Here's some good general info on emphysema, Slip. Dave deals with patients who have it all the time. They can have chest pain, but that's generally not one of the key symptoms. The more common hallmark symptom of emphysema is difficulty breathing, dyspnea (shortness of breath), and fatigue, and it takes a terrible toll on people's cardiac health, too, since the heart and lungs are so physiologically intertwined. Emphysema comes on gradually and progresses, and it most commonly begins to show itself when people are past 50, but it can happen earlier. My mom now has emphysema after a 30-year "careeer" as a smoker, even after having quit cigarettes two decades ago. She's in her early 70s. She also has congestive heart failure to go with it. If you could see her get winded after just walking across a room and needing to sit down and breathe oxygen before she can recover, I'd hope you would quit that cigarette smoking ASAP. It's a heartbreaking disease to watch progress.
Emphysema - MayoClinic.com