I Am 35-Years-Old and Have the Early Signs of COPD
Vaping is not consequence-free
COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease. COPD is a chronic lung disease that worsens over time. It is sometimes referred to as emphysema or chronic bronchitis.
Until yesterday, I thought of COPD as an “old person disease”.
I’ll start at the beginning
Yesterday morning I woke up with sharp pains in my chest. It was happening when I was breathing deeply and moving. When the pains became worse, I drove myself to the local emergency room. I was convinced I was having a heart attack.
The nurses triaged me and the doctor ordered chest x-rays. It turned out that the pain was from a temporary condition called costochondritis, which is an inflammation of the rib cartilage. Although it is painful, costochondritis is an acute ailment that typically resolves itself quickly.
A rude awakening
This was good news, at least I wasn’t dying.
Relief washed over me, and then the doctor showed me my chest x-ray.
He said, “Do you smoke?”. I replied, “I quit four years ago, but I vape heavily”. He said, “I can tell by the results of your X-ray that you are vaping, you’re showing early signs of COPD”.
