Diagnosis of COPD - panic

One thing I can't do is lie, wish I could at times, as some people can be

so judgmental.  I am trying very, very hard to quit at the moment.  I will

admit I have a couple of puffs a few times in a 24 hour period knowing

that right after that I will not be able to breathe.  I got the nicotine patches and then discovered that because I have had two strokes

in the last few months it isn't safe for me to go that route.  Many

questions etc. to ask the Dr. on Monday.  Good for you that you

quit 15 years ago.

 

Stop the ciggaretes now ,not tommorow, look up  vype electronic cigaretttes and use these ,my wife orders vype bold 16 mg ,and she smokes these ,she say they taste the same ,and it shows a vapour out of your mouth instead of smoke.her dr and consultant are verry pleased with her .

No ada I don't smoke haven't done for years! 

Hey david24999,

Just wanted clear something up that is asked alot and people get confused about...there is a big difference in electronic cigs and vapor units or what they call "vaping" which is the digital units. It sounds to me like you mean the vapor unit but you are calling it an Electronic cig...which is a nicotine coil cig that has the filter soaked with nicotine. Vapor is better....you can vape even without nicotine...you have a choice of flavors and you can wein down in milligrams if you DO choose a flavor with nicotine. I swear by the vapor units and am down to 8 mgs now and my lung specialist has no problem with it either. I quick smoking cold turkey after 36 years of smoking and haven't cheated once since Sept 3rd. Anyway...just want to make sure accurate information gets on here bc people can easily get confused about these fake cigs now. I recommend VAPOR UNITS to anyone. Is this what you are talking about?

Just had a email back from were i get the what they call the e ciggarette,and they say you puff this like a normal ciggarette ,but no smoke comes out only vapour, so you a what they called vaping. Thats all the info i can give .i buy these for my wife,and when she smokes them ,they look like normal fags cause really the vapour looks like smoke..but her dr says it better than smoking properly. I hope this has helped a little. Dave

Sorry to point out the obvious, but if you're still smoking enough to affect your breathing, you're probably smoking enough to increase your stroke risk too - maybe as much as the patches would?

 

Hi David, I don't smoke, haven't done for years! Wish bye were out back when I was young though. However, I'm the generation that grew up ina smoking household in the days when cigs were advertised as cool, on trend and the general thing to do! Good luck with everything x

Hi amanda, i also was brought up in a smoke household, and when in used to see my consultant,he used to say ,so you have smoked all your life,now you want the nhs to put you right,and i got really angry with him one day and said,in my generation the goverment encoraged us to smoke ,and in them days it was the norm to smoke, so yes i am exspecting the nhs to put me right,and he was would go into a lecture mode.   Sorry to say when i first replied to you ,it was really meant for someone else,once i had sent it ,i noticed my mistake.best of luck dave. So yes keep on no smoking

Sometimes it's very worthwhile being thorough with a number of tests. Being 70 my doctor wanted to rule out clogged arteries as contributing to my shortness of breath. The pft measures how much air you can push out of your lungs. On the basis of that test he diagnosed asthma. It was the chest cat scan which showed the emphysema. The chest xray was clear. The diagnosis now by the pulmonologist is called ACOS which is asthma copd overlap syndrome. I'd much prefer to be in the care of a lung specialist with a lung disease than in the care of a general practitioner.

Hi Ada555:

Thanks for your comments, I agree with you, however, hate to say this but

it's true; our health care system here in Canada kind of sticks.  You are

lucky if you can even find a gp, took me 2 years, if you can believe that!

Would say that after reading your comments the UK has a far superior

health care system.  Can take months to see specialists, etc. here.  Not

giving up though Ada, will keep on plugging away.  Take care.

correction:  to Ada 555, meant sucks not sticks, re health care system!

That's disturbingly amazing info about the Canadian health system:  I've been hearing for years that US citizens cross the border because yr system is so much better than theirs!  Two years to get to see a gp?

In Australia, supposedly a classless society, it can take months to get an appointment with any type of specialist and very few of them bulk bill.  People with  private health cover can get an appointment much much faster 

 

Hi Terri. I'm in Canada as well and my own experience with our Healthcare has been very good. I've never had a problem with getting any tests that I need thankfully. My gp I've been going to for 25 years so he knows me well and never hesitates to refer to a specialist. I'm sorry you have not had a good experience. Perhaps you would have better luck with doctors in a large urban aea like Vancouver? I was going to have to wait 3 months to see the pulmonologist but had asked to be put on a cancellation list and got lucky to be called after one month. Hope you have a better experience with our system going forward

Hi Ada555:

Thanks for your comments.  I don't live in Vancouver and I've moved a

lot so haven't been able to maintain a gp for 25 years.  Where I live the

sitiuation is not great, ie. no doctors.  My gp is in another city but am

thankfull that I finally found a doctor that was taking new patients.  Glad

that you have had a good experience.