Managing COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – COPD – is an incurable condition but it can be treated to where living with it can be managed.

For the most part, COPD is managed primarily by tobacco smoking cessation. While it may seem relatively easy to say “stop smoking” by quitting smoking you will actually be able to slow down the rate in which COPD affects the body. Avoiding tobacco smoke altogether – as well as other airborne pollutants – will greatly improve your symptoms and quality of life. It is important to make sure that when you are trying to quit smoking that you utilize medicines that will help improve your chances of actually quitting.

Exercise and overall physical health is very important. Physical activity such as walking, jogging, swimming or other aerobic activities that help improve lung capacity can help improve and eradicate the feelings of shortness of breath. Keeping yourself healthy is also paramount as colds such as influenza – or the flu – can have seriously debilitating effects upon the body and make the COPD even worse. Make sure to wash your hands as often as possible or after coughing and avoid people that have colds or have the flu. It may even be worth speaking with your physician about getting a flu and pneumonia shot.

Because pronounced muscle loss, weight loss and weakness – as well as fatigue – are common symptoms of COPD, it is important for the patient to eat a hearty and well-balanced meal that helps the patient’s immune system fight the symptoms of COPD. The patient must also keep themselves aware of certain triggers that may start a COPD flare up, such as smoking, second-hand smoking, air pollution both outside and inside, cold and hot air as well as high-altitudes. Learning how to breath while increasing lung capacity is also important. It is important to find ways to clear the patients lungs, taking large restorative breaths that save energy and conserve oxygen.

Managing COPD Flare Ups

When COPD flare ups occur, it is vitally important to the patient that they are dealt with in a timely fashion, making sure that the symptoms are abated as quickly as possible; the shortness of breath, the chronic coughing up of sputum and tightness in the chest. Since these flare ups are usually life threatening the patient may need to go to an emergency room for treatment.

Medications such as ipratropium and tiotropium are important to take in these situations, as are oral corticosteroids and beta2-agonists. There are also machines that may aid you in breathing more clearly and getting more oxygen into the lungs and blood supply. There are non-invasive face masks that aid with ventilation that can be as simple as a face mask or more invasive forms of treatment such as invasive masks which places a tube through the nasal passages.

Antibiotics and other medicines also help stave off serious effects of lung infection as patients with COPD are continually at risk of developing lung infections such as pneumonia and chronic bronchitis. These infections also raise the rate of COPD flare ups so it is important to make sure that they are abated and the risk of these infections are lessened by use of antibiotics.