Copd

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I have been in the welding and fabricating business for 41 years now. About 20 years of that I was both welding and supervising welders, the last 20 or so almost no welding just supervising my workers in shop and field welding. I never smoked and thank god have never been diagnosed with any breathing problems. I am 58 years old and I am worried that a problem like copd might be imminent in my future. I rarely wore any kind of respirator or mask unless I was painting and worked under some bad ventilation conditions. A lot of grinding ferrous and non ferrous metals and painting involved. I feel good I exercise and my hobby is scuba diving which is of course breathing intensive. Am I fooling myself thinking I dodged the bullet or will it hit me in a few years as it does to smokers who are afflicted with disease? I've noticed they go for years with no symptoms and it just hits them in their 60's and 70's. Whats your experience and or opinion??? Thanks
Reply:hmm sounds like some legal #%@#*& fishing for some free info for a lawsuit...go get a chest xray....Last edited by Hobbytime; 09-18-2018 at 05:01 PM.
Reply:I am no doctor, but I used to be a paramedic. Took care of lots of COPD patients. The C is for Chronic. if you are approaching 60 and don't have any issues currently I personally think you will be OK. Its not guaranteed of course, but you likely would have had something by now, chronic cough, bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, something like that. The stats say that one in 8 smokers who are COPD free at age 40 will develop the disease. Read the other way, if you are free of the disease now, there is a >87% chance you won't get it.Miller Multimatic 255
Reply:

Originally Posted by edsweld

I have been in the welding and fabricating business for 41 years now. About 20 years of that I was both welding and supervising welders, the last 20 or so almost no welding just supervising my workers in shop and field welding. I never smoked and thank god have never been diagnosed with any breathing problems. I am 58 years old and I am worried that a problem like copd might be imminent in my future. I rarely wore any kind of respirator or mask unless I was painting and worked under some bad ventilation conditions. A lot of grinding ferrous and non ferrous metals and painting involved. I feel good I exercise and my hobby is scuba diving which is of course breathing intensive. Am I fooling myself thinking I dodged the bullet or will it hit me in a few years as it does to smokers who are afflicted with disease? I've noticed they go for years with no symptoms and it just hits them in their 60's and 70's. Whats your experience and or opinion??? Thanks
Reply:Worry is a useless emotion.  No amount of worry ever changed or diverted a future occurrence from happening.You might want to exercise diligence on where your SCUBA bottles are being filled though.  Is the compressor intake far enough above ground to preclude hydrocarbon intake?  Hydrocarbon deposits in compressed air cylinders are cumulative.  You get sufficient hydrocarbons in a cylinder and pump it above 2200psi it can detonate, and that will cause a lot of back problems for a diver.
Reply:If you are wearing it when it is filled ?
Reply:Well the scientific answer is obvious, I had a friend who ate healthy, exercised everyday, never smoke or drank and died at 37, and I have another friend who smoked , drinks, stays out all night  chasing women he died at 37 also, ask yourself did you have a good time or you can sit around worrying if your gonna die
Reply:

Originally Posted by pat h

Well the scientific answer is obvious, I had a friend who ate healthy, exercised everyday, never smoke or drank and died at 37, and I have another friend who smoked , drinks, stays out all night  chasing women he died at 37 also, ask yourself did you have a good time or you can sit around worrying if your gonna die
Reply:

Originally Posted by edsweld

I have been in the welding and fabricating business for 41 years now. About 20 years of that I was both welding and supervising welders, the last 20 or so almost no welding just supervising my workers in shop and field welding. I never smoked and thank god have never been diagnosed with any breathing problems. I am 58 years old and I am worried that a problem like copd might be imminent in my future. I rarely wore any kind of respirator or mask unless I was painting and worked under some bad ventilation conditions. A lot of grinding ferrous and non ferrous metals and painting involved. I feel good I exercise and my hobby is scuba diving which is of course breathing intensive. Am I fooling myself thinking I dodged the bullet or will it hit me in a few years as it does to smokers who are afflicted with disease? I've noticed they go for years with no symptoms and it just hits them in their 60's and 70's. Whats your experience and or opinion??? Thanks
Reply:62 on the 13th. I've never smoked even one, but my mother was a VERY heavy smoker. I welded old vehicles, worked in attics, (vermiculite sometimes contains asbestos) all varieties of insulation are bad. Cellars are full of coal dust, dirt, and chemicals. Exterminators usually save the toxic stuff for cellars, and attics. I've done body work, with lots of sanding, painting, and torch work. Together with grinding, welding, and woodworking, I've inhaled stuff you shouldn't inhale. So far, so good! I do have a stuffy nose often, especially at night, doctor says I have "sensitivity" to irritants. I've had surgery on my nose twice for turbinate reduction. Turbinates are cartilage shelves in the nostrils covered with vascular tissue. Reduction removes cartilage reducing the tendency to obstruct breathing.An optimist is usually wrong, and when the unexpected happens is unprepared. A pessimist is usually right, when wrong, is delighted, and well prepared.
Reply:

