They can smoke forever and stay healthy. Go figure.

I hope you find successful ways to cope with your condition. Breathe well.

Aerobic exercise means you take in more oxygen; it also means you take in more particulates and other pollution.

Do what you need to do, though, to stay as healthy as you can.

You know the entire DU community will support you through this.

Fortunately I'm in good health otherwise and my workout routine since moving to Vegas has helped control the COPD. I go for some additional testing in two weeks in hopes of discovering what triggered it.

Shouldn't you be "vegassmith" ??? :ROFL:

Hope you're feeling better soon.

stuff we do years ago can come back to bite us in the ass.

Mr Pipi got diagnosed with it too about five years ago, probably as a result of smoking (we both quit in 1996), plus the job he did while in the USAF (hazmat).

Also, he was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis, likely caused by the bacteria in wild turkey droppings...the ones we fed here in our yard for years.

His mom had COPD too, and lived to be 93. That's not even what eventually killed her. So it sucks, but the news isn't all that horrible. Just sort of scary when you have breathing issues, I guess.

It did freak me out as my father died from pulmonary failure at the age of 55.

Was he a heavy smoker...or a smoker at all?

smog over LA (#1 Google Hit -- you realize)

my knees, ankles and hips. He was right. Now my lungs!

...but still using Advair 50/500 twice a day AND still coughing my lungs out. Never thought I'd hope to have asthma, but there it is. Like you, I stopped smoking decades ago.

It sucks, the things they don't tell you about until it's too late.

obsessed I was with it.

you could look for Clear Lungs (its a blend of Chinese herbs), if you are into that sort of thing. It especially helps with congestion.

Stay well, ohiosmith.

Bad allergies have morphed into terrible asthma. My doc doesn't call it COPD yet but the amount of daily drugs I take are ridiculous.

And there are still "bad air quality" days when I wheeze and cough my way through the day like a fiend, and have trouble just making it through minimal chores.

I took my easy breathing for granted....

I keep thinking of Christopher Reeve's wife, Diane, who died of lung cancer without ever smoking a single cigarette. Some of us are just genetically unlucky.

I'm really sorry to hear this ohiosmith. Bummer.