Manage your stress and reduce the feeling of shortness of breath by practicing relaxation techniques and breathing exercises. Taking care of yourself also includes eating a balanced diet, drinking enough water, getting a good night's sleep and keeping to a daily routine.
There is no cure for COPD, but disease management can slow disease progression, relieve symptoms and keep you out of hospital. Treatment aims to prevent further damage, reduce the risk of complications and ease some of the symptoms. Treatment options include pulmonary rehabilitation, medicines and oxygen therapy.
COPD can get worse from an infection (such as a cold or pneumonia), from being around someone who is smoking, or from air pollution. Other health problems, such as congestive heart failure or a blood clot in the lungs, can make COPD worse. Sometimes no cause can be found.
"COPD is a disease with a lot of moving parts," says Albert A. Rizzo, MD, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association. "It's not a death sentence by any means. Many people will live into their 70s, 80s, or 90s with COPD.”
The exact length of time you can live with COPD depends on your age, health, and symptoms. Especially if your COPD is diagnosed early, if you have mild stage COPD, and your disease is well managed and controlled, you may be able to live for 10 or even 20 years after diagnosis.
Practice holding a gentle stretch for 10 to 30 seconds, slowly breathing in and out. Repeat this a few times. Aerobic exercise is good for your heart and lungs and allows you to use oxygen more efficiently. Walking, biking and swimming are great examples of aerobic exercise.
Both breathing exercises and regular cardiovascular exercise like walking are critical to curbing symptoms and slowing the course of emphysema. One of the best ways to get started is to join a pulmonary rehabilitation program, which can help you create an exercise regimen tailored to your COPD, says Dr. Nolledo.
Although COPD is terminal, people may not always die of the condition directly, or of oxygen deprivation. Some people with COPD have other medical conditions, particularly cardiovascular disease. In fact, within 5 years of diagnosis, COPD is also an independent risk factor for sudden cardiac death.
Aerobic exercises include: walking, jogging, jumping rope, bicycling (stationary or outdoor), cross-country skiing, skating, rowing, and low-impact aerobics or water aerobics.
You may often feel tired. You may have a hard time sleeping. You may feel ashamed or blame yourself for having COPD. You may be more isolated from others because it is harder to get out to do things.
1) Daily activities and COPD
Living with breathlessness can affect your daily routines and the way in which you manage the daily tasks that we all need to do; getting dressed, having a shower, shopping, cooking and so on. You may notice there are times when you are more, or less, breathless.
There are four distinct stages of COPD: mild, moderate, severe, and very severe. Your physician will determine your stage based on results from a breathing test called a spirometry, which assesses lung function by measuring how much air you can breathe in and out and how quickly and easily you can exhale.
In the final days, the person with COPD may withdraw, not talking, eating, drinking or moving much. There may be changes in the breathing patterns, such as long pauses between breaths. The skin may become pale and cool.
Stage IV: Very Severe
You doctor may prescribe supplemental oxygen to help with your breathing.
Which has worse symptoms? Because emphysema is a late stage of COPD, the signs and symptoms are similar. If you have emphysema, you are already experiencing COPD symptoms, though earlier stages of COPD will not have as dramatic an impact as the degree of tissue degeneration is minimal.
Some people can live with mild or moderate COPD for decades. Other people may be diagnosed with more advanced COPD and progress to very severe disease much faster. Some of this boils down to genetics. But some of it is due to how much you smoke or smoked and the level of lung irritants you are exposed to.
Many people who suffer from COPD acknowledge that harsh winds and frigid air can result in wheezing and breathlessness, which can be frightening and sometimes dangerous. Cold air can be irritating and drying to the mouth and airway passages, and can trigger or intensify symptoms for those suffering from COPD.
Try infusing your water with fresh fruit, or sip on herbal or green tea (warm or iced). Not That: Some people with COPD may feel symptoms worsen after drinking alcoholic or caffeinated beverages. It's best to limit your consumption of these and stick to water as much as possible.
In recent years, it has become more clear that COPD patients experience the morning as the worst period of the day [10.