Long Term Smoking Affects

[GO DAWG GO]

Smoking is obviously not good for you. We all know this. But what I am finding out is
decades after someone quits there is still a propensity toward emphysema. I was
under the impression that if you “Quit” and survived 5 or more years you were out of
the woods per se.

My friend (79) was recently diagnosed with emphysema and he quit smoking 35 years ago.
This Is disturbing…Why did it wait so long to develop?

Does it usually take that long to develop and if there are any doctors on Pelican. Is this
normal?

Is smoking always the culprit or can it be other environmental exposure. Can it be genetic?

So. If you quit smoking at 40 what are the chances a normal person will acquire this disease
Later in life…percentages?

Is it just up to the individual and what type of an environment they spent most of years breathing in.

Doctors?

[David]

I'd like to know too. I'm a fairly light smoker, but a smoker none the less. I'll be 40 in a couple weeks and I've decided I will not smoke ever again after 40. I was kind of under the impression if I make it 5 to 10 years, my lungs would clean up.

[Rot 911]

I just hope to make it to 79!

[GO DAWG GO]

Kurt,

I completely understand that 79 is beyond the average life span...But my concern was, why it developed so late and was it indeed the smoking????????? He would otherwise last many more years...

[stomachmonkey]

I'm 43 this Oct.

Day 11 off the smokes.

Hope it's not too late.

Scott

[nosmo_king]

It's never too late to quit smoking - good job!

Robert: we all lose lung function after the age of 25 - 30, but the decline in non-smokers is relatively small. Not all smokers have the same risk of developing loss of lung function, but some do- and at an alarming rate. Fortunately, we have a significant pulmonary reserve not to notice a mild loss. (Add in that most of us are fairly sedentary, and we're not really hitting the reserve point on a day to day basis).

Other things can lead to emphysema, true, but smoking is a huge risk factor. The emphysema may be "silent" - it's just loss of lung tissue, like "swiss cheese" of the lungs. The emphysema, and chronic bronchitis that may also occur (or occur independently) leads to a loss in lung function, measured as the amt of air that can be expelled in 1 second (Forced expiratory volume in one sec or FEV1). When the FEV1 declines below a certain threshold, we often get symptoms.

So- your friend may have loss some lung function while he smoked, but still had a good reserve at that time. With aging, he just continued to lose lung function until he became symptomatic.

Graphically:



and article:

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20060215/669.html

gotta go - hope this helps

-nos

[livi]

Typical case of medical statistics - a concept sometimes a bit confusing to fully grasp if not involved in Health Care.

Yes, smoking is a very potent risk factor for emphysema.

Yes, even if smoking 60 cigarettes a day for your whole life you may very well live until you are 95 without a trace of lung disease.

Yes, genetic disposition is the individual base for all sorts of diseases and some people will have a 'fragility' for developing for example emphysema - or asthma, high blood pressure, angina, osteoporosis, bad temper etc etc. Smoking or not.

Best statistical scenario: Good genes and no smoking.
Next best: Good genes and some smoking
Worst: Bad genes and a lot of smoking

Everything is a lottery however - a statistical lottery that never, ever is applicable on any single individual.

[GO DAWG GO]

Livi, nosmo_king ,

Thanks....I have to confess...My friend is my dearest friend my father... He has become sedentary and on oxygen. This occured in the last couple of years and is in good spirits. and has some heart issues. I woke up last night worried about him...He told me that the doctors said there could be many reasons..in the 1940's before and after WWII he worked in the pressroom at a Large newspaper in KC Mo. He told me you used to cough up ink that was atomized in the air. Smoked and did alot of concrete work breathing portland cement at times. My uncle also has the disease but smoked most of his life. He claims he got a large dos of gas during the Korean War...I smoked on and off for a few years so I was feeling the doom...

Is there anything I can do to reduce my risk? ???? I dont smoke anymore???