mr

[wally143]

i, stopped smoking 1week ago, i have to have a oxygen assement test in a few  weeks, i have copd will  hospital  know that ive stopped smoking when they  do my  arterial  blood test ?

[sstitanic2]

There is a blood test to determine nicotine in the blood stream but they do not test for that when dealing with people like us with copd. Just tell them when you go in and don't get your feelings hurt when they don't believe you.
Everyone here has given you great advice. I really liked hava's comments. I had never heard that one before. I thank her for that and will try it. You can sort of reset your lungs by taking in a really deep breath and holding your nose , exhale through the mouth like you are popping your ears. Breathe out longer than you breathe in. This squeezes out the bad air in your lungs. When my lungs feel full, I do that and it helps. You can do pursed lip breathing too and that really helps too. Get with a good rehab for lung issues. They will teach you so many things and techniques.
  Good luck to you and I hope all your tests come out better than think right now. Learn all you can and just know this is not a death sentence. It is no doubt a set back and no one can deny that but it is manageable and doable. God bless

[hava]

Do this pranayam, for 20 minutes, twice a day, to make your lungs healthy again.You will have no after effects of, stopping smoking.Your COPD will get better over the long term, so continue the pranayam for life.
Build up your timing gradually.If you feel tired or dizzy, stop and resume after one minute.
Anulom Vilom pranayam –
Close your right nostril with thumb and deep breath-in through left nostril  
then – close left nostril with two fingers and breath-out through right nostril  
then -keeping the left nostril closed  deep breath-in through right nostril
then - close your right nostril with thumb and breath-out through left nostril.
This is one cycle of anulom vilom.
Repeat this cycle for 15 to 30  minutes twice a day.
Children under 15 years – do 5 to 10 minutes twice a day.
You can do this before breakfast/lunch/dinner or before bedtime or in bed.Remember to take deep long breaths into the lungs.You can do this while sitting on floor or chair or lying in bed.
March 18 ,2011

[Resilient_Mimi]

ABG's are to get your blood oxygen level, also your PH of your blood, your CO2 which is what you exhale, and a few other things.  No, they usually cant tell if you have stopped or not, it depends on how servere the COPD is, and that is usually not reversable.  So, once smoking has affected your lungs, it doesnt go away.  You could notice more coughing after you stop smokoing at first, the airway has little hairs that sweep up mucus normally but when you smoke these hairs are paralyzed ofr 8hours for each cig you smoke, when a person quits the hairs start working again causing a person to cough more, this will subside after a few weeks. Good LUCK!