COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is a condition that builds up in the lungs from pollution from various sources. The biggest cause of COPD is smoking cigarettes…

I wasn’t going to write about this, but on balance I think it may help a few people who may read this brief article, to learn something from it and as a result, avoid the situation I found myself in less than a month ago. I’ll give you a bit of background first.

Introduction

I was brought up in Yorkshire at a time where almost every home burned coal to keep their houses warm. In addition, a very high percentage of people smoked cigarettes too. Bronchitis was extremely common even amongst none-smokers. This was no doubt because of the coal fires everyone was using. I started smoking at a young age and carried on smoking for several decades. If I’d known what COPD was and that the biggest cause of COPD is smoking cigarettes I’d like to think I would have stopped smoking much earlier. I finally stopped smoking about 13 years ago.

About two years after I stopped smoking, I had a lung function test. I actually felt great but was told that I had ‘a touch of COPD’. I didn’t know, at the time, that COPD is something you either have or you don’t. I got on with my life, and during the first 10 years of stopping smoking I had no symptoms of anything at all. That changed a few weeks ago.

How it started

It started like a cold does. I had a runny nose and was using lots of tissue. Within two days the cold had become a cough, and the cough developed and became something horrendous, a hacking, nasty deep chest cough. I was unable to lay down, so any attempt at sleep was difficult too. I was also realising that my pulse rate was very high. More than 130BPM. I did try to get a Doctor’s appointment but I was told I’d have to queue outside the Doctors office before it opened if I wanted to see a Doctor. I didn’t want to do that because the December air was cold and affecting my breathing.

In retrospect I should probably have gone to A&E then, but wasn’t aware just how dangerous the situation could have become. Please read on because there is really important information regarding oxygen levels in the body that I didn’t know about either, later in this article.

My introduction to SDEC – same day emergency care

By the start of the next week, I had no choice. Fortunately, the weather had warmed, and the queue was small. When I got in to see the Doctor, she found my heartrate was at 135BPM and my oxygen level was only 88%. She contacted our local hospital SDEC (same day emergency care) and made a same day appointment. They, in turn organised a CAT scan and chest x-ray. I wasn’t actually prescribed anything, but my own Doctor had already booked an appointment for me the following day at 9A.M. to see a COPD trained nurse.

The nurse did talk about an inhaler to ease the problem, but this was outside of her control. She, however, referred me back to the A&E at the hospital the same day. I was prescribed a seven-day course of antibiotics and a five day steroid course.

No time to wait, nearly Christmas

Three days later I had heard nothing from either the hospital or the surgery. Next morning, Friday the 20th December I contacted the surgery to find out if there was any news from the hospital. There was nothing, but I was asked to go straight to the surgery where I saw the same Doctor.

There seemed to be some hesitancy on the Doctors part when I mentioned the inhalers that had been mentioned several times over the previous five days. She was straight and honest with me when she said that she was reluctant to prescribe the inhaler given my fast heartbeat as the inhaler could actually increase my heart rate. She referred me back to A&E again. This time she gave me printed details of everything they had so far.

A&E and more SDEC

A&E sent me for another x-ray and then sent me to SDEC again. The people there seemed to be reluctant to issue the inhaler I’d asked about and I’m sure it was all for the right reasons. However, I reminded them that next day was the weekend before Christmas and that I’d be unlikely to be able to get anything done the next week as it was only a couple more days to Christmas. I was told, more than once, that the biggest cause of COPD is smoking. I thought perhaps they thought I still smoked when in fact, I stopped smoking in 2012!

A result!

An hour later I got the prescription for the inhaler, they gave me two types. The first is I understand, a steroid, and the second is designated as a maintenance spray. Along with the prescription, I was told about possible side effects and what to do if I experienced them. Fortunately, there were no problems at all. In fact, the medications seemed to work well together, and by Christmas Eve I was able to hang the Christmas decorations outside of the boat that we’ve called home for almost 25 years.

To wind up for now

Every part of this article is true. The cough was something horrendous and of course, COPD is considered to be a life-shortening condition. Although I could never change the chimney smoke inhalation that I and millions of others suffered in my youth, I look back to my mid 20’s when I stopped smoking for 6 months. I regret being stupid enough to start smoking again. Remember, the biggest cause of COPD is smoking.

Just to be very clear. As I understand from my own research, COPD is generally manageable, and many people live well into their 90’s. Of course, everyone is different and what may be good for one may not suit another. I understand that breathing exercises can help the lungs and of course, avoiding heavy dust, fuel fumes and any kind of smoke or smog etc.

 Here are two pieces of kit that are really helping me and could give you peace of mind. I had already bought the inexpensive blood pressure monitor, but the Oxygen meter and heartrate tester is vital. For less than £20 it will show you your percentage oxygen saturation and heartbeat rate. A normal none COPD reading would be 99 -100%, my current reading is typically 97-99% which is good. In A&E a few week ago, I didn’t realise it was around 88%, not good at all. If you find your levels anywhere near below 92% seek urgent advice from your nearest A&E.

Here are the two items I bought. They are both less than £20 but essential as far as I’m concerned. This site is multiligual so to see more information about the images below, click on your country opposite the image. When you click you will see your own countries eBay site.

A bit of advice and a link to NHS information

My advice. If you smoke, find a way to stop. Ask at your local Doctors surgery, that’s how I managed it.

If you’re thinking of starting to smoke – Don’t. It’s horrendously expensive and dumb.

If you’ve had a few cigarettes but not yet hooked by nicotine. Stop now. Do yourself a massive favour. The biggest cause of COPD is smoking so please either avoid it or take steps to stop!

I must mention again that this article is based on real facts as experienced by myself. I am not a medical professional. If you are concerned about your breathing, see your Doctor. If this is not possible, don’t think twice. Your local A&E department is a hub that can deal with your problem. Remember, my surgery actually referred me to hospital 3 times in 5 days, twice to A&E.

Lastly. When you go to a hospital and are not sure how long you will be there, check to see if there is a ‘park and ride’ service. I used it on my second and third visit. It was a free service and took away all the concerns about wardens looking for over stayers. In my case the car parking was free too. My first visit to hospital cost me about £10 in parking fees.

For more in depth  information and treatment please click the link NHS link to more info This is directly connected to the NHS and gives useful information about treatment. There is a lot of help available from the medical profession, but if you remember that smoking is the biggest cause of COPD is smoking, it may help you to avoid starting smoking or even stop.

Five weeks later – The follow up

Please remember, this is my experience, yours may be different. I am NOT a medic.

Just a short follow up. When I finished the first part of this article I wrote about the difficulty I had, basically, with no-one appearing to be able to make a decision about giving me an inhalor because of my high heart rate. However, in the few days before Christmas, SDEC (mentioned in the article) relented. I was prescibed two inhalors, ‘Fostair’ and ‘Salamol’.

By Christmas eve, I was able to hang the decorations outside of the boat, and within a very short time, all was back to normal. Now to the reason I’m adding this appendix to the original article.

In the middle of January, I was called to see the COPD trained nurse I’d seen before Christmas. She carried out a physical and verbal examination and expressed a great deal of surprise at the fact that ‘Fostair’ had been prescribed to me. One of the ‘do nots’ of Fostair’s own desciption of usage of the product is ‘do not prescribe this product to a patient with a high heart rate.’ This is clearly the reason that almost everyone that dealt with me, both at the Doctors surgery and at the hospital were reluctant to prescribe.

She went on to say that in her opinion, it would have been far better if a bronchial dilator ( bronchodilator in the jargon ) inhaler had been prescribed. Although the nurse ‘Annie’ is COPD trained she cannot prescibe personally, so her request was passed to her superior and ‘Incruse Ellipta’ was prescribed. This product is not so likely to increase heart rate. I’ve been using it for just over a week now without problems.

As it was, the ‘Fostair’ didn’t cause me a problem, but the ongoing delay in prescribing, could have. A bit of a catvh 22 situation. If you were to find yourself in that same situation perhaps this knowledge may help you.

 

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