[ Post a Response | The Sublime Desire of Cigarette Smoking ]
Posted by M G F on June 3, 2012, 4:06 pm, in reply to "Re: Facing the Reality of the Risk"
Not really, no more than when any smoker has when in the grip of a bad cold. Sure, the breathing difficulties were similar, and I knew that my years of smoking had certainly contributed to them. In fact, at one point the day I called my doctor, after a violent bout of unproductive coughing that left me in heart-pounding mass of rapid gasps, I said aloud "Jesus Christ! I've f**ked up my lungs!"
Even so, I also had some symptoms that are not usually associated with COPD in its assorted forms and didn't have other symptoms that are. Additionally, I knew that While smoking certainly hadn't helped matters, the fact was that I was in the shape I was in first and foremost because I had pneumonia and had let it go untreated too long.
Sometimes well-meaning respiratory therapists will have patients who smoke engage in some sort of sustained aerobic activity like running on a treadmill as a means of illustrating what they will eventually face if they continue to smoke. They will usually say something like "Now, just think how it would be to be that out of breath all the time." I believe such exercises are ineffective. Being extremely out of breath after running on a treadmill is not the same as being out of breath because your lungs are no longer able to deflate correctly and lack surface area sufficient to absorb enough oxygen.
Incidentally, the two most effective, dedicated, knowledgeable, and creative respiratory therapists I have ever known were both smokers.
Responses