When a person with COPD says we need to stop, you must stop right then and there or a number of things may happen. I may become incontinent, I may become dizzy, I may become disoriented, I may go into a panic attack. The lack of oxygen brings about many different symptoms for different people.

I hope that my being with you and needing to stop half way up our hiking trail does not bother you because it bothers me to have to ask you to stop. The thing that you need to know about most people with COPD is that they are not pretending to have issues, they are pretending to not have issues. That means that I have been feeling that I may be getting low on oxygen saturation, but tried to keep going. When I declare that we must stop. Then we must stop.

If you have COPD remember that we must eat a well balanced diet, exercise, get plenty of rest, and love who we are. If that so-called friend cannot tolerate the interruption of the hike so that you can take a rest, well then I say dump them because they are not your friend. This may be something that is hard to come to grips with, but the sooner that you do the happier that you will be.

Your outside link for today is to another COPD website that is monitored by good people who want to give you a place to speak your peace. https://www.mycopdteam.com/activities