Had another appointment with the hospital “lung specialist”. Ordered to quit snuff as it is supposedly some kind of alergic reaction that is causing my lung inflamation and he says if I don’t stop this could lead to permenant lung scaring which is then irreversable. I explained to him that I already did quit for a period of about 2 weeks and that it had made absolutely no difference but he just said that it wasn’t long enough and with so many other questions I never got to asking how long would be long enough but I’m sure he means permenantly. He did admit that he had no firm evidence that snuff in particular is responsible but that I need to stop it just in case it might be. I’m almost more confused now. He said my condition has nothing to do with being an ex smoker and is clearly an alergy thing but to what exactly we have no idea and it seems that whatever is/was the cause that even if I was unexposed for weeks then no difference would be noticable and this is the bit I don’t understand at all and would seem to make it impossible to discover whatever it is that causes the inflamation. I had another x-ray and breathing test on the computerised system and good news is that my lungs have cleared some and my breathing is a little better but he has scheduled more checks in a few months. We spoke about e-cigs also although I no longer use them and he said he has been attending conferences in London and they still don’t know what long term effects they might cause. I probably will have to stop using snuff again as if I did get some lung scarring then I wouldn’t like to be thinking that I might have escaped if I had followed the doctors strong advice. He told me he speaks to people everyday who look back and wish they had done what they were advised so I really hope he is right and that I’m not giving up snuff for an incorrect hunch of his. I’m tailoring off though rather than an immediate cessation. If my condition would only improve quickly then I could ignore his advice but it doesn’t seem that that is going to be the case. I’m considering snuss now as an alternative. I have only tried the Thunder V2 extra strong pouches from Mr Snuff and I did get to like it in an addictive way pretty quickly. It’s definitley difficult to quit something when you don’t want to and not based on any certain fact but I think I do have to take this guy seriously so I plan to use up some snuff I’ve started and probably get a snuss order in pretty quickly.
I’m sorry to hear about your ailments. Though I agree with you in so much as it sounds awfully confusing, maybe stopping, not quitting, snuff for a decent 6 month period should at least lead to clearing up whether or not snuff is linked to the problem. At the end of the day I know it’s not ideal, but 6 months of putting snuff on hiatus doesn’t seem all that bad considering that at the end you will have an answer as to whether or not it’s causing the problem. You know your body better than anyone else, and if you feel like snuff isn’t the cause, then there’s a fairly good chance it isn’t. In which case after 6 months you can snuff to your hearts delight!
You might as well try quitting snuff for several months to see if it makes a difference
Maybe lay off the finer ones, which can hit the back of the throat and maybe get into the lungs. Coarse moist snuff might be better. I do sometime get what I call a “snuff cough” hits me in the early hours after a day of taking a lot.
Yes I do avoid the finer snuffs as they do cause me a slight irritation. I still have a pretty bad cough even if I don’t snuff. For whatever reason my lungs are producing mucus although it would seem not as much as before. Think you are right guys. At least give it few months until after the next hospital tests. Might even be six months before I get to see this guy again but I know from dentist appointments that 6 months seems to dissapear very quickly. Whatever I have, it is a crazy thing. It’s now been going on for about seven months. I think even the medical people are becoming very curious about my case which I suppose means that at least they are taking an interest. The only positive I have is that recently I have been getting some more energy back, eating properly again and also getting back some muscle and weight and this seems to be happening consistantly and steadily although extremely slowly. Also I only need to take a low steriod does to keep it under control and hopefully over the next couple of months I will be able to stop taking this altogether. I’m glad also that it doesn’t appear to be some damage done from smoking which he was pretty clear about that it is not. He said that telling people to stop things was like dealing with teenagers. I think he meant no-body listens to the advice? but I told him that I do take it serioulsy and will follow his advise although personally I think it has been something to do with my years as a smoker and is not snuff related but he is the expert so I bow to greater knowledge. I’m sure he must have seen enough smoking related problems to know what he is talking about.
get on the swedish snus & off the snuff. Your lungs are too important to chance problems from snuffing. Difficult to do I know. Good luck.
