• (1)
• 
• 

Stop smoking

This cannot be stressed enough. If you stop smoking at an early stage of the disease, it will make a huge difference. Any damage already done to your airways cannot be reversed, but stopping smoking prevents the disease from getting much worse. It is never too late to stop at any stage of the disease. Even if you have fairly advanced COPD, you are likely to benefit and prevent further progression of the disease.

Cough may become worse for a while when you give up smoking. This often happens as the lining of the airways 'come back to life'. Resist the temptation to start smoking again to ease the cough. An increase in cough after you stop smoking usually settles in a few weeks.

See a practice nurse or doctor if you have difficulty in stopping smoking. Help is available. For example, counselling, nicotine replacement therapy (nicotine gum etc), or other medicines to help with stopping smoking may help. The following information discusses giving up smoking in more detail.

• Back
• Next: What are the treatments for COPD?

• Comment (1)
• Send to a friend
• Print: Article |  Page