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COPD: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

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COPD: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease C.O.P.D.: Your Disease, One Breath at a Time YOUR DISEASE, One Breath at a Time! Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease C.O.P.D. When you were young breathing was easy. You didn’t even have to think about it. Breathe in, breathe out, live life. But you’re older now, and after several years of being exposed to smoke, you’re no longer able to take breathing for granted. It’s harder to do. It may even hurt. You could have emphysema or chronic bronchitis or a combination. You’re dealing with COPD: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. This book is intended to be a self-management You’re not alone in dealing guide to help you better understand and deal with your condition. The goals of this book and a good with COPD. Education, COPD care program include: support and treatment are Slowing the progress of the disease here for you. Improving your health Your wellness is a goal within reach. And that’s a Relieving COPD symptoms breath of fresh air. Making exercise easier DISCLAIMER: This book provides general information about COPD and related issues. The information does not constitute medical advice and is not intended to be used for the diagnosis or treatment of a health problem or as a substitute for consulting a licensed health professional. Consult with a qualified physician or healthcare practitioner to discuss specific individual health needs and to professionally address personal medical concerns. C.O.P.D.: Your Disease, One Breath at a Time 1 YOUR DISEASE, Table of Contents ONE BREATH AT A TIME RELAXATION NATION: 36 The Joys of Staying Stress-Free FIRST THINGS FIRST: HOW TO BREATHE: 2 What is COPD? 38 Exercises for Improving Airflow FRESH AIR REFRESHER WORDS OF WISDOM: 5 41 Assorted Tips for Feeling Better THE BIG THREE: 7 COP Diseases EYES ON THE PRIZE: 45 The Exercise Connection BEST DEFENSES: 13 Preventing Lung Infections SWEET DREAMS: 47 Sleeping and COPD 16 I QUIT! Kicking the Smoking Addiction THINK POSITIVE: 49 Keeping Emotionally Fit 22 MANAGING YOUR MEDICINE 52 COPD AND ME 26 HAIL TO THE INHALER! RESOURCES MORE THAN ONE WAY: 29 Other Treatment Options 32 OXYGEN 101 2 C.O.P.D.: Your Disease, One Breath at a Time FIRST YOU LEAVE ME BREATHLESS THINGS Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease refers most often to FIRST: emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and chronic asthma. We’ll take a closer look at these conditions in a bit. These lung diseases can be caused by… WHAT Several years of heavy smoking Longtime exposure to air pollution Scarred or damaged breathing tubes or IS COPD? air pouches due to an illness or injury Inherited genetics Chronic (CRON-ick): Lasting for a long time or MISSION: DEFINITION constantly recurring. SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS You may not feel any symptoms of COPD at first. Your symptoms may be mild and not warrant any concern. If it gets worse, some common signs and symptoms may include… A cough that lasts a long time “Smoker’s cough,” which brings up a lot of mucus Shortness of breath, especially when exercising or being active Wheezing Tightness in the chest C.O.P.D.: Your Disease, One Breath at a Time 3 Having COPD usually means getting colds and the flu more often. More smoking = more lung damage. More lung damage = more severe symptoms. 1 An ongoing cough THE COMMON 2 Excess mucus SIGNS OF 3 Shortness of breath 4 Wheezing 5 Tiredness COPD 6 6 More frequent flare-ups COPD BY THE NUMBERS For smokers who don’t quit when symptoms of COPD arise, damage to the 12 million lungs happens faster. Estimated number of Americans who have been Quitting will slow down the damage, diagnosed with COPD. Another 12 million may be lessen the symptoms living with the disease and not yet know it. and reduce flare-ups. 4 C.O.P.D.: Your Disease, One Breath at a Time AS TIME GOES BY Your symptoms may have started out slowly and mild. Maybe you didn’t even notice them at first. Then maybe you found that it was a little harder to breathe when you walked up the stairs. Maybe that little cough aggravated you or kept you from sleeping well at night. You adjusted your lifestyle and tried to make breathing easier again. But in time, the breathing difficulty got worse. Even everyday activities wore you out and caused you to pant. Coughing became stronger and more frequent. You noticed swelling legs, ankles and feet. You lost weight, and you seemed weaker in your lower muscles. Hopefully by this time you saw a doctor. And if so, you were introduced to the four little letters that were about to become a big part