Hi, I am 49 and it looks like I will be diagnosed with COPD. I was a long time smoker (25 years) very recently quit. I don t have a smokers cough and I am relatively healthy otherwise, workout at the gym. The only reason I was diagnosed is because my bad cold turned into a lung infection. I just want to know, if I take super good care of myself, can I still live until 80?
Hello In your case diagnosis is established, and your question is life expectancy up to 80 years (now you are 49 years) . Yes, you can live even longer than this, but you should take many precaution and treatment under pulmonologist and physiotherapist and counselling. I will not say anything about the treatment. In COPD aim of O2 is to increase baseline PaO2 to >_60 mm Hg(8 PA).INAPPROPRIATE USE OF O2 THERAPY MAY RESULT IN RESPIRATION DEPRESSION. Pulmonary rehabilitation :Include exercise training (from a physiotherapist who is expert in lungs), nutrition counselling. With these measures, if no relief then consult a surgeon and bursectomy, lung volume reduction surgery are other option. The last one is lung transplantation. Hope all these will be fruitful for you. Good luck.