Learn to Breathe Easier

Sometimes, being able to take a deep breath can be taken for granted.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – or COPD – is a paired disease that includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Airways become clogged as inflammation causes the paths to constrict, which limits the amount of breath inhaled at any given time causing a shortness of breath in the patient. Because of the chronic nature of both diseases, COPD is a chronic and may get progressively worse over time, specifically if it goes untreated or without medical care.

COPD is a condition that is manifested by breathing or inhaling noxious chemicals such as tobacco smoke or other particles that cause inflammation in the lung and bronchial tubes. As the inflammation spreads chronic bronchitis usually sets in, during which the patient will usually cough up what is known as sputum – discharge from the respiratory tract that usually consists of phlegm, mucus, and saliva. Often times it may contain trace amounts of blood if the patient has a chronic condition such as COPD.

How Does COPD Work?

When it comes to COPD, it effects the way you draw breath through the windpipe and into the bronchial tubes, into the lungs. Because of the COPD, oxygen is restricted and breathing becomes much more difficult, affecting how much air can be stored in the alveoli. Because the air is being restricted to the lungs and the alveoli, the bronchial tubes and air sacs loose much of their elasticity, causing the walls that surround the sacs to deteriorate while the bronchial tubes become thick and swollen which constricts breathing. Because of this the bronchial tubes create an excess of mucus which obstructs the airways, causing breathing problems and often times develops a chronic cough.

COPD is a chronic health condition can be fatal and is the 4th leading cause of death in the United States with more than 12 million diagnosed in 2008 alone. As COPD continues to develop, it often develops other similar infections such as emphysema and chronic obstructive bronchitis. As the COPD develops in the airways, bronchial tubes and lungs everyday activities become demanding, even impossible due to the amount of air that cannot be processed.

What Causes COPD?

COPD is a degenerative disease that is caused by a myriad of lifestyle, environmental, occupational and hereditary factors. Those factors are:

Occupational Hazards: Prolonged exposure to workplace hazards of concentrated types of dusts and chemicals, much like the dust that is found in mines when digging and extracting coal, during gold mining, as well as dust emulsion from working with cotton. Likewise chemicals from cadmium, isocyanates and welding fumes are currently being researched for possible lings to bronchial tube inflammation and obstruction. It should be noted that in these industries, workers that smoke tobacco and are exposed to these chemicals are twice as likely to develop COPD.

Genetic Factors: While there are researchers that consider heavy smoke exposure to be a COPD factor, there are those that believe that this is a genetic factor passed down from parent to child. In fact COPD is much more common in patients that are related to other patients that have COPD. This makes them also more susceptible to tobacco smoke and other pollutants.