Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a general term used to describe progressive lung diseases such as bronchitis and chronic emphysema. Progressive lung disease is a type of disease that gets worse over time. There were more than 3 million COPD deaths worldwide in 2012, accounting for 6% of total global deaths that year. Currently, COPD affects approximately 24 million individuals in the United States, nearly half of whom have COPD symptoms and do not know it. If you follow these simple steps, you can learn about COPD and diagnose your condition.
Step
Method 1 of 3: Recognizing COPD Symptoms
Step 1. Visit your doctor
Even if you don't like this, the best way to treat COPD is to see a doctor before symptoms develop. This is because COPD symptoms often do not appear until significant lung damage has occurred. The best course of treatment is to get medical attention if you are a chronic smoker or a high-risk group.
- COPD symptoms are often ignored because the process is gradual and develops over time. People with COPD also tend to modify their lifestyle, such as reducing activity to minimize and hide shallow breathing, rather than getting their condition checked.
- You should seek medical attention immediately if you are in a high-risk group and are also experiencing symptoms such as a chronic (chronic) cough, shallow breathing, or wheezing (sounds like shortness of breath in people with asthma).
Step 2. Watch out for excessive coughing
Once you know if you are at high risk for COPD, you can start looking for symptoms. Initially these symptoms are mild, but will continue to increase as the disease progresses. Watch for excessive coughing (usually worse in the morning) that has lasted for months or years. The cough may produce a small amount of clear to yellow mucus. COPD triggers increased mucus production.
Smoking habits will paralyze the cilia or small hairs in the airways. This reduces the ability of the cilia to clear mucus (which is produced) after you eat and causes coughing as a mechanism to clear this increased mucus production. This thick and sticky mucus is also difficult to clean the cilia
Step 3. Watch for symptoms of shallow breathing
Another major symptom of COPD is shallow breathing, especially during physical activity. Shallow breathing or difficulty breathing (dyspnea) may be the most significant symptoms of COPD. The reason, cough can be caused by various things, while shallow breathing is a less common symptom. This symptom (shallow breathing) indicates a condition of lack of air or shortness of breath that will worsen as the disease progresses.
You may also begin to notice shallow breathing even when you are at rest or without much activity. For these conditions, supplemental oxygen therapy may be needed as the disease progresses
Step 4. Listen for a wheezing sound
As part of COPD symptoms, you may experience wheezing. Wheezing is a high-pitched sound (such as a high-pitched whistling sound) when you breathe. Wheezing is experienced by some COPD patients, especially during physical activity or when symptoms worsen. These abnormal breath sounds are clearly audible during exhalation (exhalation).
Bronchoconstriction--a narrowing of the diameter or closure of mucus in the airway--produces this characteristic lung sound (wheezing)
Step 5. See the changes in your chest
As COPD gets worse, you may experience barrel chest. Barrel chest can be clearly seen on visual/physical examination of the chest. Barrel chest shows over-pumping of the lungs which causes the ribs to expand to accommodate the excess air and results in a barrel-like deformity of the chest.
You may also experience chest constriction, including any type of pain or discomfort that occurs between the area above your belly button and the bottom of your neck. Although this condition can signal various disorders or diseases, chest tightness accompanied by coughing and wheezing is an indication of COPD
Step 6. Watch for physical changes
There are several physical changes that may be seen as COPD gets worse. You may have cyanosis, which is a bluish discoloration of your lips or fingernail pads. Cyanosis indicates low levels of oxygen in the blood which is called hypoxemia. Hypoxemia can be a late symptom of COPD and usually requires treatment or supplemental oxygen therapy.
You may also experience unplanned weight loss, usually this occurs only in the middle-to-late stage of COPD. As COPD progresses, the body needs more and more energy to breathe. COPD robs the body of important calories that should be used to maintain the body
Method 2 of 3: Diagnosing COPD
Step 1. Perform a lung function test
When you visit your doctor for a diagnosis, the doctor will start with a lung function test. Spirometry -- the most common test of lung function -- is a simple noninvasive (doesn't "injure" the body) test to measure how much air your lungs can hold and how fast you can exhale air from your lungs. Spirometry can detect COPD before symptoms develop in the lungs, this test can be used to track disease progression and can monitor the effectiveness of your treatment.
