Older people with an emphysema or COPD background

New Member Joined: 08 Feb 2010 Posts: 2

Hi: just signed up here. I've bren on a few different SP forums and seem to have a unique profile: I'm 72, have had COPD/emphysema for 30 years, am on O2 24/7, had my only SP ten months ago, treated with chest tube followed 5 days later by doxycycline pleurodesis. Looking for others in my age group and background to compare notes esp regarding chances of recurrence. I'm well aware that everyone else is younger, often has a body type that predisposes to SP (mine is average), and usually doesn;t have underlying conditions. But I would think there have to be others like me someplace.

John O.
Wisconsin, US

Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 4:04 pm Post subject:

Hi John,

I am also new here and although I can't share experiences with you, I have some questions for you. I am 37 and was diagnosed with emphysema last year. You said you've had it for 30 year which means you were diagnosed at 42 which is not much older than me now. You stated you are on oxygen 24/7.

My question is how long had this been the case? I'm just trying to get an idea on what quality of life I can expect? I have moderate emphysema which is shocking for someone my age but I run every other day and I work out vigorously 6 days per week. I am slightly short of breath but I find that working out like I do helps me to breathe better when I am idle. I just want to know if you can possibly give me an idea of how your condition progressed, if you wouldn't mind.

Thanks in advance.

Lisa - MN

New Member Joined: 08 Feb 2010 Posts: 2

Hi Lisa,

First I'm going to assumethat you've checked out the possibility that you have been tested for alpha-one antitrypsin deficiency, a somewhat common cause of emphysema in younger people. Otherwise if you're like most people with the disease you gotit from smoking.

I don;t know how typical my expericne has been--I know I've met people who have travelled the same path, and others who have been diagnosed much later in life. It seems like by the time we are in our 60s and 70s things start to catch up with us no matter what. But you canhave some good years before that.

I was hospitalized four months after diagnosis, in 1980, for aninfection, but after that I wasn't really sick at all until 1995, when I had another one, though this time I managed it at home. Meanwhile all I took was inhalers--albuterol, atrovent, and a steroid similar to the one in Advair. I remained active throughout the 80s and 90s.. played racket sports, jogged, hiked, even tried to climb a mountain. Some of this was denial, but I felt still did me some good. In 2000, when I was 63, I got sick again and was prescribed oxygen for the first time, but only for a week or so. Again in 2002, this time hospitalized for a few days, went home with O2, but only used it for a couple of months. Then in 2003 I ws in the hospital twice with pneumonia, and therafter I used O2, most of the time at first, maybe 16 hours a day, and later that year more or less 24/7.

So there is a stage that you get to, typically in your mid 60s, in some a little earlier, some later, where the rest of your body aging, including your immune system, it just seems like it's easier to get an infection; and gain, these are almost always bacterial, and so treated with antibiotics and a steroid like prednisone. A lot of them you can get over at home, but once every so often you'll land in the e.r. because you just can't breathe. I've had 6 hospitalizations since 2002, including 28 days with the pneumothorax last April. I was told after my chemical pleurodesis that I could recover lung function for up to a year. And I have, in 10 months. With Oxygen I can walk outside a mile or more, and do a mile in a half hour on the treadmill. I also do a light weight program.

Obviously try not to get sick. Stay away from crowds. I do my shopping in off hours. Try to avoid small children (not always possible, especially if you have some). I would look at my time from 1980-2000 as almost near normal in many ways. Though since then it's been a bit of a grind. I can still get around pretty well, though.
_________________
Male, 72
Doxycycline pleurodesis April 2009

Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 9:55 pm Post subject:

Thank you for sharing your story. Obviously with a diagnosis of moderate emphysema at any early age it scared the hell out of me. I have been tested for alpha one and came up negative. I smoked for 18 years and I am a firefighter which most likely contributed to the problem. I am very active and I haven't even had a cold in 4 years. I also try to avoid children as much as I can and do all the others things you mentioned...anything to stay healthy.

I just haven't encountered anyone else that had been diagnosed at a young age and I thought I could learn from your experience. Thanks again!