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The following was written by me and published at healthcentral.com/copd on January 4, 2016 COPD Resolutions You Should Keep A New Year's Resolution can be a powerful aide to helping you live well with COPD. Here are some we think would be perfect for you to choose from.   1.   Learn about your disease .  Both COPD and Asthma are complex diseases that researchers are learning more and more about every day. It's a good idea purchase a book so you can become a pseudo expert on your disease. Or, at the very least, continue to hang out at sites like this, as we do our best to keep you updated with the latest wisdom. This is also important because there are a lot of new  respiratory medicines  in the pipeline, and you'll want to be aware of them when they come out. Who knows, the next discovery might lead to a cure for our disease.   2.   Walk more frequently .  I recently wrote a post about titled, " 9 Ways Exercise Improves Asthma Control ."...

The following was written by me and published at healthcentral.com/copd on December 18, 2015. 8 Christmas COPD Triggers In order to get the most out of the Christmas season, those of us with lung disorders have to be wary of Christmas asthma triggers. Here are those seven triggers along with some tips to help you get around them.    1. Real Christmas Trees .  Christmas trees are a common decoration in homes during the Christmas season.  But they may also be filled with unseen substances that can get into the air, such as dust mites, pollen and mold spores.  When you carry them into your home, and shake them, these allergens end up in the air of your home for you to inhale, possibly causing flare-ups. While some experts recommend avoiding them altogether, others suggest that rinsing them off with water, and letting them air dry, prior to bringing them into your home should remove most of these allergens. It may be best, however, to delegate this job to someone el...

Originally published at healthcentral.com/copd Research  published in January, 2014 , suggests an inverse relationship with Gross National Income (GNI) and the incidence of COPD. Data from 170 countries showed the incidence of COPD was highest in areas where the GNI was below $15,000. The data seems to confirm a suspected link between COPD and poverty. This information noted, we thought we'd list 10 possible reasons why those in poverty may be at an increased risk for developing COPD, or at an increased risk for having COPD flare-ups.  1.   Tobacco smoke .   CNN reported in 2014  that as smoking rates have declined in more affluent areas, they have stayed relatively unchanged in poor and working class areas.  The report quotes a study showing cigarette companies advertise cheaper cigarettes in such areas. Being that studies overwhelmingly show that cigarette smoking is responsible for about 80 percent of COPD cases, it only makes sense the impoverished woul...

The following was originally published at healthcentral.com/asthma.  Wood fires have been used for heating and cooking for most of history. Even today they continue to be used, sometimes for fun and entertainment, although often as a much needed source of heating and cooking. The problem, though, lies in the smoke created, which has now been linked to asthma and COPD. What is wood smoke?   Well, most poeple know what wood smoke is.  Still, t he technical name for wood smoke is biomass smoke.  Biomass is fuel created from living or recently living organisms, such as trees, plants, animal dung, charcoal and coal. Biomass smoke comes from wood stoves, fireplaces, campfires, wildfires, and leaf burning.  It also comes from cigarettes and cigars. Biomass contains carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Biomass burning, called combustion, results in a series of chemical reactions that turn carbon, hydrogen and oxygen into carbon dioxide, water and heat. However, due to incomplet...

Originally published at healthcentral.com/copd Researchers are working overtime to learn what causes COPD. The Fetal Origins Hypothesis suggests it all begins in the uterus as the fetus adjusts to its environment. Such adjustments may predispose the fetus to chronic diseases like asthma and COPD later in life.   During the 1950s and 1960s, physicians thought the placenta was a natural barrier that protected unborn babies from the mother’s environment; that it protected the fetus from anything bad ingested or inhaled; that it only allowed good substances, such as essential nutrients, to get to the fetus. It was based on this old theory that caused physicians, or at least many of them, to remain indifferent to a mother’s nutritional status.  If anything, it was prefered they didn’t gain too much weight. Physicians also remained unconcerned about mothers having a few drinks or inhaling cigarette smoke. In fact, during the 1960s, about half of expectant mothers reported smoking ci...

