Newly diagnosed and scared
Hello! I recently had to go to the emergency room due to the fact that I had trouble breathing. They did blood work and a chest X-ray and said I had bronchitis. The nurse told me to follow up with my doctor because she thinks I have COPD. I did a follow up and my doctor said I do have the very early signs of it. He advised me strongly to quit smoking. He said I do t need medication at this time. Is this normal? He didn’t even say when he wanted to see me again
Hi laffycat and thanks for your post. While we cannot provide medical advice or diagnostics over the internet (for your own safety), your concerns certainly warrant a reply. We understand how frightening an initial diagnosis of COPD can be - rest assured you've come to the right place!
Your doctor's advice is very sound and prudent. Quitting smoking is the single most important accomplishment you can strive for when you have COPD. I thought you might find this article on that very subject to be interesting and informative: https://copd.net/living-with-copd/pulmonary-rehab/lifestyle/quitting-smoking/.
We are all about all things COPD and have a wealth of information on the subject. If there is anything in particular we can assist you with further, please let me or any other moderator/team member know.
All the best,
Leon (site moderator)It took me almost dying to quit smoking
It was the hardest thing i did in my life BUT i did it abd it helped tremendously
Keep trying 🙏💙awesome,it's a very hard deal to quit,has your breathing got better since quitting I smoked for 55 years and yes, quiting is the hardest thing I have ever done also! It has been 3 years since I have had a cigarette (and I still want one) but to survive you really have to quit smoking. Two of my closest friends that were younger than me couldn't quit and they died over a year ago. Broke my heart. Please try to quit!
quit smoking,you'll be glad,u don't want to go later stages of copd I hear you about being scared. I think I have been in denial about it. I did not want to deal with it, but now I know I must and I will. I am glad to have found this community. I am also going to start researching COPD since knowledge is power. If you feel your doctor is not doing enough find another or talk to the doctor about how you feel. I am going to seek out a specialist because I feel my doctor is not doing all she should to advise me. We must live for each day the best we can. Often our fears are never realized and things go better than expected. I find meditation useful but have not practiced it enough lately. I am going to do my best to start again. Also I will come here for help and I am starting some new strategies I read about. Best of health to both of us. NO MORE FEAR!
, thanks so much for joining this conversation and offering your support. I'm also so glad to hear that you are finding our community helpful! We are here whenever you need us. All the best, Sam S. (COPD.Net Team Member). 
I just read this today & you wrote it in 2021. I love what you said ♥️ I find meditation useful as well but lately I need a reminder like this. Practicing daily again will help. It’s like a reboot of my soul.
