So, I just turned 30, and smoked for 17 years. A few weeks ago, I went to the ER for chest pains. Thought I was having a heart attack. The Doctor ended up being one I knew since I was a child, and he was quite cheery about the whole situation. Said it was some combination of smoking and vaping together, and if I quit I’d be just fine. Also turned out, I’d had bronchitis for 6 months. I was coughing up those little pearls as you call them, at first, and then it ended up forming into full fledged mucus. The papers he gave me on release said I have chronic bronchitis. No information given about COPD, never even mentioned it to me, just said I had bronchitis. So I’m thinking this meant regular bronchitis for a long period of time. Just quit smoking, and I’ll be fine.
Fast forward to April 1st, day before my birthday. I went in to a walk in clinic because I had allergies, had just gotten my bronchitis to clear up for one bloody week, and it was coming back. Wanted to nip it in the bud. I tell the Doctor (different one) what the release papers said I had. He goes “That’s COPD.” “What?” I didn’t know what COPD was, exactly, but I knew it was bad. He goes on to explain the only chronic bronchitis he knows of is COPD, and later he tried to get my medical records released but it failed. So I said screw it and made an appointment with a pulmonary clinic on the 17th. It’s been a long wait and now I’m utterly petrified. I’m hoping my Doctor at the hospital put down the wrong damn thing on the release papers, otherwise I guess he’s just psychotic. He’s always been a well respected Doctor though, I can’t imagine he’d just send me home without any information on an illness that will kill me.
Moral of the story: Don’t wait until your 30. Take it from someone who has spent many sleepless nights now reading about COPD and personal accounts from patients. There are people who get it at just 25, who never smoked, or some who only smoked 4 years. If you don’t have COPD already, your chance of getting it goes down to virtually zero provided you’re not around pollutants.
I came across your post doing my nightly scare-myself-stupid-reading, and just had to comment because well... Lots of similarities. I never thought I could quit, but I quit smoking on my birthday, right after my allergy appointment. I’d been trying anyway but this finally did it for me. Just hope I’m not too late.