COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) makes it hard for you to breathe. Coughing up mucus is often the first sign of COPD. Chronic bronchitis and emphysema are common COPDs. In COPD, your airways and air sacs lose their shape and become floppy, like a stretched-out rubber band.Cigarette smoking is the most common cause of COPD. Breathing in other kinds of irritants, like pollution, dust or chemicals, may also cause or contribute to COPD. Quitting smoking is the best way to avoid developing COPD. Treatment can make you more comfortable, but there is no cure. With chronic bronchitis the lining of the breathing tubes become swollen and produces a lot of mucus that gets coughed up. With emphysema the walls of the air sacs in the lung are broken down and the air spaces get larger and air gets trapped. Some people have both chronic bronchitis and emphysema, so we now prefer to call the disease COPD. A small number of people have a rare form of COPD called alpha-1 (AAT) related emphysema. This form of COPD is caused by an inherited lack of a protective protein in the blood.Signs and symptoms of COPD include Constant coughing, sometimes called "smoker's cough",shortness of breath while doing everyday activities,producing a lot of sputum (also called phlegm or mucus),feeling like you can't breathe or take a deep breath & wheezing.Quitting smoking,taking your medicine, oxygen therapy, pulmonary rehabilitation & surgery are some of the ways to treat COPD.