[dwfieldjr]

Last night I was running a service call with a couple other guys I work with at a 70 something year old ladies house that was on oxygen.

She was so super nice to all of us and she was preaching for all of us to quit smoking while we can(all three of us are smokers) she was telling us guys that even though you quit smoking you can still get COPD.

Fast forwarding to last night I remember my general physicians secretary told me the last time I got chest X-rays when I was sick that I was in the early stages of emphysema. I thought it all sounded weird and I wrote it off in my mind.

I didn’t really know what emphysema was at the time until last night when I started doing google searches. This secretary told me this two years ago to this day.

I hurt myself early last summer when I was changing a tire and went into the doctors office to get checked out he did more chest X-rays because he didn’t think it was a pulled muscle instead he said it was pleurisy.

At the time of those chest X-rays I asked home if he saw anything out of the ordinary like cancer or anything else and he said no fortunately. He prescribed some pain pills and some antibiotics. And a few weeks later I was better from pleurisy(lining of the lung separating from the lung).

About a year and a half ago I also went to get allergy test and the dr cleaned me out with a nebulizer and the nurse poked me with a bunch of pins to see what I was allergic to, the allergy specialist confirmed I had asthma and put me on a dulera inhaler.

I was also allergic to some other things I didn’t know about. The end result was montelucast pill every night before bed, Allegra, and dulera. The allergy specialist also said something about lung damage.

I have read that lung damage doesn’t repair itself and that people don’t live long with emphysema.

I don’t know why after two years this has all of sudden struck fear into me. I dont really like my general physician as he never seems to want to talk. He just always wants to bury me with educational papers in a packet.

I don’t really know what to do right now. Where do I go to get checked for emphysema?

[Persephone518]

Time for a new doctor from the sounds of it! One that will be more compassionate and patient and point you in the right direction (which, I assume, would start with a referral to a pulmonologist) to get the testing you need.

Wishing you the best of luck!

[dwfieldjr]

Originally Posted by Persephone518

Time for a new doctor from the sounds of it! One that will be more compassionate and patient and point you in the right direction (which, I assume, would start with a referral to a pulmonologist) to get the testing you need.

Wishing you the best of luck!

Do you know what kind of tests they do? I’m just scared right now.

[Persephone518]

Originally Posted by dwfieldjr

Do you know what kind of tests they do? I’m just scared right now.

Not sure. I imagine they'd rely mainly on x-rays to make a diagnosis, since many of the symptoms are similar to other pulmonary issues like asthma and COPD and lung capacity tests (blowing into this little gadget that measures the force of your breath) only tell you whether there's a breathing problem--not what's actually causing it. Sometimes x-rays can be ambiguous and require additional imaging and/or other "interpretations" of the same image. The process of diagnosing can be tough, unfortunately. I wish I had a more encouraging answer. Best thing to do is get it checked out as soon as you can, since most treatments work better the earlier you start.