Please help me, I dont know what this falls under

I am 39 and before I was 36, I had none of these problems. I began putting on weight when I was 36. I will be totally honest here as I want help so badly. I am scared. I do smoke, but was diagnosed as having COPD because of the numerous times I have gotten pnuemonia (pneumonia) and ... [More] bronchitis. They said my COPD had more to do with that then my smoking,which is light compared to other smokers. I smoke about one pack a day. Sometimes less.
For the last three years, I have had this problem in which I will start coughing and it won't stop and next thing I know, I am in this weird dream state, in which I know I am coughing, but all I think about is my life and it feels so nice and so real. Then I come out of it and people are grabbing and yelling at me and I have peed myself and I feel so tired and dizzy and shaky. Then everyone tells me that I started coughing and staring at nothing and shaking reall bad like I was having a seizure and I would pee myself. I lose all control at these times and no nothing that I do during it, only afterwards am I aware that something was wrong. I am very scared as I feel like I am dying during it and I don't mind this feeling, because it feels so  nice. (No, I am not in the least suicidal, so this is really scary to me) Am I dying during this? Am I going to? Can I fix this? Is there help? and What is happening to me? And why can I not control my bladder? Help me, please.

[Bridget A. Hewitt, RN]

Hi and thanks for using the forum.

I am not really sure what is going on when you are having these episodes.  I can assure you that the coughing/COPD are a direct result of your smoking and that a pack a day smoker is NOT considered to be a light smoker.  I think you should let your doctor know about these symptoms.  They can decide if you need further testing regarding this (for example a holter monitor which will record your heart rhythm during an episode).  It could be that the continuous coughing is causing your blood oxygen level to drop and that is why you are having this "dream like" state.  I think you need to look into this further with your doctor and I think you need to consider a smoking cessation program.  I hope this info helps.  Good luck.

Bridget