moderate emphysema, fibrosis, and achalesia

[DonnaHerr]

I have just been diagnosed with moderate emphysema, fibrosis, and achalesia and I am very upset since I have NEVER smoked in my entire 50 years of life.  My father smoked while I lived at home for 20 of those years and he was a heavy smoker.  Do you know of any one else who this has ever happened to?  My only symptom was and continues to be a cough.

[National Jewish]

The first thing is to be sure that moderate emphysema really is your problem.  Emphysema is not determined by an x-ray alone.  You will need pulmonary function tests.  It is very uncommon for non-smokers to develop emphysema, even with a heavy passive smoke exposure.

[poolnoni]

Have you had a sputum test and CT scan of the chest. How did your doctor reach this diagnosis. What tests did he do? Please keep informed.

[DonnaHerr]

The test they used to determine these diagnoses was a high resolution CT scan of the chest.  My chest X-ray is normal.  My PFT's and pulse ox are also normal.