COPD & Emphysema Support Group
COPD is a progressive disease characterized by airflow obstruction or limitation. Emphysema is characterized by loss of elasticity of the lung tissue, destruction of structures supporting the alveoli and of capillaries feeding the alveoli. Both have symptoms that include shortness of breath, among other respiratory troubles. If you are a COPD or Emphysema sufferer, join...
What I posted be4 was from my friend Ziggy in Austrslia who quit smoking 2 late. She is a former DSer who quit the backstabbing. Here's her article once again . No, I do not have COPD, I luckily dodged a bullet.
SMOKING KILLS - NO IFS - NO BUTTS
SMOKING KILLS - NO IFS - NO BUTTS ARE YOU DYING FOR A CIGARETTE? I am . . . If you are a smoker, chances are, it will happen to you. I smoked for 28 years. I wanted to do it to be in with my friends. I didnt drink or smoke, as my friends did. I loathed the very idea of both, but feeling unaccepted amongst my peers, being accepted was far more important. So, I tried my first cigarette. I hated it. It took me over a year of persevering and putting up with the pain, smell and taste of nicotine to perfect the art, and started feeling pretty cool. I shall never forget that memorable day when I took my first painful, drag. I was just 15 years old. When I reached the age of 35, I sought medical advice to alleviate my chronic, hacking cough. I was told I had the beginnings of Emphysema and that if I didnt stop smoking immediately, I would develop this incurable, deteriorative disease called Emphysema, and be dead before I reached my 40th birthday. So terrified at hearing this news, the first thing I did was reach for a cigarette, and began to smoke even more heavily. Only a smoker would understand this seemingly bizarre reaction . . . thats because smoking is not simply a habit, as so many people call it. It is an addiction; a deadly addiction. I did manage to reach 40 and as the doctor had predicted, I was diagnosed with Emphysema. Quitting smoking was the most difficult thing I have ever done in my entire life. I tried and failed many, many times, even though my breathing was laboured; I could not walk more than a few steps without gasping for air. I puffed and panted my way through what I saw as having been given an instant death sentence. I felt my world was crumbling down and that my life was over. Being unable to quit cold turkey,I tried chewing Nicorette Gum, (the only product on the market at that time, to help smokers quit). It helped me enormously, and if not for that Nicorette, I doubt I would have been able to quit, which I finally did, before I reached 41. I have now been an ex-smoker for 17 years and four months. I had stopped smoking. The cigarettes were gone, but the Emphysema remained. I am now 57 years of age and suffering severe, advanced and irreversible Emphysema, or COPD, (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), as it is called today. This disease is a direct result of my addiction to smoking cigarettes. I used to be a dancer, and a good one. Now, I cannot dance at all. I cannot walk far without stopping and starting. When the weather is too hot, too cold or too windy, I cannot go out at all. This COPD does not just affect one's body; with the loss of mobility, my confidence plummeted I felt the pain of the isolation it brings, the depression, alienation, and all else that goes with a deteriorative, incurable disease. It doesn't sound very pretty. It is not meant to sound pretty. Cigarettes were my best friends. I was well and truly hooked by my late teens. When I was sad, my cigarettes consoled me. When I was happy, I would celebrate with a cigarette. When I was feeling lonely, those cigarettes were always there for me. But cigarettes were not my best friends, and they are not yours. Best friends don't kill you. They love you, support and nurture you; not drain your body and soul with every puff and leaving one with an incurable disease. Please, if you think this can't happen to you, think again, because it can. I kidded myself for 28 years. It cant happen to me, But it did happen to me and it did happen to me, and I am now paying the ultimate price. Look after your body. Nurture and love yourself, and in turn, your body shall look after you.
Sharon Perlman (AKA Ziggy Baitz)
SMOKING KILLS - NO IFS - NO BUTTS
SMOKING KILLS - NO IFS - NO BUTTS ARE YOU DYING FOR A CIGARETTE? I am . . . If you are a smoker, chances are, it will happen to you. I smoked for 28 years. I wanted to do it to be in with my friends. I didnt drink or smoke, as my friends did. I loathed the very idea of both, but feeling unaccepted amongst my peers, being accepted was far more important. So, I tried my first cigarette. I hated it. It took me over a year of persevering and putting up with the pain, smell and taste of nicotine to perfect the art, and started feeling pretty cool. I shall never forget that memorable day when I took my first painful, drag. I was just 15 years old. When I reached the age of 35, I sought medical advice to alleviate my chronic, hacking cough. I was told I had the beginnings of Emphysema and that if I didnt stop smoking immediately, I would develop this incurable, deteriorative disease called Emphysema, and be dead before I reached my 40th birthday. So terrified at hearing this news, the first thing I did was reach for a cigarette, and began to smoke even more heavily. Only a smoker would understand this seemingly bizarre reaction . . . thats because smoking is not simply a habit, as so many people call it. It is an addiction; a deadly addiction. I did manage to reach 40 and as the doctor had predicted, I was diagnosed with Emphysema. Quitting smoking was the most difficult thing I have ever done in my entire life. I tried and failed many, many times, even though my breathing was laboured; I could not walk more than a few steps without gasping for air. I puffed and panted my way through what I saw as having been given an instant death sentence. I felt my world was crumbling down and that my life was over. Being unable to quit cold turkey,I tried chewing Nicorette Gum, (the only product on the market at that time, to help smokers quit). It helped me enormously, and if not for that Nicorette, I doubt I would have been able to quit, which I finally did, before I reached 41. I have now been an ex-smoker for 17 years and four months. I had stopped smoking. The cigarettes were gone, but the Emphysema remained. I am now 57 years of age and suffering severe, advanced and irreversible Emphysema, or COPD, (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), as it is called today. This disease is a direct result of my addiction to smoking cigarettes. I used to be a dancer, and a good one. Now, I cannot dance at all. I cannot walk far without stopping and starting. When the weather is too hot, too cold or too windy, I cannot go out at all. This COPD does not just affect one's body; with the loss of mobility, my confidence plummeted I felt the pain of the isolation it brings, the depression, alienation, and all else that goes with a deteriorative, incurable disease. It doesn't sound very pretty. It is not meant to sound pretty. Cigarettes were my best friends. I was well and truly hooked by my late teens. When I was sad, my cigarettes consoled me. When I was happy, I would celebrate with a cigarette. When I was feeling lonely, those cigarettes were always there for me. But cigarettes were not my best friends, and they are not yours. Best friends don't kill you. They love you, support and nurture you; not drain your body and soul with every puff and leaving one with an incurable disease. Please, if you think this can't happen to you, think again, because it can. I kidded myself for 28 years. It cant happen to me, But it did happen to me and it did happen to me, and I am now paying the ultimate price. Look after your body. Nurture and love yourself, and in turn, your body shall look after you.
