If you stop smoking, you stop the damage, but you can't fix what's already done. What does happen is the you will go back to losing lung function at the same rate as someone who never smoked, but you will always have the damage already done.

What exercise does is that if you push yourself and work hard, you can make your lung function much more efficient. Strength training is very important, too, because strong, well toned muscles use a lot less O2 than weak flabby ones. So aerobic exercise and strength training can make a big difference in how you feel, how easy it is to do ordinary daily tasks and how you feel.

if you have copd you will always have it at this point, but no smoking. eating right excerises, stay away from things that causes flair ups. like cleaners dust other smokers perfume air freshers etc. it will slow copd down.

no thats a lie they say if you quit smoking that within five yrs your lungs are like new thats a lie because any dr will tell you once your lungs get ruined theres no fixing them specially from copd or emphysema

You have to stop smoking if you want any quality of life with copd it has no favours for anyone

@A MyCOPDTeam Member, in case you're feeling persecuted, I'm with you on those 997 answers to the Mythical Melissa. For some reason, 997 people seemed compelled to record his/her guaranteed solution to addiction to nicotine and what seems like alternating sniping at her intelligence and offer of prayers for her deliverance from this particular evil, even though over and over, people posted that Melissa obviously was no longer paying any attention. Clearly, a lot of people just needed to vent, describing their own triumphs or, something I find especially obnoxious, describing how effortlessly they managed to quit.

I think whoever posted this particular question, "I mean it won't get any worse and it should get better when I quit; right?" is obviously new to both the disease and this forum, because if he/she had read other posts, the answers would be obvious. Without any more background on the person asking the question, I can understand someone believing that foolishness. Haven't you seen those silly charts in your doctor's office saying, "One hour after you quit smoking, you will..." ? Talk about propaganda! None of that turned out to be true, but I admit that there was a time I believed it.

You don't have to read every response -- I simply ignore messages to Melissa -- but once in a while there's a subject you may need to know about or might be able to offer a positive suggestion to help someone else, so that's why I encourage you not to leave the forum. Instead, go through the stories of the members and find a few more compatible with you. I've had some wonderful exchanges with people all over the world with things in common in addition to the COPD,

This is also my second experience with participating in online forums, the first being for the breast cancer that hit me the first time 20 years ago and now twice in the last four years. I can understand if you try to find a different forum (frankly, I'd like to join one whose members use better spelling), but I'd suggest you hang around a while longer to give some more thoughtful members a chance to contact you. We aren't nearly as negative as you think.