15 replies to this topic

[ViolettVol]

So my mother has been diagnosed with mild to moderate COPD last year. Thing is, she refuses to quit smoking and doesnt take her inhaler because it's too unpleasant for her. She is however open to the idea of some supplements which may help. Anyone here know of anything or ca direct me to a page? I can't force her to go to a second doctor, but I want to help her as much as I can.

[niner]

I'm sorry to hear that. Obviously, the best thing you could do for her would be to get her to stop smoking, or at least cut back. Has she tried any of the various quitting aids, like nicotine replacement? I wouldn't want to give her the idea that a supplement would give her license to continue smoking; people are very prone to look at supplements that way. A healthy diet and exercise are always going to be better than a bad diet and laying about, and getting enough vitamins and minerals is always better than not getting enough. I wonder if an e-cigarette would work for her? I don't have any hard evidence of it, but I suspect they are safer than regular cigarettes.

[Lufega]

I agree with niner above. Show her some pictures of black lungs or of patients with advanced COPD. That should gross her enough to want to quit. On the supplement side, sulforaphane with selenium and lipoic acid stand out as superstars. Panax ginseng can help improve breathing function and a combo of glycine/cysteine can restore glutathione production. That's a start.

[ViolettVol]

I agree with niner above. Show her some pictures of black lungs or of patients with advanced COPD. That should gross her enough to want to quit. On the supplement side, sulforaphane with selenium and lipoic acid stand out as superstars. Panax ginseng can help improve breathing function and a combo of glycine/cysteine can restore glutathione production. That's a start.

I've done all the above and it does not scare her enough. will buy the electronic cigarette and see ho that goes. I think supplements is the best way to go here - at least slow some of the damage untiil she gets smarter.

[hippocampus]

buy swedish snus and she'll forget about smoking.

[ViolettVol]

buy swedish snus and she'll forget about smoking.

What is it? how does it work? How do I introduce her to it?

[hippocampus]

google, youtube. it's type of tobacco which looks like dirt or it's put in tea bags (which beginners like more). there are many different tastes, so you/she'll eventually found what suits her most. you put it under your upper lip. you don't need to spit (like with dip), you can swallow the "juice" (well, beginners may spit, but eventually you get used to it so your mouth stays dry). it's 99% less carcinogenic than smoking or any other type of tobacco - this is only true for swedish snus, american snus is less quality. it's banned in EU (selling, not using it), except in Sweden (which is stupid, since Sweden has the lowest rate of smokers and lung cancer among men in EU). according to epidemiological data it may slightly increase risk for pancreatic cancer but even that is lower than smoking (it may still be harmful in longer term but most people don't live so long to develop cancer from snus). you can buy it online or from "local dillers" - some people everywhere in europe buy large quantities of snus and they sell it to their friends. you can ask on some snus forum like snuson if there is somebody from UK who orders snus and is willing to sell you some if you don't want to order it online (you can also buy swedish snus from usa or norway).
otoh, you can force her into using nicotine patch which may be less effective than snus, because it's only nicotine - tobacco also contains some MAOI which has antidepressant properties and is (imo) the main reason, why tobacco is so addictive.

i don't know about supplements, but i would suggest omega 3 - it's good for asthma (but it may be due to some antiallergic properties or sth like that). she should be using it anyway, even if she weren't smoking.

Edited by hippocampus, 04 November 2011 - 01:37 AM.

[1kgcoffee]

I agree with niner above. Show her some pictures of black lungs or of patients with advanced COPD. That should gross her enough to want to quit. On the supplement side, sulforaphane with selenium and lipoic acid stand out as superstars. Panax ginseng can help improve breathing function and a combo of glycine/cysteine can restore glutathione production. That's a start.

Careful with the cysteine though. There was that study last year which showed high dose NAC to cause COPD in mice.

[hippocampus]

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/12192737

http://chestjournal....28/6/3817.short

Effects of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids on Inflammatory Markers in COPD

Background: COPD, the fifth-leading cause of death worldwide, is characterized by chronic inflammation. However, no available agent can effectively cure this inflammation. A dietary supplement containing omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) has anti-inflammatory effects. In this study, we hypothesized that nutritional support with omega-3 PUFA-rich diets may be useful for treating COPD, and we compared the clinical features and inflammatory mediator levels between the COPD patients who received an omega-3 PUFA-rich supplement and those who received a nonrich supplement.

Methods: Sixty-four COPD patients received 400 kilocalories per day of an omega-3 PUFA-rich supplement (n-3 group) or an omega-3 PUFA-nonrich supplement (n-6 group) for 2 years. We prospectively investigated the clinical features of these patients and measured the levels of inflammatory mediators.

Results: In 6-min walk testing, the dyspnea Borg scale and decrease of arterial oxygen saturation measured by pulse oximetry significantly improved in the n-3 group. Leukotriene B4 levels in serum and sputum and tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-8 levels in sputum decreased significantly in the n-3 group, while there was no significant change in the n-6 group. Two patients in the n-3 group and three patients in the n-6 group had mild diarrhea, and three patients in the n-3 group and three patients in the n-6 group had nausea; however, their symptoms were controllable and they improved with treatment. With multiple regression analysis, it was proved that the omega-3 PUFA-rich diet significantly contributed to the change in cytokine levels in this study.

