get your first because at some point you will need more than that!
The FDA is supposed to protect us from products that can harm us. But our government has never protected us from the death the tobacco companies sell. Am I bitter? You betcha!
Again, I am so sorry about your experience with your husband's illness, addiction to cigarettes, and slow death. I can certainly understand why you would be angry about the tobacco companies' dishonesty and the FDA's complicity. Best wishes for your future health. At least you know that by quitting smoking, you have done what you can do to prevent further damage to your lungs.
By the time I started smoking in the early 1990s, I was an adult and the dangers of smoking were well known, so I have no one to blame but myself. Stupidly, I thought that light smoking for a short period of time in my twenties wouldn't hurt me.
I haven't seen a pulmonary specialist yet, but a chest ex-ray for an unrelated purpose revealed hyper inflated lungs and some scarring. My internist thought this meant emphysema. I've since been told I may not, especially as I have no symptoms, a normal energy level, and can run short distances without labored breathing. I'll see.
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I quit smoking in 1980 and was diagnosed with COPD in 2015.
I am sorry to hear that. That is a shock, 35 years after quitting. I hope your condition remains stable and you have many good years ahead.
OP, emphysema is considered part of COPD, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. COPD is a spectrum of pulmonary disorders that include emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
In emphysema, the lungs become very stretched out and elongated. They lose their elasticity, or the able to go back to their original shape like a rubber band.
Due to your age, I would ask your doctor to have you tested for Alpha 1 Antitrypsin deficiency. It's a genetic cause of emphysema, with the body's inability to produce a substance which prevents an enzyme from destroying the elastin of the lungs.
Easy breezy, thank you for mentioning this. I have read about this genetic disorder and am really hoping I don't have it, especially as I understand it also causes cirrhosis. If as is suspected I do have COPD, I will definitely get tested.
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