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← Return to COPD end stage: Anyone else?
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Hello, Shirley,
First, any new diagnosis, especially a chronic and incurable one like COPD, is scary and overwhelming. But, people can live,for quite q long and productive time with it, if they control the symptoms and work to stay healthy.
Here is a great place to start reading about COPD: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/copd/symptoms-causes/syc-20353679 And copd.foundation.org
Knowledge is power!
To answer a few of your questions, your breathing treatments are delivered through your nebulizer, and the medications you inhale will be based on your condition, and any infections you may have. Yes, the pulmonologist is the right doctor to treat your condition. Quitting smoking is HARD, but as a nonsmoker I am sorry, not to have suggestions. Cutting down is a great start- the next step is to figure.out what program or method will work for you . Here is Mayo's guide. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/quit-smoking/basics/quitsmoking-basics/hlv-20049487
Feel free to come back and ask any and every question you have. The people on Connect are awesome at sharing their experiences and feelings.
Sue
Replies to "Hello, Shirley, First, any new diagnosis, especially a chronic and incurable one like COPD, is scary..."
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Sue, I can't thank you enough for your comments and all the helpful information you've provided in your note to me. I'm soaking everything in like a sponge. I have an enormous amount of phlegm in my lungs. Will the breathing treatments help to reduce that? I take a lot of Mucinex but it doesn't seem to help. I was only doing the breathing treatments while I had bronchitis. Should I be doing those every day? Having not seen the specialist yet, I'm not sure what I should be doing. And my nose runs all the time!! What's up with that?!! In the morning when I get up I sound like I'm drowning in mucus but once I cough it all up I sound a little better. I'm not real short of breath yet and I don't need oxygen yet. I keep a check on my O2 level and so far it stays in the 90s. It's all the unknowns about this disease that worries me. I've read some scary stuff on the internet and I've finally stopped reading about it now that I've found this group. But I am definitely going to go on the links you provided in your note and see what they have to say. I'm desperate to find a way to quite smoking. And I appreciate the link on learning about COPD. Seems like when I Google COPD I get everything under the sun but nothing that I'm looking for. Thanks again, Sue, and I pray you are in a good place and feeling well. Be at peace.