Living with

@Somya.P I quit smoking on 20/1/2020 at 2130, I had one hundred cigarettes sitting in plain view for 6 months after I quit, never wanted or touched one, I smoked for 50+ years (not proud of that) my primary reason for quitting was the persistent productive cough, rattling chest, wheezing and whistling, croaky throat, I didn’t sleep for anymore than an hour at a time the sleep deprivation was impacting heavily on my life. Most smokers have wanted to quit or will want to quit, but it ends up getting masked by words like hope, luck, try and attempt. Non of these are conducive to a successful quit. I have helped numerous people quit smoking on an international platform. The first question is how many times have you quit, this is rhetorical, because breaks in smoking don’t count, you only quit ONCE and that is FOREVER once you realise and accept this, it makes the task more manageable, you are a non smoker from day one no matter what, yes it’s hard at the start and there maybe bumpy bits in the journey, but cigarettes don’t help in any situation, they promote stress and anxiety, if you smoke while you are dealing with a problem, it doesn’t go away, it just takes you away from it for a few minutes, cigarettes, do not help you with any physical, mental or emotional problem. Non smokers tend to handle it far better. Cigarettes damage you a bit everyday, nobody fails to quit they just aren’t ready to deal with the task in hand. How much damage will they do before they decide, or worse still be told by a health professional if they don’t stop it will have fatal consequences.
COPD cause and diagnosis.
10 months later I was walking to the pre school to pick up my grandson, it’s about 20 minutes away, I didn’t feel well at all, I was a bit breathless, when I got to the preschool I felt really unwell and breathless, as I walked home with my 3 year old grandson I had to stop every 5 minutes to catch my breath, luckily my grandson wasn’t fazed. As I got about 5 minutes from home, my head was pounding and I couldn’t breathe, my immediate concern was for my grandson, fortunately my wife’s chiropodist lived near where I was suffering, knowing I was a bit of a joker she thought I was taking the mickey out of her reversing her new car on the drive. Then she noticed I was in distress, I was a qualified first responder, so I knew all about staying calm, but I really couldn’t breathe, they brought me in and called an ambulance, they said it would be 2 hours, I really thought it was “check out time” anyway I slowly but surely recovered and within 40 minutes my breathing was manageable, my daughters partner took me to hospital at about 4.30pm, but because of covid, waiting inside was limited. It was cold and I only had a T shirt on standing outside accident and emergency, eventually I got inside and went through triage, they ordered an ECG, That subsequently had then round to the out of hours gp, I was eventually seen about 9pm, diagnosis suspected COPD, prescribed salbutamol, a spacer and a peak flow meter, I then went to my GP to try and get the diagnosis confirmed via spirometry, I was told because of the back log from the pandemic, spirometry was reserved for children 7 and under with asthma. I pointed out that it wasn’t urgent just a course of action to get a true diagnosis. They then over 3 months organised blood tests, chest X-ray and spirometry, December result's confirmed I did have COPD with a 33% lung capacity,

The fight Back

i immediately started walking 6 miles a day, but I rarely got breathless, any distress provoked an incessant cough, with breathing difficulty. I found that trying to take salbutamol in a distressed state was virtually impossible, so I took 2 puffs of salbutamol before I exercised, this worked well. I also went on a calorie controlled diet losing 35lbs by February, as time progressed, the 6 miles a day became to time consuming, so I reduced it to 4 x 7 mile walks a week, over the next couple of years I tried to find somebody to keep me company on my fast paced walks without success, but then a member of a running club about 5 mikes away, told a woman and she got in touch with me, I started walking on top of my own walks for an hour on Tuesday and Thursday evening about 3.5 miles, I also joined a gym that I went to 3 times a week, it was all electronic with structured resistance that worked all muscle groups.
the somebody at the club asked if I wanted to do run walk, slow run for 30 seconds followed by a walk for 60;seconds I failed dismally initially, but soon managed to do it, my fitness increased and I was able to join another running club where I ran for 60 seconds and walked for 60 seconds, I have done a few 5k races and park runs with this method, my personal best for 5k is 36.24, I tried a 10k but it was really windy and cold, it really affected my breathing, I had to walk it but still managed to do it in 90minutes. I also did the Chelmsford half marathon, I was in severe difficulties after the first couple of miles after getting carried along too fast at the start, but no matter what I always finish, I walked and composed myself for a mile and a bit until I could start my interval running again, I completed it in 3hours and 2 minutes, I was happy with that,

I have had a rough 6 months with spirts injury and viral bugs that have led to chest infections, but now the warmer weather is. Back I am once again running 30 seconds and walking 60 seconds, hopefully getting back to 60/60 i am booked to do the London half marathon on 1/9/24.
I fight hard and enjoy it, the doctor has said I have done more for myself than he ever could. I will fight on and do what I can while I still can

thats the story so far, 69 years old now