- Spirometry can be used to classify or measure the extent/grade of COPD. Stage 1 is mild COPD, which is when the value of the rate of change in the volume of air in the lungs during forced expiration in 1 second (FEV1) is >80% of the predicted value. At this stage, the individual may not be aware of abnormal lung function.
- Stage 2, which is moderate COPD, has an FEV1 of 50-79%. This is the level at which most individuals seek medical attention for the symptoms they are experiencing.
- Stage 3, which is severe COPD, has an FEV1 of 30-49%. The final stage, which is stage 4, is very severe COPD and has an FEV1 <30%. At this stage, the patient's quality of life is very weak and the symptoms may be life-threatening.
- This stage classification system has a limit value in predicting death from COPD.
Step 2. Take a chest X-ray
The doctor may also perform a chest X-ray. Examination in severe COPD usually shows abnormal results, but in moderate COPD there may be no change up to 50%. Characteristic (outcome) findings on chest X-ray include hyperventilation of the lungs, flattening of the lung diaphragmatic dome, and narrowing of the pulmonary veins when COPD spreads to the periphery (edge) of the lungs.
A chest X-ray can detect emphysema (damage to the air sacs in the lungs) and can also be used to reveal other lung problems or heart failure
Step 3. Perform a chest CT scan
Another method of diagnosing COPD is a chest CT scan. A CT scan can be useful in detecting emphysema and is also useful in determining if you need surgery for COPD. Doctors also use CT scans as a screening method for lung cancer, although it has not been adopted uniformly in the medical field.
Do not routinely perform a chest CT scan to detect COPD, unless other methods are also used
Step 4. Analyze your arterial blood gases (GDA)
Your doctor may want to analyze your GDA level. GDA analysis is a blood test that is used to measure the level of oxygen in your blood using a blood sample taken from an artery. The results of this test can show your level of COPD and how it affects you.
A GDA analysis can also be used to determine if you need oxygen therapy
Method 3 of 3: Understanding COPD
Step 1. Learn about COPD conditions
COPD has two main conditions, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. There is bronchitis that only lasts a short time, but chronic bronchitis is the main disease that makes up COPD. Chronic bronchitis is known as cough that occurs for at least 3 months of the year for 2 consecutive years. Chronic bronchitis causes inflammation and increased mucus production in the bronchioles (windpipe) or the airways that carry air to the lungs. This process can block the airway and make breathing difficult.
Emphysema, another major disease in COPD, is the widening of the alveoli (air sacs) in the lungs or damage to the walls of these lung sacs. This disease will trigger reduced gas exchange in the lungs, causing the process of breathing becomes difficult
Step 2. Know the cause of COPD
COPD is caused by exposure to or contact with irritating substances / substances that damage the lungs for a long time. Tobacco smoking is the most common cause of COPD. Smoke inhaled from other smokers (passive smokers) and air pollutants can also contribute to the development of COPD.
- Cigar, pipe, and marijuana smokers are also at increased risk of developing COPD.
- Passive smokers are people who inhale secondhand smoke in the air from other people who smoke.
- In rare cases, a genetic condition called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency can trigger COPD, particularly emphysema. Antitrypsin alpha-1 is a protein produced in the liver, a deficiency of this protein can trigger lung damage, especially in the air sacs. Smokers with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency are at increased risk of developing COPD.
Step 3. Understand the environmental hazards
You are at risk of developing COPD if you are exposed to frequent or excessive exposure to dust and chemical fumes and gases. Contact with this work environment for a long time can irritate and injure the lungs. Dust from materials such as wood, cotton, coal, asbestos, silica, talc, cereal grains, coffee, pesticides, medicinal powders or enzymes, metals, and fiberglass can damage the lungs and increase the risk of COPD.
- Smoke from metals and other substances also increases the risk of developing COPD. Jobs related to these conditions include welding, smelting, burning, pottery making, plastic and rubber production.
- Contact with gases such as formaldehyde, ammonia, chlorine, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides can also increase the risk of developing COPD.
