Living with End Stage Emphysema
During my last hospital visit in May, one of the pulmonary doctors told me I had end-stage emphysema. I had never heard this diagnosis before, and got very emotional, thinking my life was close to over. I then looked it up online and found that people could live for 20 years with end-stage emphysema, which relieved me a lot.
Having been in the hospital three times between March and May for the same lung infection, it dawned on me that Western medicine had one solution. They treat me with IV antibiotics and steroids, and high levels of oxygen until my breathing normalizes and then send me home with oral steroids and antibiotics. I still have the serratia marcescens bacteria in my lower lungs, which is often impossible to cure. I plan to talk with my doctor about having a bronoscopy to clean it out or maybe take some much stronger antibiotics. I am still taking 10 mg of prednisone daily for an extended period of time.
Many of my friends have seen a Chinese medicine doctor in Berkeley, and have raved about his ability to improve or eliminate the variety of conditions that they are dealing with. Although I always thought Chinese medicine was kind of “woo woo”, I decided to check him out, thinking I had nothing to lose.
He called me and we had a long talk about my medical history, my emphysema, medications I take, my recent diagnosis, etc. He had been a medical nurse but, after practicing for a while, didn’t like nursing so he quit and went to study Chinese medicine. He honestly said that he hadn’t treated many people with emphysema or COPD before and wasn’t sure if he could, and would try.
At each session, he feels my pulse for a long time and can tell what areas of your body are weak. He told me that he didn’t think doing accupuncture on me would work (I’ve had it before and it did nothing) and he would see if his herbs do. He made me up a container of herbs and told me how to take them. That was about a month ago and I can barely believe how great I feel.
Prior to this, I’ve spent most of my time laying around with not much energy or enthusiasm to get up and do much. My wonderful husband takes great care of me and cooks, cleans, makes the bed does the laundry and is amazing.
Since being on the herbs, I have had more energy than ever. I don’t think I felt this good in many years. As an example, two weeks ago, I painted the baseboards in our bathroom. That’s some thing I haven’t done in many many years.
I am simply amazed at the difference in how I feel. It has been a transforming experience for me, and I wanted to share it.
Hi
, thank you so much for sharing what you have found helpful to you. It is definitely important for everyone to do their own research and speak with their physicians before trying anything new but many find complementary or alternative treatments very helpful! For anyone interested here is some more information on them: https://copd.net/mental-health/coping-complementary-alternative-therapies and https://copd.net/treatment/natural-remedies-overview. All the best, Sam S. (COPD.net, team member). 
thanks for sharing your story maxine i was happy to read it. The fact that you have benefitted from the chinese herbs is just wonderful. I personally dont use numbers for labeling how many years stage 4 is etc because like some people live for years with stage 4 and i hope or will be 1 of them and thats not even up for discussion lol because we all have to stay strong bounce off each other and apply the power of positive mental thinking. I know its easier said than done but even me typing this helps me and the fact i can type or vent lol excuse me ; it helps because at the end of the day were all in the same boat so we should "hold fast" to our lives. oh and as usual with me i went off on a tangent and completely forgot what i had intended to ask you which was what were the herbs you were using or are we allowed say. Anyway "hold fast" a chara 
You're exactly right ... applying a number to one's lifespan is really just an educated guess. We are each on our own journey, and our bodies are full of surprises! The important thing is to do all the things you dream of, if you can, and to take life one day at a time, with hope. It's not easy but we are all here together to support one another. Thanks for your encouraging thoughts! -Melissa, copd.net team
I have no idea what the herbs are. This doctor has hundreds of herb bottles that he selects from. He spends a lot of time feeling my pulse, which is where he gets most of his info on my issues. Then he mixes the finely ground herbs.
Wow, that's intense! It sounds like that takes a lot of trust in your provider. Did it make you nervous at first, or were you excited for a new option? I appreciate you sharing about this, it's a mystery for most of us in the West. -Melissa, copd.net team
No, I had a lot of confidence in him. I have many friends who have seen him and rave about him. He also does accupuncture but didn’t think it would work on me. (I agree as I’ve had accupuncture before and it did nothing. I can’t tell you how good I feel taking these herbs.
Hello Samantha ! It was so good to find you and this forum! I was lost and had no care team, and no one was telling me anything. Reading all the stories here gave me a much better grasp and pespective to be able to understand what I have been going through. I fully agree each person needs to find what works for them as I stated in my last line of the post 😀 And I wish everyone so much strength, humour and grace as we all get through this together. Thanks for your reply as well.. I am pretty much on my own in this and your community has been so informative and helpful! we are so glad you found us, we know how hard living with COPD is and we are here to offer any support we can whenever you need it! All the best, Sam S. (COPD team).