of your life: COPD. CODE RED Symptoms of COPD can go way CLEARING THE AIR: beyond the shortness of breath or BREATHTAKING BREATHING FACTS scratchy cough. Some may require immediate treatment at a hospital. Call Breathing isn’t all about 911 or have a friend or family member oxygen. Air has 21% oxygen. get you to the closest emergency The body only needs 5%. care facility if you experience any of It’s the carbon dioxide that these severe symptoms: makes it all matter. A hard time talking or catching your breath Very fast heartbeat WebMD: COPD Symptoms: Fingernails turning blue or gray, a sign of blood with a www.webmd.com/lung/ low oxygen content copd/tc/chronic-obstructive- pulmonary-disease-copd- Mental confusion symptoms C.O.P.D.: Your Disease, One Breath at a Time 5 FRESH AIR REFRESHER BREATHING BASICS Here’s how this breathing thing works: Breathing brings fresh air into your lungs and removes stale air. The fresh air carries oxygen to your bloodstream. Your heart then pumps blood with oxygen through your body to all your organs, which need oxygen to work smoothly. Fresh air enters the nose and throat and into a large airway or breathing tube that branches many times into smaller and smaller tubes. Your breathing tubes are lined with special muscles that relax and contract with breathing. At the ends of each of the smaller airways is a balloon-like pouch that expands and collapses as you breathe in and breathe out. 6 C.O.P.D.: Your Disease, One Breath at a Time As your heart pumps, blood flows through arteries to all your organs. As the blood passes by each organ, it gives up some of its oxygen to feed the organ, and removes the waste gas. When you breathe out, the stale air is pushed out. CLEARING THE AIR: BREATHTAKING BREATHING FACTS The right lung is slightly larger than the left. How Stuff Works: How Your Lungs Work: science.howstuffworks.com/ life/human-biology/lung.htm C.O.P.D.: Your Disease, One Breath at a Time 7 THE BIG THREE: COP Diseases AIRWAY TO HEAVEN We’ve seen the process of breathing for healthy lungs. But sometimes air that normally flows easily in and out of the lungs gets slowed down. Mucus in the breathing tubes, tightening muscles and swelling of the tissues in the breathing tubes can cause airway distress. These complications in the airways can cause… Wheezing or coughing Shortness of breath Feelings of weakness or tiredness Gaining or losing weight For people with COPD, one or more of these symptoms may be felt from time to time. When we talk about Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, we really mean three respiratory conditions that affect breathing. Here’s a brief look at each of these. EMPHYSEMA What i t i s What it does Emphysema causes the balloon-like Emphysema can make you feel short of breath, pouches at the ends of breathing tubes or unable to breathe deeply. The tricky thing (alveoli) to become enlarged, like a balloon about emphysema is you can have it for years that’s been blown up many times. This without seeing the signs of it. The main symptom makes it harder for oxygen to get into the is a gradual shortness of breath. Over time, this bloodstream and causes the stale air to be condition becomes noticeable and starts to get in trapped in the enlarged pouches. the way of everyday tasks and activities. Shortness of breath even while resting is common. 8 C.O.P.D.: Your Disease, One Breath at a Time EMPHYSEMA Continued What causes it What can happen with it Emphysema is most often caused by long- The cold, hard reality of emphysema is that if term exposure to airborne irritants, such as: you have it, you’re more likely to develop life- Tobacco smoke Industrial fumes threatening complications, such as: Collapsed Holes in Heart Marijuana smoke Coal and silica dust lung the lungs problems Air pollution What TREATs it What increases your risk THE BAD NEWS: Emphysema can’t be cured. Smoking THE GOOD NEWS: There are treatments that Cigarette, cigar and pipe smoking are the most can help ease the symptoms and slow the progress likely sources of emphysema. The number of of emphysema. These treatments include… years and amount of tobacco smoked raise the risk for all types of smokers. Medications Age Stop smoking drugs Inhaled steroids The damage to the lungs caused by emphysema Bronchodilators Antibiotics develops gradually. Most people with tobacco- Therapy related emphysema don’t start to feel the Breathing rehab Oxygen symptoms until between the ages of 40 and 60. Exposure to secondhand smoke Surgery Secondhand smoke is smoke inhaled from Lung reduction: removing small parts someone else’s cigarette, pipe or cigar. Just of the damaged lung being around secondhand smoke raises the Lung transplant: removing the damaged risk of emphysema.
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