COPD:Symptoms, Causes and Natural Remedies
About COPD
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung disease in which the lung is damaged, making it hard to breathe. In COPD, the airways-the tubes that carry air in and out of your lungs-are partly obstructed, making it difficult to get air in and out.
Cigarette smoking is the most common cause of COPD. Most people with COPD are smokers or former smokers. Breathing in other kinds of lung irritants, like pollution, dust, or chemicals over a long period of time may also cause or contribute to COPD.
The airways branch out like an upside-down tree, and at the end of each branch are many small, balloon-like air sacs. In healthy people, each airway is clear and open, the air sacs are small and dainty, and both are elastic and springy. When you breathe in, each air sac fills up with air, like a small balloon, and when you breathe out, the balloon deflates and the air goes out.
In COPD, the airways and air sacs lose their shape and become floppy. Less air gets in and less air goes out because:
- The airways and air sacs lose their elasticity (like an old rubber band)
- The walls between many of the air sacs are destroyed
- The walls of the airways become thick and inflamed (swollen)
- Cells in the airways make more mucus (sputum) than usual, which tends to clog the airways.
COPD develops slowly, and it may be many years before you notice symptoms like feeling short of breath. Most of the time, COPD is diagnosed in middle-aged or older people.
There is no cure for COPD. The damage to your airways and lungs cannot be reversed, but there are things you can do to feel better and slow the damage to your lungs.COPD is not contagious-you cannot catch it from someone else.
Symptoms of COPD
The symptoms of COPD include:
- Cough
- Sputum (mucus) production
- Shortness of breath, especially with exercise
- Wheezing (a whistling or squeaky sound when you breathe)
- Chest tightness.
A cough that doesn't go away and coughing up lots of mucus are common symptoms of COPD. These often occur years before the flow of air in and out of the lungs is reduced. However, not everyone with a cough and sputum production goes on to develop COPD, and not everyone with COPD has a cough.
The severity of the symptoms depends on how much of the lung has been destroyed. If you continue to smoke, the lung destruction is faster than if you stop smoking.
Causes of COPD
Smoking is the most common cause of COPD
Most cases of COPD develop after repeatedly breathing in fumes and other things that irritate and damage the lung and airways. Cigarette smoking is the most common irritant that causes COPD. Pipe, cigar, and other types of tobacco smoking can also cause COPD, especially if the smoke is inhaled. Breathing in other fumes and dusts over a long period of time may also cause COPD.
The lungs and airways are highly sensitive to these irritants. They cause the airways to become inflamed, narrowed, and destroy the elastic fibers that allow the lung to stretch, then come back to its resting shape. This makes breathing air in and out of the lungs more difficult.
Other things that may irritate the lungs and contribute to COPD include:
- Working around certain kinds of chemicals and breathing in the fumes for many years
- Working in a dusty area over many years
- Heavy exposure to air pollution.
Being around secondhand smoke (smoke in the air from other people smoking cigarettes) also plays a role in causing COPD.
Treatment for COPD
Quitting smoking is the single most important thing you can do to reduce your risk of developing COPD and slow the progress of the disease.
Your doctor will recommend treatments that help relieve your symptoms and help you breathe easier. However, COPD cannot be cured.
The goals of COPD treatment are to:
- Relieve your symptoms with no or minimal side effects of treatment
- Slow the progress of the disease
- Improve exercise tolerance (your ability to stay active)
- Prevent and treat complications and sudden onset of problems
- Improve your overall health.
The treatment for COPD is different for each person. Your family doctor may recommend that you see a lung specialist called a pulmonologist (pull-mon-OL-o-gist).
COPD Medications
Bronchodilators
Your doctor may recommend medications called bronchodilators that work by relaxing the muscles around your airways. They help open your airways quickly and make breathing easier. Bronchodilators can be either short-acting or long-acting.
- Short-acting bronchodilators last about 4 to 6 hours and are used only when needed.
- Long-acting bronchodilators last about 12 hours or more and are used every day.
Most bronchodilator medications are inhaled, so they go directly into your lungs where they are needed. There are many kinds of inhalers, and it is important to know how to use your inhaler correctly.
Inhaled Glucocorticosteroids (Steroids)
Inhaled steroids are used for some people with moderate or severe COPD. Inhaled steroids work to reduce airway inflammation. Your doctor may recommend that you try inhaled steroids for 6 weeks to 3 months to see if the medication is helping with your breathing problems.
Flu Shots
The flu (influenza) can cause serious problems in people with COPD. Flu shots can reduce the chance of getting the flu. You should get a flu shot every year.
Pneumococcal Vaccine
This vaccine should be administered to those with COPD to prevent a common cause of pneumonia. Revaccination may be necessary after 5 years in those over 65 years old.
Pulmonary Rehabilitation (Pulmonary Rehab)
Pulmonary rehab is a coordinated program of exercise, disease management training, and counseling that can help you stay more active and carry out your day-to-day activities. What is included in your pulmonary rehab program will depend on what you and your doctor think you need.
It may include exercise training, nutrition advice, education about your disease and how to manage it, and counseling.
Oxygen Treatment
If you have severe COPD and low levels of oxygen in your blood, your doctor may recommend oxygen therapy to help with your shortness of breath.
This means you are not getting enough oxygen on your own. You may need extra oxygen all the time or some of the time. For some people with severe COPD, using extra oxygen for more than 15 hours a day can help them:
- Do tasks or activities with less shortness of breath
- Protect the heart and other organs from damage
- Sleep more during the night and improve alertness during the day
- Live longer.
Natural Remedies for COPD
N-acetyl cysteine(NAC) helps break down mucus. For that reason, inhaled NAC is used in hospitals to treat bronchitis. NAC may also protect lung tissue through its antioxidant activity. Oral NAC, 200 mg taken three times per day, is also effective and improved symptoms in people with bronchitis in double-blind research. Results may take six months.
References for COPD Article
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- Multicenter Study Group. Long-term oral acetylcysteine in chronic bronchitis. A double-blind controlled study. Eur J Respir Dis 1980;61:111:93–108.
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- National Institutes of Health
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