COPD or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease – symptoms, treatment, risk factors

COPD, or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, is a disease that ranks 4th among the causes of death. The importance of COPD will increase due to increasing exposure to factors that increase the risk of developing the disease and as the population ages.

If you are a smoker or if you are frequently exposed to irritants such as tobacco smoke, air pollution and fumes in the workplace, you are at increased risk of developing COPD. COPD develops in the lungs when the inflammatory processes in the airways, caused by irritating effects such as tobacco smoke, persist, causing bronchial fibrosis and constriction, destruction of the alveoli and swelling of the mucosa.

The first symptom that appears in COPD patients is persistent, long-lasting cough. In the morning hours, the cough becomes more intense than during the rest of the day. This is the result of a natural reaction of the respiratory tract, which cleans itself by getting rid of residual irritants, such as smoke or mucus residues. While violent and intermittent coughing is perfectly normal, a prolonged cough indicates that your lungs are not working properly and should be a warning sign that something is wrong.

The coughing goes hand in hand with another early symptom of COPD: producing large amounts of mucus or sputum. In a healthy person, the lungs produce small amounts of mucus to keep the airways properly moisturized. When the lungs are constantly irritated, they begin to produce much more mucus. The irritants are dissolved in the mucus and the excess must be expelled to the outside. Hence, in people with COPD, an additional symptom is expulsion of phlegm.

Coughing and increased mucus production are mild symptoms of COPD. Another symptom that is classified as moderate is the feeling of breathlessness. You feel short of breath when your lungs have to do more work to pump air in and out. First, dyspnea appears with increased physical exertion, but in the later stages of the disease, the feeling of dyspnea appears more often, even when the patient is at rest.

Another moderate symptom of COPD is wheezing. As you breathe in, you hear a high-pitched, continuous sound with a musical sound that is produced in the chest as you inhale. Additionally, wheezing may be accompanied by a feeling of tightness. Wheezing is caused by air flowing through the airways that are narrowed and blocked by mucus. Wheezing can also mean that your lungs have developed an infection.

Fatigue and a lack of energy is another common symptom that people with COPD complain about. Loss of energy and decreased endurance are often accompanied by other symptoms, such as loss of breath and wheezing. These symptoms are not dangerous and may be due to a variety of conditions, not necessarily COPD, so it is worth examining the real source of the problem with your doctor.

The symptoms of COPD get worse and worse over time. Increasingly frequent exacerbations and intensification of symptoms, such as shortness of breath and wheezing, indicate that the disease is worsening, i.e. the degree of lung damage is increasing. Other symptoms of advanced COPD are cyanosis, a bluish discoloration of the skin and mucous membranes due to the increased amount of hemoglobin in the blood and the so-called pulmonary heart, or right ventricular hypertrophy. In this case, it is necessary to contact a doctor and treatment. If left untreated, acute and severe symptoms can be fatal.

Prevention in COPD is based on the elimination of harmful and irritating factors. First of all, you should give up smoking and definitely limit your stay in smoky, dusty or dusty rooms. Patients with COPD should take care of the upper respiratory tract and prevent infections, e.g. they should dress appropriately for the weather. In addition, smokers and people working in dusty rooms are recommended to moisturize and clean the respiratory tract, using, for example, nebulization with a saline solution.

Treatment of COPD is symptomatic treatment only. The first and most important factor that will improve the patient’s condition is the elimination of irritants from life – most often quitting smoking. Physical exercise is also recommended and should be adapted to the severity of the disease. Pharmacological treatment in COPD patients consists of oral or inhaled (through the use of an inhaler) administration of bronchodilators, which belong to three groups: beta2-agonists, cholinolytics and theophylline. In exacerbations of the disease caused by bacterial infections, antibiotics and mucolytic drugs are used to support the work of cilia and thin the secretions. In people with severe disease, inhaled corticosteroids are recommended to reduce the frequency of exacerbations. In the most severe periods of the disease, due to the significant reduction in blood oxygenation, oxygen treatment is used.