I am having an medical question which, being a former medic as well as medical 'aficionado', really should know or at least be able to research on my own and I do know this very well. but the thing is that I am currently not really in the mood not to conduct a proper research but the main reason here is that I am being more curious to find out whether or not there are any other respiratory experts out there or some medical personnel on this site who can help me and can share their opinion. since I've seen that here are some really good experts on different and various topics (a conclusion I made reading through the posts) - I thought that there might be some experts on this topic either.
so well, today my sister have had her open house and I have been gently asked and got the task to blow up balloons. so, of course, not a big problem (not at all - should be) so I grabbed my first balloon and after I have put a really great deal of effort (what it seemed to me and assuming how I was feeling and how much I tried), I have been able to blow up only one and that's about the half of the size of the high school girl that was also been tasked to blow up balloons who was sitting next to me doing the same thing. then I went on and I have grabbed the second one and the first part of that balloon it seemed that it blew up more easily and quickly (all in the first breath expelled), however, after that, it doesn't matter how much or how hard I have been trying to do it, my cheeks were only puffing out a bit of air and mostly made some kind of a funny noise. of course, everybody heard it and it have been pretty funny to everybody else but definitely it wasn't funny to me. for me it has been really disturbing and not to say how awkward I was feeling because of this sound I made. but it is not just the sound… it is the fact that here I am now writing this being ashamed of myself taking in consideration that I have quit smoking a little bit less than 2 years ago, I am only 32 years old and I am having one hour of aerobic exercise every single day 7 days a week and nevertheless - I am still not able to blow up one simple balloon. I don’t need to ask whether is there something wrong with me because I do know that there IS something wrong with me, however I just want to find out to which extend. I mean, not being able to blow up a simple balloon isn't normal and that's doubtless, however not always it is a sign of being concern, I guess, and that's why I am here - should I be concerned or not? what do you, respiratory experts or maybe other medical personnel can say about this?
I guess this is obvious… after that I just have found myself an excuse to walk away from the balloons and not to blow them anymore without causing even more embarrassment and awkward situations like that one (and again, needless to say that everybody understood that it was just an excuse)… talking about my smoker past I can tell you that I have smoked for 10 years but to be honest I have never thought that this had caused permanent damage to my lungs and my breathing. I mean, even if it did - not THAT much of a damage not to be able to blow up a balloon. I mean, although I smoked - I still tried to have at least a bit of a healthy life. plus, as I said, nearly 2 years ago I have already quit. but I still find it all really strange because even in the time that I was still smoking it has never stopped or ruined or whatever else my ability to run, or at least not to the extent that I could judge it. as I said, even if smoking for those 10 years did affected me (and yeah, I do understand that it did had at least some effects) - it haven't really affected me THAT much. or at least that is what I used to think until I got that balloon. but I was mostly thinking like that because in some other words, subjectively, even in the time that I have been daily smoking, I was still doing 5K and 10K fun runs. and I honestly tell you that I have always finished in some respectable times… it was nothing like when I have ran cross country in high school, however it has been enough that I have felt satisfied that my respiratory system has not been compromised.
back in the time when I have been working in an acute care clinic in the hospital when I have been in the Army I do remember that there were people who came in having some kind of medical condition and even though I can't be really sure as I never was a big expert since lot of time have passed and I might have forgotten something, but I think that it has been called emphysema. again, I am not very sure so I might be wrong and that's why sorry if I say something wrong. whatever the case, I just remember that it has been a condition in which the patients have had very little or some of them no trouble at all to breathe air IN, however those people have had some big problems (some really big issues, others just a bit) to expel the air OUT from their lungs. they were easily getting the air in their lungs but needed to put a great deal of effort to expel it out. that was the first time when I saw that such kind of medical condition even exists. anyway, I remember that the force with which those people were able to expel the air from their lungs have been measured with a peak flow meter. well, I did smoked during that time and being young and rather stupid, we would just test each other with those peak flow meters - mostly just for fun when there was nobody around and nobody "checked" us, that's just to make ourselves feel a little bit better and sometimes to simply waste medical resources.
oh well, the joke's on me. I even find it kind of ironic… I am really quite afraid of what that peak flow meter would show now if I would ran it on me. I really interested… is there any other ex smoker out there who ever noticed to have a similar trouble? I mean, I noticed that I have troubles blowing up balloons, but I thought that maybe there are people who even got more serious problems like getting it hard to get the air out form their lungs when they try to simply breathe, not to blow up balloons? is there somebody who noticed something similar? although I do realize that this is a problem, do you think that it is a really worrisome problem? I mean, do you think that I need to be worried enough in order to mention this thing at my next doctor's appointment? to ask him to run some tests on me? like for example the peak flow meter? my next appointment would be in 2 weeks but the thing is that I am already having 2 different problems to mention to my GP and this would be the third one. but I do know that doctors are really hating when there is somebody who is addressing multiple issues at the same visit so I guess that he would be really pissed off if I would ask him about the third problem (he wouldn't really like that I have 2 different problems, not talking about 3 of them). I am not really sure what to do and that's mostly because I am not sure how big of a problem this might be and that's why I am now here, a little bit of your help guys would be really great. thank you!
if I would do it I would just make sure that there's no one around me. of course I can't know whether this would be of some help to you or not but whatever the case I only wanted to let you know that you are not the only one with this problem so maybe this would make you feel at least a bit better. best of luck