Do I have COPD ?

[hypogirl80]

I felt shortness of breath last week, went to see a doctor (Allergist), Took pulmo function test in his office, got a number 86, the doctor said, it is not bad, but I really don't know what it is.  X-ray came back Today said---'No acute cardiopulmonary process.'---- , Also said ------ 'Borderline hyperinflated lungs, which can be seen with COPD'------ I do not know what this means either, can some one help me. And I also tried an inhaler (Albuterol), the inhaler does not help my shortness of breath. Any help is appreciated.  (I won't see my doctor until next week, can't wait to know a little more about my problem)  

[Ehrin22]

What is your main underlying disease when you say you've might have COPD? Emphysema or chronic obstructive bronchitis? (both are lumped in together as COPD, but they're actually pretty different). I have the bronchitis and my lungs show a spider-web of scars on X-rays. After a while my bronchial tubes saw these scars as an enemy invader, and began to secrete mucus to deal with them. That was the start of my COPD. But since these scars aren't going anywhere, the mucus cells expanded so they could produce even more mucus to deal with them. I think you can see where this is going. My doctor used the scaring as well as my shortness of breath, a constant productive cough and low oxygen readings to make his diagnosis. If you are diagnosed with COPD, your doctor should tell you which disease you're more likely to be dealing with. Many of them will tell you it's both, since most COPD sufferers were smokers, thereby increasing their odds of having both. If you have the bronchitis, I can tell you from 18 years of experience to take the mucus reducer 'Mucinex' at the maximum dosage every day (if your doctor tells you you can tolerate it). It's over the counter, and it's gone generic now. So you can get it at about half the price it used to be. It has literally saved my life. Now the mucus is very thin and I can cough it up on the fly, instead of letting it stay in deep within my lungs in its normal thickened state and then end up as a bacteria-ridden chest infection. But it took me two years from diagnosis to develop my first lung infection. Until then it was just a never-ending, annoying productive cough. In the 13 years before I learned about the Mucinex, there were periods of time where I was dealing with about one infection per month. In the 5 years since I've been using it, I've only had 5 or 6. So it really does work.
On the other hand, If your problem is leaning more towards emphysema, then that's a totally different ball of wax. Either way I wish you luck.

[Ehrin22]

What is your main underlying disease when you say you've might have COPD? Emphysema or chronic obstructive bronchitis? (both are lumped in together as COPD, but they're actually pretty different). I have the bronchitis and my lungs show a spider-web of scars on X-rays. After a while my bronchial tubes saw these scars as an enemy invader, and began to secrete mucus to deal with them. That was the start of my COPD. But since these scars aren't going anywhere, the mucus cells expanded so they could produce even more mucus to deal with them. I think you can see where this is going. My doctor used the scaring as well as my shortness of breath, a constant productive cough and low oxygen readings to make his diagnosis. If you are diagnosed with COPD, your doctor should tell you which disease you're more likely to be dealing with. Many of them will tell you it's both, since most COPD sufferers were smokers, thereby increasing their odds of having both. If you have the bronchitis, I can tell you from 18 years of experience to take the mucus reducer 'Mucinex' at the maximum dosage every day (if your doctor tells you you can tolerate it). It's over the counter, and it's gone generic now. So you can get it at about half the price it used to be. It has literally saved my life. Now the mucus is very thin and I can cough it up on the fly, instead of letting it stay in deep within my lungs in its normal thickened state and then end up as a bacteria-ridden chest infection. But it took me two years from diagnosis to develop my first lung infection. Until then it was just a never-ending, annoying productive cough. In the 13 years before I learned about the Mucinex, there were periods of time where I was dealing with about one infection per month. In the 5 years since I've been using it, I've only had 5 or 6. So it really does work.
On the other hand, If your problem is leaning more towards emphysema, then that's a totally different ball of wax. Either way I wish you luck.