I foolishly went back to smoking a while back because I feel BETTER when I smoke. I stopped, but get tempted because my breathing is much better when I do! I know it is insane, but has anyone experienced this? When I quit My breathing was much worse. I think it has to do with waking up your lungs, clearing them out, so you become sob. But I swear when I did smoke, I felt fine! So crazy.
View 45 RepliesI gave up smoking at new year, just over two years ago. My dad died from emphysema when he has 60, and i always said that if i ever got a cough that reminded me of my dad i would quit. It got to the point where i was coughing myself to sleep each night, and i realised this wasn't just a cold that was going away, so i set myself a smoking deadline of new year (this was in the autumn) and did just that. Well 90% of my cough went away virtually overnight, but i was left with a niggly throat clearing thing, which wasn't too much hassle. Felt pretty good, and pleased with myself. So anyway, a couple of weeks ago i was doing a meditation app, and the instruction was to take a deep breath and hold it. It kind of took me by surprise, and the next day my back was hurting. So i made an appointment for the docs and she booked me in for a chest x ray and prescribed me a peak flow meter and some ventolin. 3 times a day i have to do a best of 3 reading, take two puffs of ventolin, then twenty mins later do another best of 3 reading. After three days of doing so i'm feeling constantly breathless, worse than i ever did, i still have that pain in the left side of my back, and i am sure now that indeed i have emphysema like my dad. I feel like crying all the time yet i'm putting a brave face on for everyone. I don't have any kids, and my boyfriend still smokes in the house. I try not to be around it, bit it's only a small house and difficult to avoid. He didn't see the long horrible death my dad had, both his parents are still fit and healthy. My morning peak flow reading is 350 and the other two (noon and night) are roughly 370 with hardly any difference from the ventolin except i think its giving me a dry throat. I guess my question is, has anyone else had COPD from age 40 and still lived a long time? How bearable is it? Because my dad carried on smoking quite far into his (he gave up when he went on oxygen) i'm finding it hard to expect anything different than he got. Also is it possible for the peak flow tests to be making me breathless?
View 32 RepliesHad chest xray done .I have no cough slight out of breath has I have asthma. doctor's have now told me I have mild change if my lung copd.when I asked does this mean I have the decease she said it might just be from the damage from smoking all those years ago.am so worried and stressed. does this mean this is the beginning of a death sentence? not sleeping or eating.
View 35 RepliesI have just been diagnosed with stage 2 copd (emphysema). I have smoked for 48 years. I am 65 and told I have lungs of a 95 year old. I am struggling to stop smoking. If I cannot how fast will my progression be.
View 29 RepliesI stopped smoking 11 days ago, went cold turkey after being told my copd is getting a lot worse, in just a few days my breathing has improved, what is annoying me is the last few days I keep wanting to clear my throat in bed its terrible can't sleep for the noises in my throat and keep trying to clear it, I am not bringing any phlegm up never really have in all the years I smoked, has anybody experienced this ?
View 1 RepliesI quit smoking exactly 1 week ago today (though it feels much longer) after smoking for almost 7 years.
For the past month and a half, I have had shortness of breath, which came on suddenly. I went to Urgent Care for it, and the doctor, after listening to me breath/listening to my heart, said "everything sounds good", and she said my shortness of breath is due to the fact that I have severe anxiety/panic disorder and a sinus infection. That was in the beginning of February... A couple weeks ago, my best friend's mom (who has been an ER nurse for over 20 years) listened to me breath, took my pulse/blood pressure, and she, too, said my lungs sounded "perfect", and my other vitals were good as well.
However... here I am, late March, and I still experience shortness of breath (though it has gotten somewhat better).
Like I said, it's only been a week since I quit smoking (which I did BECAUSE I felt it might be why I was having shortness of breath), and the first couple of days? I felt great!
Now, I feel awful. I feel like I am dying. My depression has gotten much worse, my anxiety is acting up, I feel "empty" both mentally and emotionally... I have HA (health anxiety) and I fear I might have cancer, or COPD, or some such thing.
Also, physically I just feel completely drained. I feel weak all the time, exhausted, sluggish, my heartbeat feels weak (to me), etc... I have difficulty thinking clearly, my concentration is horrible...
But mainly what bothers me is how weak I feel... Sometimes I feel so weak that I am SURE I am dying. I lay there and think, "this is it, I am dying". It's absolutely terrifying!
I use a nicotine patch, and it DOES seem to help when I have it on, but it only helps so much...
Is this all normal? Before I quit this past week, I had been quitting on and off for a couple months, but my "quitting" would only last 2-3 days. This is the longest I have quit smoking.
I just feel something must be terribly wrong with me... Could this all be just because I quit smoking? No one ever tells you what to REALLY expect when you quit...
I smoked out of a bong this one time , for the first time and i smoked alot so i layed back and chilled .. after a while i started getting goofy because i didn't remember if i smoked or not and started spacing out , it was weird because every time i thought harder my heart would beat faster and faster i thought i was going to die. At this point i was only trying to survive then i noticed i started to feel sharp pains in my shoulders and the pain started from the outer part of my shoulder and would get stronger and closer to the center where my head was when i thought hard about stuff. When the pain got sharp and harsh at the center i would twitch a little and remember it was something mentally because nothing was actually happening and so now im scared to try ot again , is this normal ?
