For those of us with COPD who have Quit Smoking - Hooray!
There are some of us that quit from time to time and have never made the total commitment for a Smoke FREE Life.
And there are some who just got the diagnosis and are now determined to quit but haven't yet.
So I want to remind ALL of us that smoking with COPD is a literal sentence for a miserable short life!
COPD is a smoking related incurable progressive disease. It will never get better - only worse!
Smoking cessation is the only reliable treatment to slow the progression of your COPD and help you maintain the lung function you have left. ... If you're a smoker with COPD, you can noticeably improve your health by putting your cigarettes away for good.
Everybody starts to lose some of their lung capacity as they age. A non-smoker loses about 30 cubic centimeters of FEV per year, starting between age 30 and 40. COPD smokers lose about 100 cubic centimeters per year. But if a COPD smoker stops smoking, that loss drops down to almost the same rate as a non-smoker."
You can take your meds, do your exercises, eat your right foods, have your vaccinations, etc...etc...etc... But if you don't quit smoking the rapid progression of your lung capacity is inevitable.
That means more shortness of breath, more hospitalizations, more missed time with your family, more disability, more risk of pneumonia, collapsed lung, and eventually a very early death. Everythiing is harder once you drop below the 50% mark of FEV1% predicted.
I keep these facts in mind every single time I feel challenged to pick up a Sickerette. I suffer enough already and I sure don't want my quality of Life to deteriorate. I also want to see my grandchildren grow up rather than them watching me die sloooowly and torturously! I have the power to decide what to do about that! My decision is LIFE!
Thankfully for me learning that I have mild copd was enough to scare the living crap out of me and when I first let myself be known here someone directed me to your page and to let you know that I was here, you really educated me on copd which really helped my resolve to stay in my quit for the rest of my life because breathing is essential to living and I want to enjoy a much better quality of living so I thank you Thomas. 
