patient perspective conf in Spain

[skate4life]

www.europeanlung.org/en/news-and-events/news/the-1st-copd-global-patient-leadership-summit-the-patient-perspective

Will now try to cut/past the 3 most interesting parts....via edit or add a 2nd thread....

Much work was packed into one long day – and a few COPD myths were exploded. One such myth is that COPD is a disease of the elderly – yet, as Monica Fletcher OBE and past chair of the ELF explained, more than half of those diagnosed are in the 40-65 age group.

The stigma surrounding COPD was seen as a major contributing factor to the low priority, low levels of funding and little research it receives. In fact, the term 'stigma' was replaced by 'discrimination' when Dr Inmaculada Alf*geme, of the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) spoke passionately and firmly stated, "this is a matter of discrimination – not just stigma – and we have to get past that". This was an issue that every one of us agreed upon.

Other shared experiences included the lack of public awareness, late diagnosis, and the constant references to smoking, reinforcing the widely held perception of COPD as a self-inflicted and deserved condition.

The lack of media attention was discussed. It was noted that barely a day passes without mention of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc. yet when journalists or editors asked why they do not produce more COPD articles the responses were that it's not “sexy” or “interesting” and even that "it doesn't affect women”.

[David]

I was 32 year old when I was diagnosed with emphysema. I am 63 year old now. I was allergic to something in crude oil and kept going in the hospital with double pneumonia. Third time in the hospital is when emphysema showed up on the x-ray. That was in 1983. I quit my job and never had pneumonia again and haven't been in the hospital since then.

[izzie]

We have the Industrial Revolution to thank for all the additional concentrated toxins that the daily populations of the planet are exposed to......just so we could have a few more creature comforts in our daily lives.

Some of the professionals in the medical and scientific communities, as well as certain industries(including food and prescription drugs) are fully aware of the concentrated exposures that can cause permanent breathing problems for people. It's just that smoking cigarettes greatly reduces your bodies ability to deal with all the other toxins we are exposed to on a daily basis. But look how long it took for the tobacco industry to admit to the health problems one could acquire from consuming their product.

David, if you worked with the crude oil industry....there is a high incidence of breathing problems associated with it. Here in Canada, road paving crews exposed to the hot asphalt are at high risk as well. Then there is the welding industry and their exposure to the gases used for welding. How about the food industry and the preservatives they use in their products that cause long term breathing problems? Calcium carbonate is a widely used preservative and thickening agent that supposedly adds more calcium to the product, but it's not water-soluble and does not flush out of the digestive system easily. Lots of people get Irritable Bowel Syndrome and a high exposure to this particular food additive may cause breathing problems. It's in our milk, cereals, margarine, bread, cakes, cookies, corn chips, etc., and enough of those products just might give you the high exposure needed to cause such problems.

Once again.......it's all about the creatures comforts that we sacrifice our health for.

[John]

Thank You very interesting read Izzie