Liz,
my husband has a very rare genetic immune deficiency (40 published cases in the world), this resulted in frequent infections that he had a very hard time fighting off which started when he was 2.5 years old. As a result of a bad pneumonia parts of his lungs were cut off in order to save his life. He was on so many steroids that his spine became disfigured and has osteoporosis as a result. Because of all these medications he has been on all his life he has a very hard time digesting anything and we have been through it all... MTC oil, supplements, shakes, diets, probiotics, glutamine.. you name it we have done it with no result. Now he is down to 80 lbs at 5'7". Because of all the pulmonary infections he developed COPD, asthma, and bronchiectasis. His lungs are getting weaker and weaker, now he is at 4 lpm continuous flow. He has other serious diagnoses as well and I am not going to bore you with the list. Last time he saw his doctor he did say that should there be another emergency it may mean the vent and a long term situation... There is really no support forum for people like my husband so I am here because his needs resemble the needs of a person with ALS, he is also on a CPAP, has reduced mobility, etc. so that's why I am here. There is a COPD forum but the people there generally don't tend to have the issues we are dealing with and it's not as active as this forum. Also, here I find people try to resolve way more issues about grief, relationships, etc. than on the other forums. Not to get off topic here...LOL