Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) - Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

Lungs are responsible for breathing, which is a primary requirement for human beings to survive. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory condition obstructing airflow from the lungs. It includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema, both long-term lung diseases that can affect your ability to breathe effortlessly.

Are you suffering from COPD  or taking care of a COPD patient? Read through this piece to get a clearer idea about its symptoms, treatment and prevention.

COPD is a group of lung diseases that make it harder for you to breathe over time. The airways in your lungs are usually stretchy, allowing you to bring air when you breathe. However, COPD makes these air sacs less elastic and hardly lets air fill your lungs.

Moreover, it destroys the walls of the air sacks, making them thicker and inflamed. Thus, if you are wondering about the meaning of COPD, it mainly deals with a severe lung disorder. The condition is treatable but can get serious if left untreated.

The definition of COPD describes it as a group of diseases, making it an umbrella term. The following types of COPD are commonly seen among patients.

Emphysema

When the air sacs (alveoli) get destroyed, particularly damaging the walls inside them, causing them to merge into one giant air sac. It happens when you develop emphysema. As the lungs fail to absorb sufficient oxygen, you are left with lesser oxygen in your blood. The air starts getting trapped in your lungs as they fail to stretch out, ultimately making you suffer from shortness of breath.

Chronic Bronchitis

This disease comes with the issues of coughing, shortness of breath, and excess mucus for about almost two years. The hair-like fibres called cilia surround your bronchial tubes start falling and disappearing. This makes it difficult to move your mucus, as your cough creates more of it.

The symptoms of COPD often take a long time to start showing. You do not find the signs until your lungs are significantly damaged in most cases. 

• Wheezing
• Chronic cough producing mucus
• Shortness of breath
• Respiratory infections
• Lack of energy
• Swollen feet and ankles
• Unintentional weight loss
• Chest tightness
• Frequent cold or flu
• Blue fingernails

If you observe the above symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, you should immediately consult a doctor and diagnose the disease early. People suffering from COPD often face exacerbations, whereby their symptoms start getting worse and persist for a long time.

Now that you know what COPD is, you must be curious to know the reasons causing it. One of the leading causes of COPD includes tobacco consumption. Anything that irritates your lungs and causes damage to them can cause this disease. In this regard, people addicted to smoking cigarettes, pipes and other forms of tobacco are mainly at risk. Moreover, even if you are not a smoker, you can catch this disease by hanging around chain smokers.

Furthermore, people having asthma are at higher risks of developing this disease. Apart from that, if you are exposed to dust or air pollution around your home or workplace, you might develop this condition. It can occur because of exposure to certain chemicals.

Now that you know the definition of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, you can check out the significant complications of this condition, as discussed below. 

• Respiratory infections: People suffering from COPD are more likely to develop frequent respiratory infections. It is mainly because one of the significant symptoms of this condition includes frequent cold and flu, which can easily cause such infections, damaging your lung tissues.
• Lung cancer: As COPD patients end up with damaged lungs, their chances of developing subsequent lung cancer naturally increase.
• Heart diseases: Previous cases of COPD have shown that the patients have higher chances of developing heart diseases. The reasons are, however, unknown.
• Blood pressure: COPD can increase the blood pressure in the lung arteries. As a result, blood might reach your lungs, causing pulmonary hypertension.
• Depression: If you face constant difficulty breathing, you will naturally have to stay away from activities you enjoy. It might lead to depression.

After observing the symptoms and visiting your physician, you will have to describe your problems and medical history. Moreover, the doctors might ask about your smoking habits and whether you are exposed to chemicals, dust, or smoke at work. Finally, they might suggest the following tests for diagnosing COPD.

• Physical examination to test your cough and breathing issues.
• Spirometry test, where you will have to breathe through a tube connected to the spirometer to measure how much air your lungs can hold
• Chest X-rays to rule out the possibilities of emphysema or heart failure
• CT scan to analyse if you need surgery or if you have lung cancer
• Arterial blood gas test to measure if your lungs are taking in oxygen and taking out carbon dioxide sufficiently
• Laboratory tests to rule out other conditions such as genetic disorder alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency

The treatment of COPD primarily aims at controlling the symptoms and slowing the growth of the disease. In this regard, doctors might suggest the following treatment procedures.

Medication

Doctors may suggest various forms of medicines for treating this condition. For instance, drugs like Bronchodilators and Corticosteroids help open your airways and reduce inflammation. Moreover, you can take antibiotics for treating bacterial infections. Drugs such as Roflumilast help in stopping enzymes from attacking your body.

Surgery

The severe cases of this disease might require surgeries as a treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Bullectomy is a standard surgical method used here, which helps remove large air sacs called bullae that might cause a collapse of the air sacs. On the other hand, lung volume reduction surgery helps to remove the damaged lung tissues. Finally, the most severe cases are treated with a lung transplant. Here, a donor enables you to replace your damaged lungs with healthy ones.

Pulmonary Rehabilitation

People with chronic breathing troubles can take help from this type of treatment. It mainly focuses on exercises and physical activities for helping patients to improve their health. It also includes disease management training and nutritional counselling for handling the diets and medical developments of the patients. Furthermore, it also has psychological counselling to manage the depression and mental health of the patients.

Oxygen Therapy

People having severe COPD and dealing with low oxygen levels in their bodies can take help from oxygen therapy. Such therapy can help you breathe better with improved respiratory controls. However, you might require extra oxygen for the overall improvement of your health conditions.

Now that you have a fair understanding of what chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is, you should prevent it from affecting you. For this, you can undertake the following activities. 

• Stop smoking or try to reduce your addiction.
• Avoid smoke, dust or air pollution in your surroundings.
• Take your medicines regularly.
• Get yourself checked up regularly.
• Incorporate a healthy diet.
• Take regular walks and exercise.
• Drink lots of water.
• Get counselling and psychological support. 

Thus, as you can see, COPD is a severe disorder affecting your lungs and respiration. You might require a lung transplant in extreme conditions, as this condition can seriously damage your lungs and prevent them from functioning correctly. To avoid it, you should stay away from smoke, air pollution and dust as much as possible.