I would like to share my father’s story with COPD. My father was a smoker for about fifty years! Gradually he started to have some fatigue while walking or any other efforts. When we arrived in the USA six years ago, and with the humid weather of Illinois during the summer season, his condition deteriorated and the shortness of breath became constant. After the doctor visit he was diagnosed with moderate COPD! He stopped smoking as shortness of breath made it difficult for him to do his daily living activities. Then he reached the point that he needed oxygen therapy during the night. Two years later he was put under the CPAP machine too. A lot of activities were restricted for my father because of the great fatigue which was caused by the lower than normal oxygen saturation due to the COPD. It’s never too late to stop smoking … Oxygen and inhalers helped him a lot … I'm a medical doctor and as a daughter of a patient with COPD. I highly recommend stopping smoking as it’s a very good step in the treatment plan for COPD patients. I wish I was aware of this disease when I was a child just to tell my father, please don't smoke!
