It depends on the Dr. And yourself, last time I was there, we talked about my getting real sick quicker, lasting longer, talked about things I could o to help myself, and asked hiw long, well there is no real answer for that as changes can occur at different rates for different people, and as he said, it coukd be a massive stroke or aheart attack, or I might get run over by a bus. No one knows read something the other day re COPD, which said, that some people been at stage 4 for many years,, other factors come into it. Anyway lets live life, enjoy it, do thise things from our bucket lists, and laugh, love and be happy. Thats what I going to do . Treasure my family friends, take my grandson to see spiderman, or batman or some man play cricket with him, and be jolly .

Actually that was NOT MY interpretation Jean..I was answering what ''N'' stood for and i replied it was ''End'' and gave an explaination, that was on the net..My mistake was i should of supplied a LINK...

The Reason i copy n pasted it, was because the Original article was Very Long and the OP was not searching for any complicated explaination....Here is the Link..

http://www.healthline.com/health/copd/end-stage...

If i believed in the 35% too i would be dead, as when i was diagnosed with COPD i was already 36% and that was in 2011/12 from memory....Currently i am at 18%..Not on Oxygen and besides Chronic Hyperinflated Lung Pain , masked over with Morphine Meds, I assure you i am far from ''Dead'' BESIDES I have always Posted Here on numerous ocassions that I do not fully support the Gold Standard of Staging but rather the BODE Index.

YOUR QUOTE '' And there are those of us who have been flouting your interpretation of those with an FEV1 of under 35% will be dead in four years; ''

Actually, "End Stage" is a really left over term from long ago in medical schools, where they would put patients on a stage, and the last ones to the far right would be the "end stage" patients; the ones who were essentially next door to death. The term isn't used by docs who have been trained in the last 20 years or so, and isn't used by pulmonologists who aren't interested in scaring their patients to death. Peter, I don't think it equates to GOLD Standard Stage 4, even though that it the last stage. And there are those of us who have been flouting your interpretation of those with an FEV1 of under 35% will be dead in four years; I've been there since 2000. Actually I much prefer the COPD Foundations staging protocol which goes from 1 to three and takes into account not only the FEV1 but the number of exacerbations experienced as well as type of life the patient lives. The whole idea of "end stage" is a left-over from about 1950 and the good pulmonologists have moved way beyond it.

So if you hear the term, discount it, or at least ask the person to define it for you and if it's too doom and gloom find another health care professional who won't write you off!

Glad you don't subscribe to that, Peter, and I still say the term "end stage" isn't used by pulmonologists who know their stuff AND are empathic in dealing with patients, regardless of Healthline's article. Sounds like we're pretty much on the same page. Glad you're still with us!

It is ''END'' Stage..A term i Hate...It is Gold Standard Stage 4.

In end-stage COPD you’ll likely need supplemental oxygen to breathe and you may not be able to complete activities of daily living without becoming very winded and tired. Sudden worsening of COPD at this stage, which is known as exacerbation, can be life-threatening. More than half of those with end-stage COPD whose FEV1 test is less than 35 percent will not survive beyond four years after this result.

However, the FEV1 test isn’t the only factor that affects your outlook. Your doctor will also take into account the following factors when determining the outlook:

Weight

Although being overweight is harmful if you have COPD, those with end-stage COPD are often underweight. This is because even the act of eating can cause you to become too winded. The result can be extreme weight loss that affects your overall health.

Shortness of Breath with Activity

Shortness of breath is also known as dyspnea. Shortness of breath with activity is the degree to which you get short of breath when walking. It can help determine the severity of your COPD.