young with copd

[whiteboy6923]

hi my name is stephen, i am 27 years old. i was diagnosed with copd when i was 25(no its not alpha 1). i was incarcerated from age 14 to 20 so i didnt smoke but from age 20 to now i smoke heavily, a pack of cigareetes aday and 25 blunts(medical marijuanan rolled in a tabacco leaf cigar), well if i smoked that much and got copd in just 5 years would that mean that if i continue to smoke that in 5 years i will have as much or equal damage as i got already?  and will i be alive when im 50 if i keep smoking? i also have hepaptitis c. i do not drink or do drugs except cigrettes and marijuana. thank ou so much for your time. my name and email is ***@****

[Myerskm84]

Oh I'm 26 btw

[Myerskm84]

It cut me off! Well all I'm saying is smoking is like asking to be intubated. I have known people who smoke until they are 80 but with the meth-colleen function test I had to do I only got through 2 of the 5 test vials and the results were copd and lungs of a 55 year old. I have a nebulyzer and use it often. Luckily my oxygens have continued staying high but I feel like I work hard for it! Possible med mj alternatives would help with your reasons to have to smoke it.

[Myerskm84]

I was diagnosed three years ago. Asthma runs in my family so for my later teens and early twenties I just thought I had developed it. I had worked in a factory for a year about two years prior to diagnosis however I smoked alot from the time I was 15 until I was diagnosed. I quit for quite awhile but my husband started and well I had to smoke. I get bronchitis constantly and every few momonths I'm in the hospital with iv antibiotics, iv solumedrol, pain meds for the horrible chest wall pain that won't ever go away and gets emensely worse when I have bronchitis. I've had several bronchoscopies

[ELA1968]

Hello Stephen, I read your story and yeah, you are VERY YOUNG to have this. You said your not Alpha-1 so Im assuming you have had the 2 types of blood work done for this to illiminate it? Im just 42 years old and was told Feb 2010 that I have a start of Empphysema/Unspecified Asthma (COPD). I was told I was having an exaerbation in oct of 2010. Since Jan of 2011, my new doctor said my xrays of oct 2010 and xrays he ordered in Jan 2011, were both negative (2 different doctors). My xrays in feb 2010 showed Hyperinflated lungs which they say is a start of Emphysema. The blood work my doctor did recently was sent to a mayo clinic for testing of only one test of the Alpha-1 and it came back abnormal, yet Im still having hard times with breathing and catching my breath with little activity. Im on advair diskus, spiriva, albuterol inhaler and wellbutrin, claritin, zantc, xanax and now going to a pulmonologist for something is going on and oh yeah, Im having a nebulizer brought to me with face mask on monday! My doc told me that Im young to have this. I been smoking for almost 29 years and mary jane is just as bad. 2 very bad combos. So yeah, I would say your putting yourself in your grave. I found out that due to my abnormal blood test, that it can mean having problems with my liver. Guess what? Your liver puts out a protein that protects your lungs. Hmmmm..........I know a man who never smoked a day in his life and had asthma as a child and his parents both smoked around him and they lived down the road from a foundry that put pollutants in the air. Guess what? He got Emphysema. I face these hard realities every day! Im doing everything possible to quit smoking even tho Ive lessened the intake tremendessly! Now I dont know whats going on. There are so many effects from smoking that I cant believe this drug called nicotine is on the market. I know this is long, but I felt to give to you MY HARSH eye opener to REALITY. Good luck to you. :)

[ginamarie7773]

QUIT smoking!!! COPD only worsens over time... but you can manage it for a lot longer period of time if you quit. If you don't, it's like greasing the wheels of your deathbed, and pushing you down a hill. STOP now. My father just passed away from this disease, and it tested it and tested it.... Just don't ignore and hope you're the lucky one to escape the grips of this disease... DO what you need to do to preserve what lung function you have left, so that your time may be stretched out, and that it's a long time before you have to be on Oxygen Therapy. If you keep smoking, that may be just around the corner, very shortly.

[StephanieHunt]

Stephen, Im so sorry to hear that you have been diagnosed with COPD. I myself have been a heavy smoker for more than fifteen years, but I honestly had no idea that people in their mid to late 20's were really getting COPD from smoking, until I started having alot more breathing problems lately and started looking into it more. I've read that marijuana smoke can sometimes be more damaging than regular tobacco smoke, although they are both bad for you.

For your sake, you should really try to quit smoking, or at least cut back, especially since you've already been diagnoased with COPD. I say that, even though Im so hopelessly addicted to cigarettes that I've been completely unable to quit and am now smoking up to three packs a day, so I'm probably not the best role model or spokesperson.

Since I've been having increasing chest pains, which I think are due to breathing trouble, your story has motivated me to look at going to have myself tested for COPD, because Im starting to get afraid the more I read about it. I hope that your treatment goes well and that your efforts meet with success.