COPD and feelings of guilt

In most cases, COPD is a lifestyle disease. For most people in Denmark with COPD, this is due to smoking. There are also people who haven't actively smoked themselves but developed COPD for other reasons, but most cases are due to lifestyle. Within the last 30 years we have become certain that smoking IS harmful and is therefore not recommended to anyone. Many people with COPD experience being “victimised", hearing ‘you got your illness from smoking’. It’s hard to ignore these accusations because they apply to many people. But most people started smoking at a time when it was expected. You got a cigarette case as a confirmation gift and smoking took place in all workplaces. I remember smoking sections on trains and planes and hospital staff who smoked in the break room. I also remember the crowded smoking rooms in every single hospital department. There was smoking on TV talk shows, James Bond smoked, everyone in the Royal Family smoked, and so on, and so on. Genes also play a big role in the development of COPD, but you don't know your genes, even though it’s an important clue if your parents or siblings didn't live to a ripe old age, due to lung disease. But what about other chronic diseases? Type 2 diabetes is closely linked to obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle. Heart disease is often also linked to lifestyle. In traffic accidents, people have often driven too fast. A lot of people end up in A&E because they did something reckless, such as removing grass from a mower that was still running. In other words, many injuries and conditions are wholly or partly self-inflicted. But what is the point of this blame? You can use it negatively and blame yourself for being so stupid. You can also use it positively to decide that something needs to be done, such as quitting smoking if you haven't already done so, because stopping smoking is important, whether you have COPD or not, whether you’re young or old, ill or healthy. So we ask if you’ve stopped smoking, because it’s important. Partly to slow down the loss of lung function, which is 2.3 times higher in smokers than non-smokers, and also because COPD medicine works better if you don't smoke. We might ask if you are still an ex-smoker, because it’s so important that you've stopped and we can celebrate together when you answer, ‘of course I am’. So forget the blame. Straighten up and be proud of taking a responsible attitude to your COPD, and do everything you can to have a good life.