COPD Lung Disease: Causes, Symptoms, Examination, and Prevention – Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung inflammatory disease that develops over a long period of time. This disease prevents the flow of air from the lungs due to obstructed swelling and mucous or phlegm, so the sufferer is difficult to breathe.
CCOPD is a lung disease that causes the sufferer to breathe difficult. The disease occurs due to complications of two diseases caused by cigarettes: chronic bronchitis and emphysema. In time, this disease can cause short breathing and heart problems.
Some can only have one of them, while the other has both. Two types of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are occurring, namely:
- Chronic bronchitis. Bronchitis is an inflammation of the wall of the bronchi duct (throat branch). The disease causes the wall on the bronchial tract in the lungs to be red, swollen, and filled with mucus. It is this mucus that then clogs the airway and makes breathing harder.
- Emphysema. Emphysema gradually damages the air bags (alveolus) in the lungs, making you more breathless. The damage to the airbags will make the amount of alveoli in your lungs less. Consequently, oxygen will be difficult to enter and carbon dioxide is also hard to come out. This condition is also the cause of breathing more difficult.
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People with the disease have the risk of heart disease and lung cancer.
COPD is not curable, but drugs and lifestyle changes can reduce the risk of occurring. It is best to quit smo**king.
Your health history will also help diagnose COPD.
What causes COPD lung disease?
There are several risk factors that increase the chances of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Air pollution, including biomass fuel used for cooking, or pollutants in the workplace, such as dust and chemicals, can also cause the worsening of the disease.
- Smo**king is a major risk factor in the majority of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease cases. It causes damage and inflammation of the lung airway lining.
- Those with less certain proteins (alpha-1 antitrypsin), which play a role to protect the lungs, have a greater risk of developing emphysema.
- Those suffering from regular respiratory infections during childhood, are more likely to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
COPD lung disease symptoms
In the early stages, COPD rarely showed special symptoms or signs. Symptoms of this disease arise only when there is significant damage to the lungs, generally within years.
There are a number of symptoms of COPD that can occur and should be wary of:
- Cough with phlegm that does not heal with the color of mucus, phlegm slightly yellow or green.
- Breathing is often of wheezing, especially while performing physical activity.
- Wheezing or breathing and sounding.
- Limp.
- Weight loss.
- Chest pain.
- Legs, ankles, or limbs become swollen.
- The lips or fingernails are blue.
When should I undergo a physical examination for COPD?
Health history can help your doctor in diagnosing the disease. Usually doctors will conduct regular periodic checks.
What should I know before undergoing a physical examination for COPD?
Heart disease can be associated with COPD and its symptoms. A very important thing to remember is that smo**king can result in a risk of heart disease or COPD. Cardiac examination can detect heart rate and heart failure.
The size of the liver can be enlarged, sometimes due to the right heart failure (cos Pulmonale).
Cardiac examination results usually vary. Not everyone is at risk of suffering from COPD symptoms.
Prevention
Most cases of COPD could potentially be prevented through decreased exposure to smoke and improved air quality. Annual flu vaccinations in those suffering from COPD lower the severity, length of hospitalization and death. Pneumococcal vaccine can also be beneficial.
Thank you very much for reading COPD Lung Disease: Causes, Symptoms, Examination, and Prevention, hopefully useful.
