Quitting Smoking for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)Current as of: May 20, 2016 Author: Healthwise Staff Medical Review: E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine & Ken Y. Yoneda, MD - Pulmonology |
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Quitting Smoking for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)Quitting smoking is the most important step you can take in treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) . It is never too late to quit. No matter how long you have had COPD or how serious it is, quitting smoking will help slow the disease and improve your quality of life. Medicines and other treatments cannot prevent damage to your lungs if you continue to smoke. There are clear benefits to quitting, even after years of smoking. When you stop smoking, you slow how quickly further damage develops in your lungs. For most people who quit, loss of lung function is slowed to the normal rate of decline. Although lung damage that already has occurred does not reverse, quitting smoking can delay the worsening of COPD symptoms. People who complete a program to stop smoking are most likely to succeed in quitting. If the program includes counseling, the success rate is better. Certain medicines also can help you reach your goal of quitting smoking:
Quitting smoking can be difficult. Those who are most likely to succeed in quitting are those who keep trying, even if they have tried several times before. Hypnosis or acupuncture does not help most people who are trying to quit smoking. Current as of: May 20, 2016 Author: Healthwise Staff Medical Review: E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine & Ken Y. Yoneda, MD - Pulmonology |
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