---THERE IS NO GREATER PLEASURE THAN DOOING WHAT YOU ARE TOLD CAN NOT BE DONE!---
Im a 33 yo male and was told in march of this year that I have COPD, lung age was measured as 59 years with lungs performing at 76% of expected value. I was a heavy smoker from age 14 until 7 weeks ago, so 19 years of heavy smoking, occasional cannabis use and breathing in dust all day at work (im an electrician) had done me no favours!
I was told that if i stopped smoking It would reduce the rapid decline and due to my young age possibly even recover very slightly.
I went back for another spirometory test today and amazed the nurse and my GP. I was told that im no longer in a COPD category and my lungs are functioning at 93% of the expected value for my age! Obviously im over the moon about this!
I have also been excercising as much as possible, at least a 40min brisk walk every day. I still find running or other intense cardio gets me out of breath very quickly but it is no where near as bad as before.
I used to have awful coughing fits in morning and evenings when I smoked and was constantly coughing up flem and clearing my throad about every 20 mins. This has improved drasticaly too.
I realise that I still have permanant dammage to my lungs but from everything i have read about COPD it seems I have made an astounding recovery in such a short space of time.
It is genarally said that it is a one way process but PLEASE PLEASE dont give up hope! STOPPING SMOKING HAS MADE SUCH A DIFFERENCE!!
I still puff of ecigs and hopefully one day i can phase them. There is no way i would have stopped smoking without them and belive them to be an amazing tool to quitting. It took a while to get used to them from tobacco but they really are worth a try if you want to quit or cut down.
I have had a lot of anxiety and depressive problems which were made far worse when I found out about my COPD, but I now feel that a huge weight has been taken off me! THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE!