Hello everybody!!! I just wanted to remind everybody that all Exers need to get tested for COPD!!! Fully half of all COPDers are UNDIAGNOSED!!! Early diagnosis can make all the difference in your QUALITY OF LIFE but hiding your head in the sand isn't going to help at all!!! Next time you go to the doctor ask him for a SPIROMETRY TEST! It's easy to take - you just blow in a tube (something like a drunk driving test) and they measure how much air you take in and how long it takes you to inhale and exhale!!! My doctor (GP)has the machine right in his office and it only costs a few bucks! The results are given as PFT and FEV 1. The FEV1 SCORE is the important number to know! I just want to emphasize how really really important early diagnosis is! Because I was diagnosed early, by making lifestyle changes I can work full time, do NOT have to use Oxygen, can do just about anything I did before physically and can have normal life expectancy. If I had ignored the symptoms and diagnosis then none of that would be true! Still, I did have to make some very different choices about diet, exercise, vaccinations, illnesses, and monitoring my lung health daily!!! So knowing made A VERY BIG DIFFERENCE!!! Find out and if you don't have COPD then PRAISE THE LORD!!! If you do, then it's time to get serious, get educated and take control of your HEALTH!!!!
