COPD

[livingwith]

I am a 42 year old female and was just diagnosed in May. I was in the hospital for over a week and I was really sick. I am fighting it again right now. It seems to affect my voice and I don’t understand that. I have smoked since I was 15 and it is the hardest thing in the world to try to quit. If anyone with COPD has problems with there voice I would love to hear from you.
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[tmflanigan]

Hi Cindy, Sorry that you have COPD, too...it has literally taken my breath away. I was first diagnosed the end of 2003 and was also in the hospital for a week due to a severe exacerbation (and a few times since). I quit smoking then and there and never lit up again. I have it so bad now that I can barely breathe, barely move and nothing seems to help. My voice has also changed as I've gotten older. I think as we get older it changes naturally, but it's worse if you are/were a smoker, and using inhalers and/or steroids will also change the voice as will hormones/change of life. I'm sure both your GYN & Pulmonary DRs will agree with the aforementioned. Good luck to you and remember, there can be a lot worse things than having a deep or hoarse sounding voice...be grateful that you (and I) don't have to have voice boxes like some others do from all the years of smoking (I started at age 15, too).

[brettj]

I'm sure you get a lot of replys to this message. I wanted to tell you that you HAVE to quit. You must make a choice between sitting in a hospital bed on a ventalator not knowing if you will leave or not OR getting yourself in better health. You are young enough where you can likely live with this for many years but I'll tell you this from what I've gathered, if you don't quit smoking your age won't matter. You have to mentally come to the point where you know that you aren't 25 yrs old anymore. I know 45 is very young but it's old enough where you have to take care of this body you have. I have a 61 yr old mom who's battling this and you have to stay focused. 1 cigarette can do it. 1 not 4 a day or 1 a day...1 single cigarette. Choose your life over that poison. Check out a drug called chantix, I'm not 100% on the spelling but it's a new drug that CAN help you. Good luck and stay focused.