The following was originally published at healthcentral.com/copd.  Studies suggest that about 95% of people who develop COPD are current or former cigarette smokers. Stil l, evidence suggests that smoking is not the only risk factor, and that people who have never smoked may still develop COPD. Here are ten risk factors for developing COPD. 1   Smoking Cigarettes .   It’s not so much the nicotine, but the 5,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke that cause all the harmful effects of smoking, including the destruction of lung tissue and the loss of lung function. In fact, studies show smoking is harmful to the smoker and anyone else who happens to inhale it -- including children, and even fetuses. 2    Genetics .  I previously discussed the  impact of genetics on COPD .  The general idea is that repeated exposure to certain substances in the air, such as chemicals in cigarette smoke, may cause airway changes that result in COPD. Certain genes may a...

The following post was written by me and published at healthcentral.com/copd on November 4, 2015 Have COPD? Here's 6 Things To Keep Handy Having a chronic disease like COPD means being prepared for that inevitable flare-up. This requires having easy access to all the tools needed to help you breathe better. Here are six things to keep handy at all times. 1.   Controller Medicines .  These are all the medications meant to keep you breathing well.  They usually include a combination of inhalers and nebulizer medications. They should be kept in a location that is easy for you to access, such as your medicine cabinet, or even your bedside or kitchen table. You must make sure you take these every day exactly as prescribed.  Not only are these meant to prevent flare-ups, they may also make inevitable flare-ups less severe and easier to control.   2.   Oxygen equipment .  If you have oxygen at home, and you wear it all the time, you probably don’t have to wor...

The following was written by me and published at healthcentral.com/copd on January 25, 2016 Lungs 101: Learning Basic Lung Sounds I have been listening to lung sounds for 20 years now, and every so often someone wants to know what I heard and what it means. That said, here is a pithy lesson on the five basic lung sounds and what they mean.  First, however, a few definitions.  Auscultation : The process of listening to lung sounds.  It can be done ear to chest, although most health professionals prefer to use a stethoscope.  Stethoscope : It's a medical device used to auscultate (hear) lung and heart sounds. Listening to lung sounds is an important part of assessing a patient. Based on what is heard can help a caregiver both diagnose and treat patients, and determine the progression of lung diseases over time.  There are basically only five lung sounds.  You'd think that would make listening to them easy, but that's not always the case considering every pati...

The following was written by me and published at healthcentral.com/copd on January 11, 2016 Would Pulmonary Rehabilitation Benefit You  Pulmonary rehabilitation is a top-line recommendation for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and this seems to be true whether you have mild, moderate, or severe COPD. So what is pulmonary rehabilitation, and how might it help you? It generally involves three elements: 1.   Exercise training .  Health experts show you what exercises are best for people with COPD, and the safest ways of doing them. Most programs meet once or twice a week for about 8 weeks. You may also be able to make arrangements to continue participating even after programs end.  2.   Education . You will learn about your disease and the  medicines  used to treat it. You will learn how to properly use inhalers and nebulizers.  You will learn coughing techniques to help you remove secretions. You will learn how to conserve...

The following was written by me and published at healthcentral.com on October 6, 2015. 9 Ways to Live Longer with End Stage COPD End Stage COPD , also known as Severe COPD or Stage IV COPD, severely limits your airflow, making it hard to perform any basic activities. At this stage you may have also developed Cor Pulmonale or Congestive Heart Failure. While your quality of life may be limited, this is not a death sentence—there are still ways to live in the "end stage." You may, however, have to alter your life to adjust, starting with... Quit Smoking . Studies show that quitting smoking,  even in the late stages of the disease , is the most effective way of prolonging life. This is why your doctor will encourage smoking cessation  even in the later stages of disease  -- if you haven’t quit already.   COPD Action Plans . These are agreements you create with your doctor to help you decide what actions to take when you feel symptoms.  Read my post “ What Is A COPD ...

The following post was written by me and published at healthcentral.com/copd on September 29, 2015. What is End Stage COPD? So you, or a loved one, have been diagnosed with End Stage COPD.  What is this, and what does it mean for you or your loved one? First off, it must be understood that there is no generally accepted clinical definition to End Stage COPD. What it means for one physician may not mean the same thing for another.  In fact, The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease ( GOLD ) defines "severe COPD," but it does not even mention the phrase “End Stage COPD.” That said, here is what End Stage COPD  might  entail, if this term is used by your doctor. Stage IV COPD or Severe COPD . What is it? Severe airflow limitation, meaning it’s very hard to blow out a candle FEV1 during pulmonary function testing ( PFT ) will be 30 percent or less. Unlike asthma, this does not improve with medicine. However, medicine can help you take a deeper breath and...