Some claim they are a healthy smoker. Some current or former smokers who don't have a breathing problem may think they're in the clear but our partners at National Jewish will say that is a myth. Sometimes the effects of smoking take years to appear.
Even individuals that don't have abnormal lung function, that don't have a lung disease, per se, have significant abnormalities in their lungs. Limitation in their quality life, chronic or recurring symptoms, increased risk for infection. There are a lot of problems with smokers who don't have overt lung disease.
When you do stop smoking your risk of developing a disease reduces dramatically but our partners say that risk never goes away.
