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The unknown
Just a brief background, I stopped smoking cigarettes as of 7/1/2024, I was up to 4+ packs a day. Unfortunately, I was dumb enough that I went so easily up to this amount while being my Mom's primary caregiver as she was dying of small cell lung cancer. I do vape now, however working my way off of that too. 3 weeks ago I woke up with barely a squeak of a voice. I am not sick at all, nothing but this squeaky voice. I have asthma and I feel some wheezing, just a little and have used my Ventolin inhaler with no effect. I went to my PCP yesterday and She heard a massive amount of wheezing. I told her I only felt just a little. Chest x-ray was next of course. Results, perfectly clear. I now have a CT w/w/o contrast. I am so scared that I screwed up so bad, as I am 44yrs old married for nearly 26 years with 3 kiddos, 25, 17, and 7. I'm terrified.
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@abrackman Stop the vape - ASAP! Do what you need to stop - patch, meds, hypnosis... I had a friend much younger than you who thought it would be safer than cigarettes, but ended up with pneumonia and a months long cough. High school kids are being diagnosed with middle-aged lung issues from vaping. The manufacturers are not regulated, so you don't know what is in vapes.
Then go forward with testing and come back to our group for support and suggestions when you get a diagnosis. We're here for you.
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10 Reactions@abrackman, I just read your message and understand how worried you are, I am an ex smoker since I turned 61 and now I just turned 74. I wanted to quit smoking before it was too late, I did quit but eight years later I had lung cancer. I was glad that I asked for a ct test because I read somewhere that if you smoke or quit smoking you can find out what the damage is or not, they found a suspicious nodule but it was too small to biopsy, this was followed by three years of observation and eventually the nodule was cancer. I had another one removed two years later. I did manage to quit ahead of time but it’s still a lot of anxiety living with this disease. In your case it’s sad that you’re addicted to nicotine and seeing your mother suffer from lung cancer, you must be very worried to say the least, switching to vaping is a terrible choice, it’s causing untold harm and suffering especially for the younger generation. I hope that you will find the strength to quit and start loving yourself again, you deserve a good life and it’s waiting for you, all the best.
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3 Reactions@abrackman
I feel for you. I smoked as a teenager for 5 years (1.5 pack a day). Luckily, I quit cold turkey after getting my wisdom teeth out (afraid of dry sockets) and my boyfriend at the time would not let me smoke in his car (we eventually married and thankful I quit).
I have some scarring showing in my ct scans but chest X-rays are clear even when I have breathing problems. As a child, I used to get the croup often. I use an inhaler when I get an upper respiratory infection because I have bronchitis. When I had the covid shots, I had difficulty breathing (think it is tied to endothelial cell damage) and needed breathing treatments for wheezing and took padlocks when I got Covid infection (almost hospitalized).
Did you get Covid shots and have Covid? Were you ever diagnosed with COPD?
See links below with some information about wheezing and detoxification for your lungs.
1. https://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/wheezing/basics/causes/sym-20050764
2. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/15203-wheezing
3. https://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/wheezing/basics/causes/sym-20050764
4. https://www.verywellhealth.com/wheezing-6541937
5. https://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/wheezing/in-depth/sym-20050764?p=1
6. https://www.lung.org/blog/can-you-detox-your-lungs
7. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324483
8. https://www.healthline.com/health/quit-smoking/how-to-clean-lungs-after-quitting-smoking
9. https://www.health.com/lung-detox-8431745
10. https://www.verywellhealth.com/can-my-lungs-heal-after-vaping-8784152
11. https://scientificorigin.com/foods-excellent-for-lungs
12. https://www.verywellhealth.com/lung-detox-8551926
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1 Reaction@abrackman
*Paxlovid, not padlocks. Just love autocorrect! 😆
Btw…I am in my mid 50s and have a teen son. I hear you about your concern about your health when you are responsible for your family/children. I am my son’s sole provider and have many health issues with no family support. It can be scary but my faith keeps me strong and determined to do my very best every day to improve my health as much as possible. Our children are depending on us to be there for them as they experience milestones in their lives and need our guidance. Your spouse also wants to spend many more years with you so you need to prioritize your health for yourself and your loved ones.
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2 Reactions@abrackman
I also meant to say congratulations for your quitting smoking in 2024! It was quite an accomplishment to quit 4 packs a day. How long did you smoke? How did you quit?
@abrackman
It would also be good to see a nutritionist/dietitian to help you detox and improve oxygen levels in your body through diet and supplementation.
If you don’t already have one, it would be good to get a counselor to help you manage stress without smoking/vaping, support you quitting vaping, set goals for improving your health/self care, coping with fears/anxiety, etc.
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1 ReactionDo you know which of these articles could help with healing an emphysema lung?
It’s not possible that I know of, emphysema is a progressive disease that unfortunately worsens with time, I have some emphysema that is getting more noticeable to me, breathing problems are the biggest problem with shortness of breath but I also had lung cancer which was treated with surgery. I’m sure there are better treatments to help with this issue, usually they give you puffers (bronchial inhaler), later on they may give you oxygen to help with breathing. I enjoy researching almost everything and I have learned so much from this, there’s a lot of information out there, take care.
@punkybauer
You may want to work with your pulmonologist and a nutritionist/dietitian for the best guidance but below are some links. My understanding is you can’t reverse damage already done by emphysema but you can slow the progression and reduce/better manage symptoms.
1. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/emphysema/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20355561
2. https://www.medicinenet.com/22_foods_and_drinks_to_help_repair_your_lungs/article.htm
3. https://www.healthline.com/health/copd/does-emphysema-progress-after-quitting-smoking
4. https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/copd/treating
5. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323714
6. https://www.healthline.com/health/copd/can-copd-be-reversed
7. https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/copd/living-with-copd/prevent-flare-ups
8. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/copd-exacerbation
9. https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/copd/living-with-copd/nutrition
10. https://www.copdfoundation.org/learn-more/i-am-a-person-with-copd/nutrition-for-someone-with-copd.aspx
11. https://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/td_020909p54.shtml
12. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10245132/
13. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8378567/
14. https://chroniclungdiseases.com/en/news/nutrition-tips-for-copd-patients/
15. https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(23)02812-5/fulltext
16. https://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/ND20p14.shtml