Stopping COPD: My Mission

My husband and me.

Last July I heard a show on NPR about COPD (thanks to my sister). Just listening to it I found myself realizing they were talking about me. I'm 62, full of energy, in great health. I survived breast cancer and my favorite things are 5-mile walks and long distance bicycle trips. But a few years earlier I had a spirometry test that showed some signs of COPD. The doctor downplayed it because I always look so healthy she couldn't imagine I had it. I never saw the report. But after hearing this broadcast I called her office in Michigan (I live in Wisconsin now) and asked to have the report faxed to me. I read the report and was shocked to find that the diagnosis was "moderately severe chronic obstructive lung disease." Her reaction didn't even come close to matching the words on that report. So, already I had lost three years of keeping this creeping crud at bay.

I immediately started researching COPD and how it can be at least stopped, if not reversed to some degree. Everything I read said it was nearly impossible to stop, much less reverse. So I set out to try some drastic things on my own.

First I ordered a book by Julie Daniluk called Meals that Heal Inflammation. Then I followed it. I stopped dairy, gluten, red meat, caffeine, alcohol and sugar. Boom! Yes, I know that sounds crazy and impossible and you can't even imagine doing it. But when you receive a diagnosis that means you can either slowly suffocate or do something to stop it...I chose the latter.