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Causes of Emphysema
COPD isn’t a pretty picture. Emphysema, one common form of COPD, develops over many years of smoking-related damage to lung tissues. The walls between the tiniest air sacs within the lungs break down.Elasticity of the lung tissue is lost, and the lungs become distended, so they can’t expand and contract normally. As emphysema progresses, the effort needed to breathe increases and, ultimately, each breath becomes a chore.
Because the lungs and the heart have to work harder to get sufficient oxygen into the bloodstream, continuous administration of oxygen is required. Meanwhile, the patient grows progressively weaker due to shortness of breath, until even minor physical activity is not possible.
What does this feel like? If you have ever been at the top of a very high mountain, where the air is thin, you know the sensation. Even climbing a few steps or picking up a bundle causes alarming huffing, puffing, and physical exhaustion. Victims of emphysema live with this problem every minute of the day.
Bronchitis
Have you every heard of the term “Smoker’s cough”? Well, it’s that heavy chest cough so common in long-term tobacco users – which is also a warning sign of chronic bronchitis, another form of COPD. The bronchi are the main air passages of the lungs. Inflammation of the mucous membrane that lines the bronchi is called bronchitis. It’s generally caused by a virus infection. The major symptoms are a deep cough that brings up heavy phlegm from your lungs, wheezing, breathlessness, and fever.
People who have a healthy heart and healthy lungs generally recover from bronchitis in just a few days. But in smokers, the bronchial inflammation persists and worsens, causing narrowing and obstruction of the tiny bronchioles that branch off the bronchi.
Morning cough that brings up heavy phlegm is the first symptom of this chronic bronchitis. Smokers often think this is just their “normal” smoker’s cough, but the amount of phlegm increases and soon coughing occurs throughout the day. A daily productive cough is not normal!
In the later stages, breathlessness and wheezing become so bad that medication and supplementary oxygen are needed to sustain breathing. Susceptibility to bronchial infections increases and can eventually lead to pneumonia, emphysema, and even death. What’s the most effective treatment? You guessed it: quitting smoking.
People who have a healthy heart and healthy lungs generally recover from bronchitis in just a few days. But in smokers, the bronchial inflammation persists and worsens, causing narrowing and obstruction of the tiny bronchioles that branch off the bronchi.
Morning cough that brings up heavy phlegm is the first symptom of this chronic bronchitis. Smokers often think this is just their “normal” smoker’s cough, but the amount of phlegm increases and soon coughing occurs throughout the day. A daily productive cough is not normal!
In the later stages, breathlessness and wheezing become so bad that medication and supplementary oxygen are needed to sustain breathing. Susceptibility to bronchial infections increases and can eventually lead to pneumonia, emphysema, and even death. What’s the most effective treatment? You guessed it: quitting smoking.
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