Sharon Perlman (AKA Ziggy Baitz)
Not commenting on what causes emphysema. I think most of us have a pretty good grasp of what probably caused our respiratory problem, personally.
I am delighted to hear indirectly from ziggy again. I found her to be a kind and caring friend before she decided to leave DS. Should anyone be in touch with her, please tell her I send by best. wishes and also tell her this was a sincere, from the heart topic and I appreciate her effort.
Actually there are 3 types of emphysema and the third form is very rare... that's the form Digi has. Two forms are NOT caused from smoking or pollutants. One is from Alpha-1 and the 3rd ( Digi's one) is still unknown as to the cause. Abrief overview of his type:
Paraseptal emphysema refers to inflammation and tissue damage to the distal airways and alveolar sacs near the outer boundaries of the lungs. While more common types of emphysema impair major airway structures and disrupt normal airflow, paraseptal emphysema is unlikely to cause noticeable breathing problems in its initial stages. Many cases remain undiagnosed and untreated for several years, and complications may never occur. It is possible, however, for paraseptal emphysema to cause a lung to collapse or progress to envelop larger areas of lung tissue. Treatment depends on the severity of lung damage and may involve medications, surgery, or both.
Adults between the ages of 18 and 30 are at the highest risk of developing paraseptal emphysema, though doctors are not sure why that is the case. The disease is likely related to an inherited defect or an autoimmune condition. Some cases of paraseptal emphysema arise later in life in combination with another type of emphysema as a complication of long-term smoking. The condition usually presents by itself in young adults, though older people often suffer from chronic bronchitis as well.
The alveolar sacs that are affected in paraseptal emphysema sit very close to the pleura, or lung lining. Sacs become inflamed and enlarged, which limits the rate and amount of air that can be passed through them. Distal airways are not as vital as larger structures in the middle of the lungs, so a person may not have significant breathing difficulties. If symptoms are present, they may mimic asthma symptoms of coughing, shortness of breath, and fatigue.
The proximity of inflamed alveoli to the pleura presents the risk of damage to the lung lining. If the pleura is compromised, air can escape into the chest cavity and result in a collapsed lung. Paraseptal emphysema frequently goes undiagnosed until it is found incidentally when a patient receives treatment for a collapsed lung. X-rays, computerized tomography scans, and lung biopsies help doctors confirm the presence of emphysema.
here's a good article too on the 3 types of Emphysema.
Types of Emphysema
http://www.sophisticatededge.com/types-of-empysema.html
Although the layman generally thinks of emphysema as a single disease, there are actually three distinct described morphological types of emphysema.
Emphysema
Emphysema, generally, is caused by the destruction of the alveoli, or the air sacs in the lungs that act as the gas-blood barrier, allowing inhaled oxygen to enter the bloodstream from the lungs and waste carbon dioxide to be pass from the bloodstream to the lungs to be exhaled. Symptoms usually present relatively mildly, but gradually worsen, and include shortness of breath, a feeling of tightness across the chest, weight loss and anorexia, loss of breath after only moderate physical activity, loss of breath after bending over, wheezing, chronic and acute fatigue, and a productive cough. The productive cough, often worst in the mornings and generally the first symptom to appear, commonly shows up when a patient is somewhere between forty and fifty years old. It can take up to another decade for other symptoms to appear.
Centriacinar Emphysema
Centriacinar emphysema, or centrilobular emphysema, is characterized by damage that begins in the last branch of the bronchioles before the alveoli and then spreads peripherally to the alveoli. Most of the damage is usually contained to the upper half of the lungs. This type of emphysema is particularly characteristic of the damage caused by cigarette smoking.
Panacinar Emphysema
Panacinar emphysema is characterized by the uniform destruction of the alveoli. It is generally contained to the bottom half of the lungs. It is most often caused by homozygous alpha1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency, a genetic deficiency of a protein that supports the elasticity of lung structures. It can also present concurrently with centriacinar emphysema in smokers.
Paraseptal Emphysema
Paraseptal emphysema, or distal acinar emphysema, is characterized by the destruction of the distal airways structures, the alveolar ducts, the alveolar sacs, and the pleura, or the lining that protects and cushions the lungs. Oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange often continues relatively unaffected, but the condition can cause a spontaneous pneumothorax, or collapse of a lung, because of the buildup of pressure outside the lung. Giant bullae or air pockets trapped in damaged lung tissue can sometimes also cause severe compression of surrounding lung tissue.