Originally Posted by Hobbytime

hmm sounds like some legal #%@#*& fishing for some free info for a lawsuit...go get a chest xray....
Reply:I forgot to mention my mother. at 85 after smoking heavily, (she admitted four packs a day, I believe it was five), from age 13  to 65, was put on oxygen therapy. She died at 87 when she failed to use oxygen overnight.An optimist is usually wrong, and when the unexpected happens is unprepared. A pessimist is usually right, when wrong, is delighted, and well prepared.
Reply:My wife worked the last part of her career in extended care.  On a floor of 75 plus patients/residents there would be maybe one or two smokers.  Most smokers don't make it to an old age home.  When she was starting as an RN she was on a medical ward and they had this guy with COPD.  Of course he smoked but was told not to smoke in bed.  It is graveyard and the hall lights are turned down.  She is making her rounds and there he is in a telephone alcove cig in hand stone cold dead.   If your lungs are good enough for diving at 58 years I don't think you have too many worries.
Reply:Watched my mom die a long, horrific , drawn out death.  She had copd, as a result of smoking from age 18 to 50.  She passed at 83.  33 years to take her, but it eventually did.I've never smoked, but breathed in enough fumes to I'm sure, compromise myself a bit.  I wear a p100 respirator, most of the time now.  We all die from something, and with any luck, it happens quickT man.15 + years working for myself, and by golly, I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up.


Reply:

Originally Posted by edsweld

Not the case.
Reply:I ponder the question often as I have for many years: how much is too much? I have been exposed as an infant when three times before my first birthday had bronchial pneumonia. I have no memory, but imagine my mother holding a sick baby, smoking all the more because she was worried. Exposure in my control, work related, recreation related. Exposure I wasn't aware of like the days I was violently ill, then discovered the exterminators felt very toxic stuff was appropriate in attics, and cellars. Times government chose to suppress info about vermiculite from US mines found to contain the worst sort of asbestos. I'd bet plenty of us wonder about exposure, mixed exposure. I have chosen to limit smoking exposure, though second hand smoke I may have consumed more than a light smoker would.An optimist is usually wrong, and when the unexpected happens is unprepared. A pessimist is usually right, when wrong, is delighted, and well prepared.
Reply:OK, first off, COPD (chronic pulmonary obstructive dis-order) is not a disease.  COPD is used to describe a number of different illnesses, such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, any form of pneumonia, and lung cancers.  Basically anything that obstructs the human body from intaking or expelling atmospheric air.  Just as all cancers are separate and different so are the family of illnesses that are grouped under the COPD diagnosis.My COPD is primarily caused by a case of fungal pneumonia I contracted from exposure to cut plant material and high humidity, further exacerbated by a diminished immune system from adolescent exposure to radiation treatment for cancer.  Add years of exposure to smoking (pack to two pack a day until I quit 4 years ago), asbestos dust, toxic fumes from everyday shop work, composite fiberglass, heavy metals, Ad naseum.Basically, no one can say exactly why some people will contract COPD while others with the same exposures will not.  Your best bet is to wear your PPE and practice common sense.RogerOld, Tired, and GRUMPY

Salesman will call, Batteries not included, Assembly is required, and FREE ADVICE IS WORTH EXACTLY WHAT YOU PAY FOR IT!Dial Arc 250HFThunderbolt 225 AC/DCAssorted A/O torches
Reply:

Originally Posted by Hobbytime

ok, but for a first post one has to wonder, and being in the field for 41 years and you never pondered this question before??? and I would think you would ask your doctor this question along with a full physical to see where your health is as on now...
Reply:I'm 73 and have copd.  Smoked for 24 years but quit in '84 at age 39.  I can't remember when I was first diagnosed with it but was after I was 58.  If you do not have any chronic conditions like bronchitis or ??? I would think you are probably OK but who knows.  Like others have said though it will be what it will be and at this stage of your life whatever damage you have is long done so just live your life and don't worry about it.As far as having it though the wife and I walk at the mall and I pump iron a little and I can do things most of my friends cannot and there a number of them on the wrong side of the grass now while I am not - yet.  So if you do get it it's not the end of the world for you.Lincoln Power Mig 210 MPLincoln SquareWave Tig 200Miller Spectrum 125cOxy/AcetyleneOptrel e684, Lincoln 3350, Speedglas 9100xx, Klutch 800 SeriesLathe and Milling Machines
Reply:My stepfather worked for the railroad for years..  He retired at 65 and was diagnosed with copd at 72 and it came out of no where..  He thinks it maybe more of him breathing the chemicals they used..  He can now hardly walk to the restroom without losing his breath, uses an oxygen machine...  I feel sorry for him, he use to be an avid fisherman and bird hunter and he cant hardly do anything now..tackleexperts.comwww.necessityjigs.comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/mach...dingequipment/
Reply:my canadian b.i.l. who is also my florida neighbor and fishing bud has copd but in reality it's emphysema. he won't go for an official diagnosis because he says his private insurance rates will go up. meanwhile he probably isn't getting the care he needs to prolong his life. just before i left to come back to nyc we spent a couple hours bs'ing and he must've smoked about ten cigarettes. last year he was buying and repairing aluminum dinghys. this year he can't walk a dozen steps without huffing and puffing.i.u.o.e. # 15queens, ny and sunny fla