COPD: What, How and Why?

Does the term COPD sound familiar to you? Do you smoke? Are you subjected to passive smoking? Have you ever read about the air quality levels in your metro? No?

Here are eight things  you need to know!

1. So what is COPD? It sounds Greek and Latin to me

COPD in medical terms is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. In simple terms, your airways to your lungs get narrowed. As the airways are obstructed, you get shortness of breath

2. Why is it dangerous?

Due to breathlessness and lack of secretions, the lung tissues will get affected in the long run. There is a 80% chance for COPD patient to be affected by Lung cancer. In fact, COPD is the 6^th leading cause of death in the world and will become the 4^th leading cause of death by 2030. It’s currently the 4^th leading cause of death in US

Pic Courtesy:www.nursingcrib.com

3. What are the main causes for this disease?

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of COPD in the world. More than 80% of the patients in US are cigarette smokers. In India, 5 % of the adults are affected by COPD.  The main causes for this disease in India are smoking and tobacco usage

4. But I don’t smoke; hope I will not get affected by COPD?

There was research conducted in 2007 among slum dwellers in Pune and over 50 % of the non-smokers were affected by COPD. There are other reasons for people getting affected with COPD. It includes air pollution; occupational exposures like mining, construction, welding, passive smoking, wood smoking, and even long exposures to dust may cause COPD. Dr Madhu, Pulmonologist from Frontier Lifeline adds “Most often, there are traces of black spots on every Indian’s lungs, whether smoker or a non-smoker. Much of this is due to poor air quality. Smokers are definitely at a greater risk”

5. What are the symptoms for the disease?

• Long history of smoking
• Consistent cough and excessive sputum production
• Shortness of breath during normal conditions
• Limitation of airflow to the lungs
• Rapid breathing
• Wheezing sounds and enlargement of the chest

Advanced COPD patients may even have direct respiratory failure, which is quite dangerous. But the most common symptom is shortness of breath. Have yourself tested, if you observe the above symptoms

6. So how can we test for COPD?

The most usual test to diagnose COPD is through Spirometry – a test that measures breathing. A few advanced methods like Chest Tomography can also be made for COPD. But a basic Spriometry test will diagnose the presence of COPD

Pic Courtesy: NY Times

7. Our medical methods are advanced. I hope there is some cure for this disease?

The disease is not curable. In terminal stages, lung transplant is the only option. You can either prevent or treat for COPD not cure it. The cost of treating the disease is quite high and spending in India is unknown. So for a country like India, preventing the disease is more important than treating the patients There are more than 250 Million tobacco users in India (according to WHO) and they are prone to COPD more than anybody else. Creating awareness is the need of the hour.

8. How to prevent COPD?

• Creating awareness against smoking and helping people to rehabilitate from smoking addiction
• Creating awareness about air pollution and strict enactment of pollution laws
• Poor people who work in the mines, construction sites etc., are the most prone to such diseases and providing them better living conditions will help in preventing the disease

Today is World COPD Day; share this article with your friend who you think could be prone to this disease. Frontier Lifeline is conducting free Spirometry test and pulmonary consultation for people registering for the same on 17^th Nov 2010. Spread the for those for whom it would be helpful

You can also check our blog posts on Lung Carcinoma and Why you should quit smoking

Quit Smoking

We had a brief chat with working professionals and questioned them on the following aspects: How and when did they start smoking, whether they are aware of the ill- effects of smoking, if they have ever attempted to quit.

Here is a summary of what they had to say.

Some findings from the qualitative study we performed

1. No smoker has ever enjoyed his/her first cigarette
2. The first cigarette is a totally uncool. They usually experience a burning sensation and leaves a bad taste in the mouth
3. Most of them have tried it first in school or college. Often, giving in to peer pressure or just for the fun of trying
4. Most smokers are aware of the deteriorating effect it has on health. However a margin of them are totally oblivious to the ill effects
5. Smoking is either a leisure activity or is committed under pressure
6. Majority of the smokers are aware of the effects of passive smoking and are yet unmindful of non-smokers around them
7. There are some active passive smokers, i.e. Passive smokers who actively sit around active smokers. They actually enjoy the effect the smoke has on them
8. Most of the actives have tried to quit more than 5 times. They have successfully quit for a period of time and then taken back to it again
9. Most of the Indians do not smoke when parents and relatives are around. They largely smoke at their work place.
10. People are more tempted to smoke when colleagues who smoke are around.
11. Friends and colleagues force someone to smoke even if they don’t want to (company)

Are you nodding your head to more than seven points? Do you really want to quit the pleasure you derive in smoking? Go ahead and read the points stated below.

Tips to quit:

1. Be physically and mentally ready to quit: You cannot quit until YOU WANT to.
2. Fix a date to quit
3. Note down triggers that make you feel the urge to smoke
4. Avoid smoking while having coffee and after dinner. Immediately post dinner, brush your teeth with mint based toothpaste. This effectively cuts out the urge to smoke.
5. Ask your colleagues and friends to co-operate
6. Cut down fat in your diet. Fat slows down metabolism and the urge to smoke creeps in
7. Take large amounts of liquid to flush out nicotine from your body
8. Urge to smoke stays only for a while and then passes out, cinnamon sticks should do the trick until the urge remains
9. Deep breathing
10. Take anti-nicotine gum if that helps
11. Read once in a while on the different kind of cancers that are caused due to tobacco. The fear factor will help you quit

Here is one on Lung Carcinoma