It is extremely interesting to see that it isn’t due to smoking! I truly wish you the best of luck and I hope you can get it sorted!
snuff-optional, lungs-not so much
My mother died from Lung Fibrosis and they never really knew how she got that or much about the condition in general as it seems only to be beginning to be researched. Anyhow that’s what I am in danger of progressing to and it’s not a nice illness so at the moment I’m actually quite pleased that I have so far avoided that and that my x-ray showed positive signs. The specialist stated that he was happy with it and I think he was pleased to see that I was also. The problem had been that my last CT scan in Oct had shown no improvement over the intial one I had back in July 2014. That’s why he gave me a hard time about the snuff but he eased up some once the new x-ray arrived. I’m now booked in for another CT scan in a month or so.
You could try smoking mullein leaf and coltsfoot leaf to fix your lungs. Being hospitalized last year myself I had no tobacco products for half the year. First thing I did is light up my pipe when I got home. It was horrible, I had to take it easy using snuff, my nose wasn’t accustomed and I had to acclimate my use.Oral tobacco has also been moderate. Take care of your health ,life is short I hope you recover completely
Can they do tests to prove or disprove your doctor’s suspicion that an allergic reaction to snuff may be the cause of your issues? I would be concerned that there may possibly be another environmental factor like mold spores or even asbestos. I agree that it would be prudent to put the snuff aside for now until you get to the bottom of this. Best of luck and I hope you find the source of the problem soon!
@Roderick has my thoughts here. I would want to know exactly what caused the reaction. They may want to wait to get the lungs back but I would make a strong argument for a full range of allergy testing too. If it is snuff then okay you can come to terms with that, but it may not be and knowing what it was to avoid it in the future seems wise to me.
He did say that they couldn’t know all of the things that may be in various snuff so I think it would be difficult to test for. Some of the snuffs I had taken I no longer have but certainly a good point and I really don’t know why they aren’t testing me for allergies. He just said that my blood tests had shown up evidence pointing to his allergic conclusion. Also why am I on Prednisolone Anti-inflamitory Steriod and not an antihistamine? I have never suffered from any allergies in the past that I recall although I think I may have taken an antihistamine in the past for something or other. I’ve never ever been very unwell before, at least not with anything of this duration or so debilitating. I certainly see your point J_S. Not knowing is pain. I must try and remember to bring that up with them next time. He did give me all the questions again about work, pets mould etc but there is nothing that seems to be a cause. Next time I see the local cat I’ll have to see if it affects me. I do remember being very breathless around it but I’ve never been allergic to any animal before. I used to regularly visit a local bog here for walks and it seems spores can be picked up from such places but I’ve been going there for years with no problem? If I knew for certain it was snuff for examlpe then sure I would find it easier to accept. Anyhow I’ve ordered a bunch of Snus meantime. The only think that might possibly have happened is if I took some snuff that was maybe mouldy. The latest term he gave for my illness is http://www.hse.gov.uk/lung-disease/extrinsic-allergic-alveolitis.htm which talks about mouldy organic matter which I suppose could be snuff that was off. I suppose what I am irritated about is that I finally managed to find something that enabled me to stop smoking that being the e-cig and snuff and I stopped the e-cig and now I’m told to quit snuff and I had just started to get to know snuffs I liked etc. I think the Doctor might have preferred if I had never stopped smoking? although he did say I would still have got this all else being equal in any case. Hope I have better luck with Snus.
