I was diagnosed stage 3 5 years ago ( I'm now 65). I am still stage 3 and I quit smoking the day my Doctor told me "quit or die" Same time. He also told me "I'm tired of giving you bad news 1 You don't need a lung Transplant. 2 You do not need to be on oxygen 3 You will never feel worse than you do today." I recall thinking "and this is the good news??" A couple of years ago a famous person with COPD past at age 81 due to late COPD I asked my doctor "should I be concerned? " He said "are you smoking ? " I said "of course not" Then he said "Then don't worry about it! " I'm not, and the 3 things he told me above still remain the same. I'm going to add to number 3 above He did mention I may even feel better from time to time . And I have and I do. I struggle at times but that is offset by so many wonderful life experiences. If you can't quit for yourself, quit for the loved ones around you. This life is short enough without ending it quicker by following bad practices Take care all. Oh and by the way my Dr.'s motivation isn't all I used.He gave me some pills and said he didn't care if I took the pills for the rest of my life as long as I didn't smoke. I took the pills for 3 months and haven't needed that crutch since. Have a great day

very useful to me you av given the shuv i need was dignosed COPD in 2009 ive been trying to give up for 2nd time now bin smoking a yr again um i gave up for yr then started again but after reading this i am going for it sod the bills just going o buy an e cig...ty soo soo much i know i af2 do this i have a beautiful Daughter n Son n 7 grandsons n they deserve better than me just giving up although i lost my husband to cancer 8 yrs ago n it hasnt been easy but this yr selling hse n going for the no smoking thing to so time to move on n change my life just hope avnt gone to far and nothing else is wrong but if you end up reading this you have given me hope thank you so much xx ;0) much love n hope x thank you lisa Zeltza

I smoked an e cig for a year and the oils coat the inside of your lungs and there is no cleaning it off... beware that was the icing on the cake for my health loss sooo not recommended and yes I hear it all the time that it affects everybody differently.... no it doesn't it just takes some longer than others depending on how long they smoked or how much they inhale a day of the ecig oils... Let My experience be your teacher.... I hate struggling to breathe

That's impossible to answer. As long as he smokes, things will continue to get worse, but how fast is completely unknowable. You could have 20 years or 2 weeks. The one thing that's for sure is that as long as he continues to smoke, things will continue to get worse, so you can be sure that his quality of life will continue to decrease. Sorry, but that's the way it is.

There are several different models or staging descriptions you can use: ATS, GOLD, COPD Foundation to name three of the most common ones. All of them use the FEV1 number and some combination of number of exacerbations you've had and what your general activity level is. Usually they are mild, moderate, severe and very severe, except for the COPD Foundation which only uses three and skips the very severe stage. Look them up and read about them; that's the best way to learn.