Stopping smoking and copd

[maclarencat]

My OH has COPD and has smoked since he was very young. He is now 68 He stopped smoking 4 weeks ago and his breathing seems a lot worse Is this normal. Tonight he can hardly breath he keeps gasping. He has 2 inhalers and has been using them but it doesnt seem to help. I did ring the docs this morning but our Doc isnt back from his hols until tomorrow and OH wont see anyone else. Any advice

[237SJ]

I`m no expert and I`m sure someone will come along to tell me that I`m talking rubbish but I have always understood that smoking supresses the mechanism that clears mucous out of the lungs (called cillas maybe)?. When you give up smoking, that mechanism starts working again and you cough up lots of rubbish for quite a while.

[maclarencat]

To be fair hes not really coughing a lot just unable to breathe properly. I did wonder about that though as it could be that he needs to be coughing.

[maclarencat]

That should have said thankyou sorry! My only excuse for rudeness is I am quite worried about him. He is in bed now and he usually doesnt go to bed until around midnight

[boxtops]

There are some clinical articles (if you google Smoking Cessation and COPD) which suggest that the inflammation in the lungs does not always revert to normal after stopping smoking, as lung changes may have taken place (but I am no expert) - it does however suggest that stopping smoking reduces the likelihood of hospital admission. If he's really breathless, ring NHS Direct for some advice - they are there all night.

[chrissa1]

What about calling an ambulance maclarencat?

[maclarencat]

Thanks Boxtops They did say at the COPD clinic that his lungs wouldnt go back to normal but by stopping it should help it to not get worse.
I dont think he needs an ambulance Chrissa as he is just very uncomfortable but if he gets worse through the night I will. He is in bed now so I will see how he goes. Bless him he is really fed up with himself saying he doesnt want to spend the rest of his life like this. I will be glad when its morning.

[askyourgran]

See a GP as soon as he can. I don't want to scaremonger but someone I know who had to stop smoking for a week before going to hospital for some tests (otherwise they wouldn't do the tests), she stopped but when she went to hospital her lung and airways collapsed. Whether or not it is the mucus that caused it I don't know but she was fortunate to be where she was. They were unable to do the tests, which would have involved taking a biopsy of part of her lung (suspected cancer). She smoked a long time but not heavily.

[maclarencat]

We are going to the Doctors first thing tomorrow.

[boxtops]

Come back and tell us how you get on x

[maclarencat]

He smoked about 6 cigarettes a day but has done so all his life. He was an engineer working in ships boiler rooms etc so some of the damage is caused by his working enviroment.

[maclarencat]

I will Boxtops . Its just nice to have somewhere to talk to people when you are worried

[askyourgran]

Hope all goes well tomorrow.

[maclarencat]

Thankyou I think I may go to bed myself now.

[Sqad]

It is folly to assume that his onset of shortness of breath is due to his stopping smoking.
Forget NHS direct......

If you can't get an on call doctor then take him to casualty.

[maclarencat]

Thanks squad. Thats what we did about midnight because he was worse. It seems he has another chest infection so they have given him another course of antibiotics and another course of steroids. Its a pity that there are such bad side effects with steroids because he is so much better when he is taking them.