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Has anyone else been diagnosed with COPD after COVID?
Howdy,
I'm a 52 year old guy that was diagnosed with COVID on May 6th. I also tested positive for antibodies in Fall 2020. I'm not / nor have I ever been a smoker. I have no history of Asthma, but my mom has COPD (stage 2). After 2 weeks of rather mild covid (no breathing issues / fever) I developed what the urgent care dr told me was acute bronchitis. We started me on prednisone, Mucinex, and promethazine DM for cough. After a week, I had to go back and got another round of prednisone and Albuterol. I followed up with primary care and she prescribed Trelegy and said that this is likely Post Covid / COPD.
I'm having shortness of breath, wheezing, and cough with a little mucus. I'm being told to stay on meds and wait 3 months. I'm extremely down after fighting this for 6 weeks and now getting COPD on the table. I have asked for a pulmonary function test but beyond that, I'm lost on how to proceed. My pulse O2 is always above 95% and in the last 2 days, I forced myself to the gym (indoor track) for a brisk 2 miles, which I can do without exhaustion.
Does this scenario resonate with anyone? Is anyone else diagnosed with COPD after COVID? I'm staying on the primary Dr for a pulmonary function test to see what is going on with my lungs and get a baseline (sorry I'm an engineer and must have data).
Thanks for reading.
Jay
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This is my first time on this forum. So interesting to read. I had very mild case of covid in July 24. I had bronchitis in Sept and again in Nov. I had only had it once prior about 6-8 years before this. I came home from being in 7000 ft elevation, which had bothered me breathing wise last couple of years, but this was now January 25. I went to do my usually 3.5 mile run that I have done for years and could barely make it 3 blocks bc I couldn't catch my breath. I went to the Dr that day and she had be do a breathing tx then set up testing to see if I had asthma or COPD. Test results by March were slightly more on the COPD side so it was determined that is what I had. I have been a social smoker for years. I never smoked in the house, Maybe 2 packs a week if I was smoking a lot and would also go years and weeks without smoking. My Dr never asked about covid but bc I smoked and what she called my chronic bronchitis determined it was my smoking. The covid factor I only learned about from discussing my confusion over dx with a nurse, who immediately asked if I had had covid. I was raised around smokers, worked with aerosols sprays and worked census when we were on smoke alerts due to forest fires. I feel my Dr just kind of washed her hands of me bc of the smoking. I was finally able to see a nurse practitioner first part of June who explained how to use inhalers. It had never been explained and at that point I couldn't tell the difference between using them and not. I have used them daily since then. After that initial not being able to breath in January, that has never happened again and I still run 5 days a week. I had a flare in May caused by dust. That took 4 weeks to get under control. It went into bronchitis. I am having a slight flare now with some coughing and having to use abuteral mid day occasionally. I use Spiriva daily since June. With this flare I am doing research [I have no idea what caused the flare] and am happy to have found this forum. I need to now go on my Dr's website and see if numbers are listed for the testing that was done.
Too was diagnosed with COPD/emphysema after a case off Covid in 2020. I did have mild asthma before getting Covid, but in 2023 I was diagnosed with emphysema. Mind you I’ve never smoked, two of my siblings have COPD, my mother died of lung cancer, never smoked.
I’ve come to the conclusion that COVID made my lungs worse.
I’ve been on Trelegy now for two years now. Dr is still trying to figure out why I get short of breath since my O2 is usually 97. My cardiologist says it’s not my heart causing the shortness of breath. I’m at a loss :/
Sorry so long
I have GERD, was never mentioned to me that it can cause breathing problems.
I have noticed that coffee affects it quite a bit. I am on a strict diet with having IBS, GERD, and lactose intolerant.
Maybe I will mention this to my PCP next month.
I get regular breathlessness following first covid 19 infection in Spring 2020 ( plus two later infections and 3 jabs) and nothing structurally appears in various lung / heart tests/ scans…however just had my 3rd standard chest X-ray last week and got ‘normal , no action’ result back. I’m in the UK and can now see more details in the new NHS online records about this test which surprised me: ‘ Longstanding blunting of the left costophrenic recess. No confluent consolidation. Mild elevation right hemi- diaphragm. No pneumothorax.’ … yet this was also marked ‘normal’ …to my mind yet more referrals to a different specialist like a liver one! Did you see last week a new paper about how women effected by LC were more likely ( compared to men) to have aged blood vessels (5 years being not unusual)..so I’m also trying to go down vascular route ( impossible where I live as only cardio’s.)…as I also have blood pressure issues drugs don’t touch.
I have a similar situation. Got COVID twice each time within 25 hours of receiving booster. Had no problem with the original two shots. Hard because no one believes me. Also, diagnosed with COPD. Many missing pieces right now in the medical field.