Have you read much about candida @I_snuff_therefore___ ? I only mention it because modern medicine ignores it, but it is a real condition that can cause all sorts of health problems. Most people that struggle with candida have been to the doctor on and off for a long period of time only to get no answers after a lot of money and tests. It’s a difficult condition to diagnose, and most people with candida figure it out on their own and then begin a change in diet. If you have candida, your lungs could easily feel good then bad and everything in between based on what you’re putting in your body. Nicotine causes the liver the dump glycogen into the blood which could aggravate your lungs if there is candida present. Eating sugary, processed, conventional foods; and complex carbohydrates, fermented foods, and anything with yeast in it aggravate candida and cause isolated health issues. Candida is a bitch and can cause a number of health problems. It is not easy to deal with and takes time to figure out and for the body to heal. I treated my candida years ago and still have to from time to time. It’s been responsible for a number of my health problems over the years; allergies and breathing problems being just a couple. I just thought I’d throw this out there as a possibility since the doctors can’t figure it out. The easiest way to tell if you might have candida is to stop eating sugar for a week and take a natural anti-fungal. Your body will tell you as a reaction will occur. I just hope you feel better soon and don’t have to permanently give up the things you enjoy.
Don’t know if this could be adult onset of allergic reactions but just because you have not been allergic to something in the past is no guarantee that you are not now. Adult onset does happen. In any case, whatever the issue is, I hope you find the answers to prevent future flare ups. Wishing you the very best.
I explained to the doctor that my appetite had gone haywire for sweet things etc and he said that was because of the steroid but I had been on a higher dose then and now I only take a low 5mg tablet each day and my appetite has returned to more or less as it was before I got ill which I take as a good sign. I’ve also got a lot of energy back compared to previoulsy and I my fever and tiredness is gone. I can actually run up the stairs, only a single flight but I couldn’t do that before. I still couldn’t do two flights though. At the worst point I had to crawl up them. Actually I don’t really feel that I’m to far away from this clearing up fully it’s just that it happens so slowly. I can still feel that my lungs are inflamed although it’s not particulary uncomfortable but I can hear a kind of crumpling sound when I lie down at night when it’s quiet and this is what I worry about as this seems to be that part of my lungs have become stiff and this is what leads to the scarring. I’m almost surprised that I don’t have this scarring already and I’m pretty sure I had some of this chest creaking or whatever it’s called when I smoked which was one of the signs that warned me that I should quit although it might already have been to late. I guess it will take another few months to finally know whether it will clear or not and so far I’m not doing very well at avoiding snuff. Damn that Moro Moro. I don’t drink much nowadays but I had some run last night and it seem to help relax my chest some. Think I’ll try that again shortly!
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Aspergillosis/Pages/Introduction.aspx This site is the absolute best info I could find and Prednisolone or a similar steroid is commonly the threatment on every site I’ve looked at. There are anti fungal treatments also but they have not been offered to me and seeing that they seem to have very bad side effects I imagine this is the reason for that. From what info I’ve read antihistamine doesn’t seem to be a treatment for my condition. It seems to be for when your body is overreacting to something which is not a threat like pollen whereas my system is apparently under genuine mould threat and my system should be attacking the culprit but in doing so it’s causing me breathing problems so the steriod is used to reduce the mucus produced which otherwise blocks up my lungs. According to the info from above, to get an infection as I did then either my immune system needs to have been in a weakened vulnerable state when I have encountered the mould or whatever or else my lungs must have been in a damaged state which I assume could be from my smoking years or maybe from the e-cig? Important: Normally the immune system fights off any mould infection naturally in a healthy person so I must have been suffering from one of the above two scenarios. So it would seem that even if say a snuff had some mould or whatever and the snuff taker was healthy then it would pose no danger as the immune system would handle it. Anyhow my rum worked ok last night but this morning it’s back to the usual bit of a struggle for breath first thing while just getting dressed and what do I go and do? Have a good pinch of Rosline. Now I’m in the usual cough splutter section of the morning. Lots of rest today again I think. Some days I think I notice an improvement over the previous few days and other days like today seem to have no improvement so I just cough away to try and clear my chest and drink lots of warm drinks and tomorrow weather permiting I’ll be out cycling again to go and do my messages and I can usually tell then if my breathing is any better. Lucky I can still cycle at all but I found it actually takes less breath than walking, probably because I can freewheel a lot and use low gears for any hills.
Prednisone suppresses the immune system and one of the primary side effects is respiratory problems, including respiratory failure. It reduces inflammation making the person feel a little bit better, but in the long run causes the condition to worsen.