The blog has begun again. Today I would like to talk about Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). COPD is the most common chronic respiratory disease among seniors. It’s a disease that causes the airways in the lungs to become blocked, making breathing difficult. COPD includes symptoms of emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Emphysema is diagnosed by the destruction of the walls between the air sacs leading to a few enlargened air sacs instead of many tiny ones. Chronic bronchitis causes inflammation and thickening of lung air sacs, which causes an increase in the number and size of mucus producing cells. This leads to excessive mucus production and difficulty breathing. If you have been diagnosed with COPD you can make some lifestyle changes that can help with your condition like quitting smoking, reducing exposure to lung irritants and eating several small nutrient rich meals instead of large meals that leave you feeling full.
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Severe COPD entails an inflammation of the lungs caused by an enzyme called phosphodiesterase 4. Treatments of COPD are targeted to inhibit this enzyme. The best available on the marked is Daxas which is a new oral therapy which should be taken once a day by patients. This treatment reduces the risk of exacerbations and improves the patient’s general lung function. The inhibitor and active ingredient of Daxas is called roflumilast. This inhibitor reduces the inflammation of the lungs like no other available COPD drug is capable of, benefitting patients with severe COPD greatly. Research has shown that lung function improves within 4-8 weeks after starting the Daxas treatment with the benefits sustaining for a 12 month period. Therefore, patients should be patient as the drug does not give immediate relief. One of the very unfortunate elements about this disease is the fact that it is not curable; however, it is preventable. It affects mostly people above 40 years of age. The incidents of people being diagnosed with COPD continue to rise despite a general decline in smoking. However, the disease is still rather under-diagnosed and many people are unaware that they have it despite its life threatening nature. They may interpret the symptoms as symptoms of getting older such as coughing and breathlessness when in fact they are not.
When it comes to this kind of disease in seniors. It is very hard for them. But they should find a way on it. Thanks for sharing this blog. Home Care