Hi again everyone,
I hope you are all having an awesome new year so far and staying safe and healthy. I came down with covid a few weeks ago and found it to be pretty mild which was a relief! I assume it was the omicron variant that everyone else was getting around Christmas.
Anyways, I finally had my follow up appointment with the pulmonologist that I had to wait two months for. It went well aside from the fact that I wasn’t able to get childcare and my one year old decided to have a tantrum for no apparent reason, as they do. I was open and honest with my doctor regarding my history with addiction and he clarified yet again that my condition is congenital. He said that my “emphysema” is not formed in the typical way that it would say from smoking. He again was quite adamant about that. He also confirmed what Dr. Mannino said regarding cysts/Bulla being interchangeable and he even used the term “congenital bullous lung disease” on my after visit notes.
I was only able to get in a few questions before my little guy demanded all of my attention so we had to end the call.
I meant to ask him though how he knows that my condition is congenital, or what makes him believe that is the case for me. But I just couldn’t get that question in.
I’ve tried to find answers to this question, how you know that something is congenital or acquired and I can’t seem to find anything regarding this subject.
The reason I ask is because I do have this history of drug exposure that is said to be a rare but known cause of Bullous disease and it seems to be a fairly relevant distinction (congenital vs. acquired) in terms of how it is treated. Is there a way to tell the difference or do they appear the same on imaging and the patients history make the determining factor?
I apologize for taking more time from everyone. I know I don’t have the same kind of emphysema (not COPD type) as others here do, so I hope that I am not being disrespectful by posting here. I am just trying to understand my condition to the best of my ability as knowledge equals less anxiety and worry for me. How is my doctor so confident that this is congenital? Knowing that would answer so many of my questions.
thanks again and I hope you are all doing well.