25yr old asthma sufferer...

Hi Hayley JUST HAPPENED TO CLICK ON TO THIS SITE AND SAW YOUR MESSAGE. I'm much much older ( pensioner)but at least I still have my marbles in most respects except when it comes to smoking. You must have had a terrible time, how frightening foryou. I was diagnosed with COPD some 15 years ago when I found it hard to climb hills etc.,I was o.k. for 3 years and then I had a bad flare up and was admitted to hospital where they put me on steroids (been on them ever since) I gave up smoking for 3 months but so many bad things happened during that time that I started again and apart from frequent spells in hospital have continued to smoke ever since I keep trying to give up but psychologically I think it is my friend and use it as a reward, comfort etc etc. although I know its my worst enemy You see, taking high dose steroids for 10 years has it effects I have 15 things wrong with, me at least 6 of which are serious. Diabetes, perpheral vascular disease, pooR vision,muscle wastage etc., All this means that I cannot walk more than 50 yds. Can't eat sugars or fats, can't see, have tissue paper skin so I bleed and bruise very easily and I'm exhausted most of the time cos I can't breathe. I know I'm in a bad way but I can't deny myself eveything in life I might as well go now. Anyway I'm sure that if I had stopped smoking all those years ago I would be much fitter now but I don't think that it will do much good now - I'm too far down the line- and I can do without t he stress and agro it would cause.Please do try and stop COPD is nasty and progressive and you are very young. This message is no good I'm a very bad example but then I always do the opposite of what I'm told Stay positive and if push comes to shove keep fighting. All the very best let me know how u get on. Catole

thankyou for your reply, i understand how u feel when it comes to the fags, i have a split personality with them, sumtimes i despise them or what they are doing to my health, i dont want to cut my life short, there is so much i want to do, and i dont like smoking enough to risk this, yet im still smoking. i annoy myself so much and its a constant burden on my shoulders. sometimes i look at it as like a comfort and a reward afte a stressful day at work or somthing, and my resolve is practically zero in a social situation. sometimes i think sod it, u like smoking, just carry n, but if i have been that unwell aged 24, then in reality, i havnt got long left. my asthma is so severe, i cannot cope physically with a smoking habit. asthma used to be almost non existant before i started to smoke alot, i dont want to leave it just that bit too long to the point where the damage has just gone too far.possibly if i was older i would be more accepting of the habit, but i am killing my partner and mother by putting myself at risk. how is your condition managed on a d aily basis?

thankyou, your reply is helpfull, really it helps to hear from people in this situation, just to get some sense of the reality more than anything, so i can stop trying to convince myself i will miraculously escape all this

Hi Hayley,

Your post was almost like reading about myself. I was warned for years that the ciggies were killing me but carried on smoking; after all, they were my best friends weren't they? Kept me calm in a crisis, helped me to concentrate, etc, etc. I know all the excuses cos I not only used them I probably invented most of them. There is only one way to say this really - WAKE UP!! You are going to develop COPD and it is a progressive, degenerative disease which is likely to kill you. STOP SMOKING NOW!! I smoked from age 11 and was up to about 50 a day last year at age 57. If I can stop anyone can - honestly.

Find someone supportive who is also tough, someone who will see you through it, not let you quit trying and shout at you when necessary; someone who cares enough to cry with you at times but will not walk away when you need them. Don't let a slip back stop the attempt, keep going. At one point I was using patches and smoking 5 a day, which I reckoned was better than smoking 50 a day. ALso, I did it at my own pace, staying on the larger patch for 7 weeks, cos that's when I felt ready to move down to the middle one. Three weeks later I used the small patch for 2 days and then was a non-smoker. Other aids have worked for other people, my friend used a combination of stop smoking tapes and an inhalator. Find what will work for you.

If you need further incentive go to the respiratory clinic at your local hospital and see the people shuffling and gasping for breath (I may be one of them). Then make a decision - to live. As Carole advises, stay positive and believe in yourself. You can do it Hayley. Good luck.

Jacee

x

Morning Hayley & Jacee - lovely day here in Eastbourne. Jacee - a very good post 50 a day! my god thats a lot I can smoke 20 on a bad day but its wonderful that you have given up. TRouble with me is I have heard of people who have given up maybe 10 or20yrs.ago and they still get COPD but then maybe they would have got it sooner otherwise. Any excuse for me I suppose. I've tried every known method but in the end its what you value more, smoking or life itself. I have no self-control and live one day at a time. As they say Hayley don't give up giving up you don't want to end up like Jacee and me. Carole

Hi Hayley,

You are really incredibly young to have this but maybe take it as a warning, I am 46 and mum to two incredibly gorgeous children aged 5 and 7 who are the centre of my world, I have spent many many years suffering from chest infections/bronchitis (my first serious bout was when i was 18) my children were by ivf so you can probably understand how precious they are anyway this isn't about the kids but my point is that about 2 years ago i was diagnosed with copd which for me was the biggest shock ever even though i had been smoking since the age of 12 and over the years had tried to give up but really not tried that hard until my gp said that if i carried on smoking i would die in 10-15 years for me that was what was needed to make me give up, it hasn't been easy i have had the support of my husband and i set a date six weeks ahead (the last night i smoked so many you wouldn't believe it) i had support from the gp's and started with patches (which wasn't enough for me ) i then used lozenges (mints with nicotine) which gave me something to have (i didn't want to use the inhalotor as that would be a part of smoking to break at a later date)so 18 months i am not smoking (if i thought i could have one i would) am still on the mints but am much healthier i only have 1 or 2 infections a year now, please try and give up once you have got over the 1st week you realise you can do it, you want to have a long and happy life there is so much out there for you to do, it won't be easy but you can do it!!

Echoxx

hiya hun, oh you poor little thing, you must feel so scared. right put that to the back of your mind, you have got people who care on this site. my name is karen , Try not to be so hard on yourself & i know you must be hurting so much. I wish i could take this away from you, but all i can offer is, IF you ever want somebody to talk to iam a good listener. I havent got COPD myself but i lost my mum 7 months ago to it, so i understand the illness. Please dnt give up hope, many people live for years with this illness, with the right medication. YOUR VERY YOUNG AND AGE IS ON YOUR SIDE HUN. you take care sweatheart and talk to you soon xxx I also have a 15yr old daughter whos been smoking from 13 and she coughs like a old man who smokes 40 a day. you could be the one who makes her pack smoking in compleatly. Talk soon hun. xxx karen xxx