View 1 RepliesI'm 15 years old... and i've been smoking since i was 12.. i am quitting, but since yesterday i have had this really bad pain in my throat, it feels like there is a lump of some sort, that won't go away, but then today, i woke up with the same throat pain (but worse) it hurts to breath in, it also hurts my left shoulder blade/ arm when i breath in, my nose, and occasionally my chest.. I am having a really hard time breathing, and i'm really scared. help?
View 1 RepliesI'm only 17 years old. I have felt the way i feel now for months. I am not pregnant before anyone suggests that!
I suffered from a disease/illness where my glands swelled up til they were huge and you could clearly see them. I had a fever all day, i would go cold and the hot, i had no energy at all and was generally sick! The doctor gave me some antibiotics and it cleared up.
Ever since then i have not been myself. I feel sick at some point during the day, i constantly have a weird feeling in my head, its not pain as such, but like a numbing feeling and irritation. I feel like im going to faint all the time, im weak and very tired, i also get chest pains from time to time & my breathing is rubbish, its hard to breath at times, i generally feel like im dying
I have had countless blood tests and all of them showed nothing!
This totally upset me because im frustrated, i just want it to be over!!
The doctor told me just to have lots of water and exercise.
My family were convinced that i suffer from anxiety and panic attacks!
As i had a panic attack due to the fact i felt so ill i thought i was dying!
It wasn't just happening to me for no reason the attack.
so they took me to the doctor where he told me my symptoms were that of anxiety and panic attacks so he gave me some tablets to take.
But i still feel the same!!
I do not believe that i have anxiety
I am sick if people believing that is what it is!!
.......
I am slightly worried, but last thursday i was told i had asthma and i was given 2 inhalers, but since then my breathing has gotten worse, i suffer from chest pain and a "that's not right" feeling in my chest, and i am soooo fatigued and have no energy and now have lost my appetite :-(
and also feel sometimes light headed, I have been given a blood test but results aren't out yet and i hate waiting also i am really worried which make me worse and i have some back pain as well.
I have COPD along with CHF. My blood pressure is normal. Have only 20% use of mitral valve. ( Cardiomyopathy). I was put on 60 mg of Furosemide (Diuretic) then 2.5 mg. Then after 2 months I am now at 7.5 mg.
My question is I have a constant cough, pulling up mucus. It starts with a real itchy throat and then the coughing. There is no relief. It goes on for anytime 7 to 15 minutes stop and then starts again. At night it is worse.
I am afraid that my COPD will get worse. Please let me hear from you if you have the same problems.
I am a carer for my Hubby, who has Pleurisy at the moment. I am his carer & I am meant to be going into Hospital for a hip operation. I am full of acute Anxiety myself as I need to get my Husband better. He is on antibiotics and strong painkillers as well. He also suffers from arthritis and also is deaf & severely sighted.. I am giving him hot fluids as much as possible.
View 1 RepliesI know a lot of people that have cold extremities and they don't have COPD. My adoptive Mom was one of those people. Her hands and feet were always freezing cold and she did not have COPD. I've had cold feet and hands all of my life long before the diagnosis of COPD.
View 2 RepliesI was diagnosed with copd two years ago and use a serovent inhaler twice a day and have a ventolin for back up. This is my second winter since being diagnosed and the cold weather seems to be affecting me more this year. My spiro test in January showed a slight improvement but generally l feel more breathless and l wondered if maybe l should ask for a change of inhaler. Does anyone know of an alternative to serovent or is it just the weather making me feel worse.
View 4 Repliesi was lying down on my back last night and suddenly felt my whole chest (lungs maybe)inflate. Does anybody know why this happened as its happened quite a few times recently? This left me really gasping for breath.
View 3 Repliesi was diagnosed with Emphysema in February and am having further tests. This has all come at me so quickly and caught me off guard. Is anybody else suffering with these headaches?
View 4 Repliesi am 25 years old, i have been suffering from breathing difficulty or not able to take deep breath problem.. all day i feel like taking deep breath. but when i try for it.. am not able to take deep breath. during night time i sleep normal.
what could be the reason. anybody pls help.. my Xray CT scan all normal.
could this be psychological problem. doctors trying to say that also. if so. how to recover from this.. it feels like i don't have any life without solving this problem.
Anyone get sore throat? I have a bad one. I read that it could turn into strep? Or just common? Remedies at all?
View 12 RepliesI went for a CAT scan for my heart and it was discovered that I have two nodules measuring 4mm in each lung. I haven't seen the doctor as yet. Has anyone experienced this and what was done for it? I am quite anxious.
View 1 RepliesI have recently been told that my diaphragm is not working properly and this could be the cause of my constant chest infections. Does anyone else have this problem?
View 5 RepliesI have been recommended to use NAC as a COPD therapy so I guess I would like to hear something about this medication. Will it works, what are the possible side effects. I have also heard that if you are using it for a long time, combining it with copper supplements would be a smart thing to do. Why is that?
View 1 Replies