Hello
I have joined the forum to best support my mother who has been diagnosed with emphysema this week.
The only information provided was that it is “mild” but she was not offered any blood tests or to blow and test breathing strength so don’t have any figures or percentages.
She has booked a follow up with a different doctor and wants to have a list of questions to ask.
From your experience is there anything she should ask?
I’m also looking for advice re slowing progression of it- in particular, should she avoid painting/diy completely in order to minimise risk of it worsening her condition? Or should things like this only be avoided if causing a flare up/person is experiencing more symptoms?
At present, the main symptom is a cough and gets a bit breathless when walking steep hills. She is aged late 60s so she had put the breathlessness down to her age but was concerned about cough. It’s not chesty, more like clearing her throat.
Any advice would be great, I am very anxious and have struggled not to jump straight to worse case scenario. I’m hoping if I have the facts we can tackle it together and stay positive.
Thanks for listening x