I suggest that you all take a look at www.alphs-1.org That's the Alpha-1 website and there's a lot of information that would be very useful to everyone. Knowledge is power. You are far better off if you know about things and know what questions to ask. While Alpha-1 is a genetic form of this disease, at the end of the day we all have COPD. The treatments are different, in that Alpha-1s can get an infusion, but the rest of it is pretty much the same for all of us.

there is a type that is hereditary and there is a blood test your pull monologist can order to see if you carry the gene or hormone for it

Lisa's question was about a genetic form of COPD. That's Alpha-1. Many people with Alpha-1 also smoked, which adds to the problems and accelerates the speed of lung damage and deterioration. Cigarette smoking is the primary cause of COPD in the US. However, current figures indicate that only about 25 - 30% of people who smoke/smoked develop COPD. Of the people who have COPD, 25% of them never smoked.

What these figures tell us is that there are probably genetic factors that make developing COPD more likely in some folks than in others. We also know that even when you find mirror images of people with COPD: same height, weight, sex, time smoked, pack years, FEV1, etc. you often find vast differences in things like exercise tolerance and ability, O2 usage, responses to meds, life style and quality of life.

There's a lot of research going on right now to try to find answers to these questions. Answering these questions can give us clues for a possible cure. So support research and participate in it when you can.

I just saw an offer for people with COPD if they wanted to participate in a trial send a request to so and so. You had to be like 18 to 88 and be in stage 3 or 4

Part of what the research is trying to do is to develop bio-markers to help determine what treatments and meds work best of people who present with different reactions and responses to COPD. Other than Alpha-1 there are no definitive genetic markers that have been identified, but I think we'll probably find some and I hope relatively soon. Alpha-1 is hereditary, and we know that non-Alpha-1 COPD is found in families, but everyone also smoked, so it's hard to tell if there's hereditary issues or similar life-styles. Lots of room for good research here!

I have no idea what trials you're talking about, but if you want to see what might be going on in your area of the country, go to www.clinicaltgrials.gov and look.