COPD Group: Introduce yourself and connect with others

@margaret96 yes you can get to much oxygen. Set your concentrator on what ever your doctor tells. I use oxygen 24/7 but I only have my concentrator set on 2 or 3 when active. I did not understand what you meant when said you only use your concentrator or your Albuterol . Don’t you use your concentrator all the time? Then your rescue inhaler (Albuterol) when short of breath? I thought 89 is when you get concerned? Not sure I helped you but good luck

I was dx a year and a half ago. I had a hard time wrapping my head around it. I run 3.5 miles , 5 days a week. Plus I usually do weights at the gym. I had come home from being in a high elevation and went to go on my usual run the next morning and couldn't breathe. That is how I/why I was dx. The Dr handed me an inhaler. Whether I was stunned and didn't hear but I believe I wasn't given any explanations or told how to manage, especially with the inhaler. I did smoke. I have now quit altogether. I always said I didn't have an addictive personality. I didn't always smoke. Sometimes only socially. Sometimes not for years. The last number of years I smoked about a pack a week. I think the Dr never believed that I didn't smoke more than that. I also had covid in July of 24. It was quite mild. I had bronchitis twice after covid. Once in Sept and again in Nov. End of Dec. was when I had my breathing episode. I was dx with mild copd. I have learned that my triggers are dust and car exhaust. A year ago when I was retiring from work I had bronchitis again quite bad which I think went into an exacerbation. I wasn't able to see a Dr at the time so I felt hung out and left to dry. I'm not sure if it was just bad timing, circumstantial etc that I wasn't able to get an appt. A month later I did have an appt with a wonderful NP who did thoroughly explain inhalers, how to use them . some of my symptoms etc. I have had no symptoms or problems since...until last month allergies hit me. I haven't had allergy issues in years. I took mucinex and played low so it wouldn't go into bronchitis. That worked. Currently I was working around the house and yard and was around dust. I should have known better but didn't think about putting on a mask until I started coughing. So my question now is how do a I deal with the cough? It is annoying, makes my chest heavy, keeps me up at night etc. The cough is really my only symptom. I am able to still go run every morning without a problem. It is a very dry cough but does leave my throat painful and sometimes I need a dough drop to try and quell the coughing.

@margaret96
Very helpful to know you have had COPD for 20 years-it gives me hope as I was designated a few years ago after covid episode. I am only 82 and looking forward to much more life. God bless!

Hey everyone. My name is Matheus (24M). I have been experiencing shortness of breath that started completely out of nowhere (05/21/2025), one year ago. Since then, it has been present 24/7. It has progressively worsened over time and is currently severe. I do not feel difficulty inhaling or exhaling, but rather a surreal sensation of suffocation that makes me yawn or try to yawn all day long. When I yawn, there is partial relief for about half a minute, and then the suffocating sensation returns.

Since the beginning, I stopped all physical activity. However, when walking, I do not feel any worsening of the sensation. In the sixth month, on a single occasion, I coughed up blood, which made me very worried about acute/chronic pulmonary embolism. However, I have undergone dozens of tests and nothing has been found so far. My doctor assured me that the cause is not cardiopulmonary.

Has anyone with COPD been in the same situation? Do you think a pulmonary disease would present this way? Especially regarding this type of shortness of breath and the constant need to yawn and sigh.

@matheusprado When you say “doctor”, are you referring to your family doctor? It sounds like you definitely need a cardiologist and a pulmonologist. When you say test, are you referring to CT scans or MRI scans? It sounds like it’s gone way too long without a proper diagnosis.

@stevelc I’m referring to a pulmonologist. He is the greatest here where I live (Brazil) in pulmonary vascular diseases. I went to a cardiologist too. I had CTPA, chest CT, echocardiography, vq scan, spirometry, complete PFT, DLCO, body plethysmography… The vq scan showed small diffuse defects of both ventilation and perfusion in my lungs, but these findings were no related to pulmonary embolism and all the follow up tests were normal. Doctor said it could be neurological, dysautonomia…

@matheusprado Sounds like your doctors have done due diligence. I hope they can pinpoint the cause and help you to live a somewhat normal life for a 24yo.

@crabby55 You can get generic Mucinex (guaifenesin), might consider taking it every day, just as a precaution. Just a suggestion.

Hello my name is James B and I am wondering if anyone has had a similar problem. 15 months ago I had influenza A and during the time I had the flu I was coughing up alot of mucus/ phlegm and after the flu ran its course I still continued to cough up phlegm constantly every day so I went to a pulmonary dr and he said I had COPD and then I saw 2 more with different diagnoses and they all wrote perscriptions for the same medication has anyone experiencing this constant cough of mucus and has anyone know how to make it stop

Hi, I was diagnosed wirh emphysema/COPD in 2010, but never really had any issues from it for s long time. Until July 2018 when I developed streptococcal pneumonia with septic shock. Was in induced coma for 2 weeks & 42 days total in hospital. They said I was lucky to be alive. I was back to work full time just 2 weeks after being released from hospital, but my life has just gone downhill since then. I developed a huge "pocket" of air that pretty much takes up the whole upper right side of my lung. I've had invasive pulmonary Aspergillus, Mycobacterium kansasii infection, recurrent pseudomonal infections, and multiple lung nodules. Now my lungs are colonized with pseudomonas and I use Cayston, and inhaled antibiotic on a regular schedule of 28 days on, then 28 days off, repeat. I had to stop working and am on oxygen 24/7. Recently ive developed worsening breathing/shortness of breath, and I'm just struggling to figure out what's wrong now. Even when my oxygen saturation reads 96, I can still feel like I can't breath. I'm really tired of struggling so much and wish I could just breathe. Thanks and sorry for such a long first post!