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Print chronic bronchitis and emphysema general long-term lung diseases that cause shortness of breath. Each condition can occur alone, but many people have a mixture of two problems. The term "chronic obstructive airways disease" (Coad) or "chronic obstructive pulmonary disease" (COPD) is often used to refer to these conditions. "Chronic" has nothing to do with gravity, but simply means that the problem for a long time. In Australia, chronic bronchitis and emphysema commonly occur in people who have smoked or continue to smoke cigarettes. Once you stop smoking, you gradually reduce your chances of getting these diseases. A small percentage of cases of emphysema caused by problems inherited alpha-1-antitrypsin. This condition is aggravated by smoking cigarettes. To understand what happens in the airways and lungs of people with chronic bronchitis and emphysema, it is useful to know how healthy lungs work. How easy job? Every time you breathe, air is drawn through the nose and mouth, the windpipe or trachea. Trachea is a tube about 10-12 centimeters long in adults and splits into two smaller tubes that go to the left and right lungs. Each of these tubes called bronchi. They are divided into increasingly small airways, and together they are called bronchi. The air passes through the bronchi in each lung, dividing another 15-25 times at increasingly smaller airways called bronchioles. The smallest airways end in tiny air sacs called alveoli. This is where oxygen is absorbed from the air in tiny blood vessels called capillaries that Criss Cross walls of the alveoli. Once it enters the bloodstream, oxygen is carried throughout the body, and at the same time waste products, called carbon dioxide, comes from the back of the capillaries in the alveoli ready to exhaled. If you could look into your lungs, you will see a mass of fine tubes and air pockets, all looking as well as a giant sponge. What happens in emphysema? In emphysema, alveoli in the lungs or airsacs gradually destroyed so people have difficulty absorbing enough oxygen. Bronchi become floppy and narrow so that it becomes more difficult to inhale and exhale. These days, the most common cause of emphysema is cigarette smoking. Industrial pollutants can also cause emphysema. What is chronic bronchitis? Bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchi. As a result of mucus, which is usually made in the airways to keep them moist, made in excessive amounts. This leads to cough and sputum production. Bronchi can become narrow and floppy (making them smaller) and therefore more difficult for air to get in and out of lungs. Shortness of breath results. Most adults attack "acute" or short-term bronchitis at some point in their lives, lasts a week or two, not more. In chronic bronchitis, however, people produce a lot of mucus, sometimes referred to as mucus, and they are coughing and breathing for a few months or even years. How do people feel? In mild forms of these diseases, breathlessness may occur walking up the hill or stairs, but in severe cases, breathlessness can occur slowly on a flat surface. Normally daily activities become more difficult as the disease becomes worse. This is not surprising that people with chronic bronchitis and emphysema may become frustrated, anxiety and depression, breathing problems doing worse. People who feel more positively to life is usually better. Adapting to the restrictions on lifestyle as well as help and support of family and friends can do much to reduce anxiety and depression lift. People with chronic bronchitis and emphysema are more prone to chest infections and pneumonia, and sometimes require hospitalization for intensive treatment of their disease. During these episodes, they may have low oxygen levels and develop swollen ankles because of insufficient pumping of the heart. Breathing tests allow the doctor to measure the rate at which air can leave the lungs. Breath test can be used to see how severe your emphysema is. Sometimes the oxygen level in blood is measured or through the skin or the blood itself. Blood tests are sometimes necessary, as the study of sputum in the laboratory may show infection germ for which the best antibiotics may be selected. Chest X-ray may help in the diagnosis of emphysema and chronic bronchitis. This is especially useful for acute infections to detect the presence of pneumonia. Much can be done to improve function and relieve symptoms associated with two conditions, but, unfortunately, failed to reverse the processes that have already occurred. You can improve your shortness of breath and other symptoms and slowing disease progression, giving up smoking. If you stop smoking, it is only through the improvement of cough and phlegm and slow down the rate at which breathlessness will increase. Cough mixtures and expectorants may be helpful, but you should discuss this with your doctor. In some cases, medications can slightly reduce the inflammation in the airways and make them widely, so it's easier to breathe. Drugs that make the airways wider called bronchodilators are generally accepted in the form of inhaler. If you are prescribed an inhaler, make sure you use it correctly, checking your delivery vehicles with the doctor. Sometimes pills are used as bronchodilators. Bronchodilators may also be delivered by electrically driven pump (nebulayzerov) that may be useful in emergency situations, but certainly not required for normal everyday use. Chest infections make chronic bronchitis and emphysema worse, so they should be prescribed antibiotics. Ideally they should be taken at the first signs of infection - usually increase in mucus or change its color. During infection, inflammation in the airways can be treated with corticosteroid or "cortisone" drugs as well. Discuss with your doctor whether to save a small stock of drugs prepared at home. Annual vaccination against influenza in the autumn is also worthwhile. The doctor may also recommend vaccination against the most common germ causing chest infection. This vaccine is called PneumovaxTM. It buy lasix 40 mg is important to keep as active as possible. Your doctor may refer you to a special exercise program called pulmonary rehabilitation. This may help alleviate some of shortness of breath and allow you to be more active. In some patients with emphysema may be suitable for operation on the lungs called "Lung volume reduction surgery." Although it is still an experimental technique may help breathlessness in some patients. You should discuss this with your doctor to make sure that this was a suitable procedure for your situation. What about oxygen? Most attacks of breathlessness in chronic bronchitis and emphysema is best treated with antibiotics, corticosteroids and bronchodilators. Some people, on the other hand, may benefit from oxygen treatment. Those who had low levels of oxygen in the blood between attacks of infection and sometimes get swollen ankles may benefit from a small amount of extra oxygen given for 15 or more hours a day. To determine oxygen can help, you need direction to medical specialist who may order additional breath tests. They will include breathing tests, measurement of oxygen in the blood and possibly a simple test exercises. If the amount of oxygen in the blood is very low, and you quit smoking for ever, a specialist can arrange in oxygen at home. Typically, this is a machine called an oxygen concentrator and oxygen cylinders are sometimes used. The oxygen concentrator is an electrically driven machine that extracts oxygen from the air in your home, and more convenient and cheaper than using oxygen cylinders. You breathe added oxygen at a rate established by the specialist through nasal cannula, or prongs (small soft plastic tubes that meet just inside the nostrils). Wearing nasal prongs for a long time can make the nasal tissue to dry, but it can help a small device called a humidifier which moistens oxygen. Pipe oxygen from the concentrator can be meters, so you can move your home while on your oxygen therapy. Your specialist usually ask you to use oxygen for 15 hours a day, because there are several advantages of using it for less this time. Portable oxygen cylinders are sometimes recommended, if you get too suffocating when walking. These cylinders contain enough oxygen for an hour or so, and can be placed on the packaging or the arm in a small hand pushed trolley to make shopping or traveling easier. Note: This information is intended for Australian Lung Foundation to be used as a guide only and is not an authoritative statement. Please contact your family doctor or specialist respiratory physician if you have any questions related to the information provided here. Site. lungnet. com. AU.