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Sudden Onset Severe COPD Inflammation only, no physical lung damage
At age 61, with no history of lung issues or smoking, I developed sudden onset severe COPD; literally overnight. The pulmonologist said there is no physical damage in my lungs, just severe inflammation , and put me on Breyna inhaler. Will be redoing pulmonary function testing in 2.5 months. There is no ready answer as to why this occurred, although doctor indicated could have been due to a virus such as Covid (never had it), but I did have bronchitis which lasted 6 weeks 5 months earlier than COPD onset. Due to a series of odd medical issues that befell me within a month of COPD onset, there is suspicion that I could have something autoimmune going on. Meeting with Rheumatologist to start down that rabbit hole.
If the inflammation is resolved, is it possible to be "cured" of the COPD? Or once I have it, its with me forever, although perhaps at a less severe level? I'm trying to set reasonable expectations....
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Check out food allergies and environmental changes before you settle on COPD. I did and found that I was suddenly allergic to ginger. Off all meds now.
Regards,
Sagan
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1 ReactionIf it's really copd, there is no cure. If you smoke stop, it's the best thing you could do for yourself.
Thanks for responding. Did develop a sudden allergy to soy and high sensitivity to ginger but have been away from those for many months now.
I'm new to this group and haven't had time to get into much of the historical dialogue , but I find it interesting that both these folks seem to indicate skepticism regarding COPD diagnosis. I had pulmonary function testing (and extensive review of recent CAT scan done for another purpose) as part of the diagnosis. Is pulmonary function testing not a reliable tool for diagnosis of COPD?
I have had COPD for several years. But it was very mild. I was taking Albuterol about 1ce a week or as needed.
Last January I had a hospital stay with heart problem and a bad bacterial infection. Took a couple weeks to get those under control. Since then my COPD has gotten seriously worse. My pulm1nologist now has me on 2 inhalers, albuterol 2-3 times a day and she wants me to start Dupixient. Dupixent is also a very expensive drug.