Conclusion: We suggest nutritional support with an omega-3 PUFA-rich diet as a safe and practical method for treating COPD.

http://www.nejm.org/...199407283310403

Dietary n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and Smoking-Related Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Background

Fish contain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, principally eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, which are known to interfere with the body's inflammatory response and may be of benefit in chronic inflammatory conditions.

Full Text of Background...
Methods

We studied the relation between the dietary intake of n-3 fatty acids and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 8960 current or former smokers participating in a population-based study of atherosclerosis. Intake of fatty acids was estimated with a dietary questionnaire. The presence of COPD was assessed by a questionnaire on respiratory symptoms and by spirometry. Three case definitions of COPD were used: symptoms of chronic bronchitis (667 subjects), physician-diagnosed emphysema reported by the subject (185 subjects), and spirometrically detected COPD (197 subjects).

Full Text of Methods...
Results

After control for pack-years of smoking, age, sex, race, height, weight, energy intake, and educational level, the combined intake of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid was inversely related to the risk of COPD in a quantity-dependent fashion. The adjusted odds ratio for the highest quartile of intake as compared with the lowest quartile was 0.66 for chronic bronchitis (95 percent confidence interval, 0.52 to 0.85; P<0.001 for linear trend across the range of intake values), 0.31 for physician-diagnosed emphysema (95 percent confidence interval, 0.18 to 0.52; P for linear trend, 0.003), and 0.50 for spirometrically detected COPD (95 percent confidence interval, 0.32 to 0.79; P for linear trend, 0.007).

Full Text of Results...
Conclusions

A high dietary intake of n-3 fatty acids may protect cigarette smokers against COPD

apparently I was right about omega 3, vitamin C is possibly also a good thing to supplement - but first she should stop smoking otherwise she may think that these supplements will protect her from progression of her disease (they will slow the progression but won't stop it).

also: regular exercise - no less than walking for 30 minutes a day (not in the polluted area of course), healthy food - lots of vegetables and fruit. a cup of almonds/hazelnuts or other nuts a day may also be a good thing, because it contains a lot of vitamin E (but beware of omega 6: 3 ratio).

if she is not willing to quit smoking cold turkey or use nicotine patch or snus, she can reduce number of cigarettes slowly. e. g. if she smokes about a pack a day, she should limits her cigarettes to 20 a day first week, 19 a day second week and so on.

Edited by hippocampus, 04 November 2011 - 01:51 AM.

[Lufega]

I agree with niner above. Show her some pictures of black lungs or of patients with advanced COPD. That should gross her enough to want to quit. On the supplement side, sulforaphane with selenium and lipoic acid stand out as superstars. Panax ginseng can help improve breathing function and a combo of glycine/cysteine can restore glutathione production. That's a start.

Careful with the cysteine though. There was that study last year which showed high dose NAC to cause COPD in mice.

Can you provide that study ? Thanks.

[Lufega]

Updates on your mom ?

[Luminosity]

As others have observed, if she doesn't quit smoking, nothing else is going to matter.

[ViolettVol]

As others have observed, if she doesn't quit smoking, nothing else is going to matter.

Well, I'm definietly trying to convince her to quit smoking but as with every addict, the person must want it herself. She has the less severe type of COPD so I hope taking the supplements will reduce the speed of damage.
She's taking the Omega 3s now and seems to cough less. She has to get rid of her sinus issues, though, because they exacerbate things when she has a constantly runny nose.
I'm buying her the electronic cig as a present so we will see. Wish us luck!

[manic_racetam]

As others have observed, if she doesn't quit smoking, nothing else is going to matter.

Well, I'm definietly trying to convince her to quit smoking but as with every addict, the person must want it herself. She has the less severe type of COPD so I hope taking the supplements will reduce the speed of damage.
She's taking the Omega 3s now and seems to cough less. She has to get rid of her sinus issues, though, because they exacerbate things when she has a constantly runny nose.
I'm buying her the electronic cig as a present so we will see. Wish us luck!

How is it going with her? I was basically quit on the electronic cigarette and then I impulsively bought the nicotine patch and accidentally quit about 3 months ago. But with the electronic cigarette I suggest getting one with a button you can press to activate the atomizer. These are superior to the kind that automatically atomize when you start sucking on the thing.

Most of the electronic cigarettes were too weak for me to feel satisfied from. But my friend gave me his when he quit and it had a much larger battery connected to it. Also, with a button that activated the atomizer. It gave huge plumes of vapor and could really give a good hit. I needed that in order to not smoke... I was very addicted (1+ pack a day).

If you recently got her one recently that she didn't like, it may have been because it couldn't supply the desired amount of vapor. I'd suggest buying a bigger-better one and trying that. Also, a piece of advice someone gave me that worked well was to use the fruit flavored nicotine liquid instead of the tobacco flavored. Tobacco flavored nicotine liquid would always make me crave a real cigarette.

Hope she's doing well

[niner]

and it had a much larger battery connected to it.

I had one of those, but I got tired of carrying it around.

[Application]

Vitamin A maybe both curative and preventative:

Vitamin A and Emphysema

Vitamins For Emphysema: What Has Vitamin A Got To Do With Emphysema?

Vitamin A and lung regeneration

Long review



For symptom relief, this is a great herbal formula for lungs. In our house we use it with good results for viral type coughs. None of us have COPD, but reviewers on Amazon who do report it to be very helpful:

http://www.amazon.co...n/dp/B000FLGZIU

Edited by Application, 14 March 2012 - 07:44 AM.