Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, more commonly known as COPD, is a disease that makes breathing more difficult as time passes. Symptoms are constant coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and tightness in the chest. Emphysema is another name for this long-term disease that affects about 11 million people in the United States.
What are causes of COPD?
The most common cause of COPD is smoking. In fact, over 80 percent of COPD patients suffer because of their smoking habits. The chemicals in cigarettes ruin the defense system in your lungs and can weaken and narrow the airways causing the symptoms listed before.
Are Non-Smokers Safe from COPD?
Although smoking is the number one cause to this disease, it is not the only one. Non-smokers can suffer, too. It is not as likely, but it is possible and new non-smoking patients are added to the 11 million existing COPD sufferers every day.
What causes COPD if you’re not a smoker?
The environment – The environment is one reason for non-smokers getting COPD. Though these patients are not purposefully inhaling chemicals and toxins, they are breathing in everyday air that holds these things. Air pollution cannot be avoided in today’s world. Chemicals can enter a person’s body without them even knowing it. Over time, this is what can lead to the chest disease.
Genetics – Genetics can also cause non-smokers to have COPD. There is only one genetic deficiency known right now that causes this disease. This inherited deficiency is called Alpha-1 antitrypsin and can lead to lung and liver disease.
Asthma – Asthma that goes untreated for a long time can also be a reason a non-smoker gets diagnosed with COPD. Asthma is a respiratory condition that can weaken the system over time. Without treatment, asthma can lead to other internal issues, such as COPD. Effects of asthma are very similar to the symptoms of COPD and should be watched carefully.
If a person is experiencing any breathing problems that are out of the ordinary and seem like the symptoms of COPD or an obvious decrease in lung health, they should consult a pulmonologist no matter their smoking history. COPD is serious and has led to many deaths. The sooner the diagnosis, the sooner treatments can be started.
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The lungs are a vital part of the body, and maintaining lung health is one of the most important ways to take care of your body. Taking care of your lungs is easy and simple; there are a number of ways to improve your lung functioning in your everyday life. But first, let’s take a look at what the lungs are and what they do.
What do lungs do?
Your lungs are essential respiratory organs. They are located on either side of the heart near your backbone. The primary function of the lungs is to absorb oxygen from the air you breathe and transport it into your bloodstream. They also transport carbon dioxide from your blood and release it into the atmosphere through exhalation. In just one day the average person breathes 25,000 times, so the lungs are always working at their vitally important job. Having healthy lungs is absolutely key to being in good health.
How can I improve my lung functioning?
1. Quit Smoking: At this point, it is common knowledge that smoking is harmful to your body and especially your lungs. Keeping in mind how vital your lungs are for maintaining good health, smoking seems especially dangerous. And it isn’t just cancer, smoking can also narrow your air passageways, therefore, decreasing the air that you can breathe in and limiting oxygen flow to your blood. This can also make it difficult or uncomfortable to breathe. It can be extremely difficult to stop smoking, but your lungs will thank you for it.
2. Aerobic Exercise: Dr. Catherine Phillips MD says that, “aerobic exercise increases your lung volume and aerobic capacity.” Aerobic exercise is often referred to as “cardio,” and it is defined as exercise that requires pumping of oxygenated blood by the heart to working muscles over a sustained period of time. Aerobic exercise raises your heart rate to a certain level and then the heart rate stays near there for the duration of the exercise. Examples of aerobic exercise are running, swimming, cycling, rowing, etc. Anaerobic exercises are characterized by short bursts of intensity such as power lifting and short sprints.
3. Concentrated Deep Breathing: Three to five minutes of concentrated deep breathing done once or multiple times throughout the day can drastically improve lung function. Just inhale for six seconds and exhale for eight. This simple exercise can increase the oxygen in your blood, decreases the heart rate, and helps both your pulmonary and cardiovascular systems.
4. Improve Indoor Air: If the air in your home is dirty or contains chemicals or mold, then your lungs might be hurting for some clean oxygen. Oxygen is essential to lung functioning, and adding an air purifier or a few houseplants to your living space can clean up the air and allow you to breathe easier. Not only do plants turn carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into breathable oxygen, they also filter out some harmful organic compounds such as formaldehyde and benzene. Simple houseplants are like all-natural air filters, not to mention they are great decorations for any room!
Regular Pulmonologist Appointments
Maintaining regular health care is key to happy and healthy lungs. The experts at Pulmonary Associates of Brandon are equipped to diagnose and treat a variety of pulmonary diseases and conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, acute and chronic respiratory failure, lung cancer, pulmonary hypertension, lung infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and sleep disorders. The team of highly specialized physicians will know the best way to diagnose and treat any disorders of the lungs and can keep you informed about the general health of your lungs.
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An abnormal chest scan could mean many things. It could be one problem, or a litany of problems, or it could be nothing serious. Dr. Rolando Sanchez MD says an abnormal chest x-ray could show an “enlarged heart, fluid in the lungs, air pockets, pneumonia, among many other things.” Pulmonary physicians can help read these scans and determine the particularities of any abnormality.
What Is A Chest Scan?
Two common forms of chest scans are chest x-rays and chest CTs. The x-ray is a more basic procedure and the CT is more detailed. It uses x-ray technology in conjunction with computer imaging software to create a more detailed picture of the lungs.
Chest x-rays are fast and painless tests that use electromagnetic waves to produce pictures of the structures in and around your chest. These tests are used to diagnose and monitor such conditions as pneumonia, heart failure, lung cancer, tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, and scarring of the lung tissue.
Chest CT scans or Computed Tomography scans are also painless tests. They provide more detailed images. They often create cross-sectional images of the lungs often called “slices”, and they also use computer technology to create 3-D models of the lungs. These tests are usually follow-up tests to abnormal chest x-rays. They are often used to diagnose certain lung conditions such as check to see if you have certain lung problems such as a tumor, excess fluid around the lungs that is known as pleural effusion, pulmonary embolism, emphysema, tuberculosis, and pneumonia.
Abnormal Scans
If you are experiencing symptoms such as shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, chronic mucus production, etc. then your physician may order a chest x-ray. If the x-ray is abnormal or the physician sees something in the x-ray, then they might order a CT scan or even a PET scan to further diagnose what showed up on the x-ray.
Conditions such as heart failure, pneumonia, lung cancer, tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, pleural effusion, embolisms, emphysema, and lung scarring would all show up on chest scans in various ways.
Pulmonary Nodules
Pulmonary nodules are small spots on the lungs that may show up on x-rays or CT scans. They are often causes of serious concern for patients even thought they do not have to be. A pulmonary nodule is usually less than 3cm in diameter, and can sometimes be in the lungs for years without the patient knowing. They do not always cause symptoms.
Nodules show up as white spots on imaging scans. Your physician will probably want to take a biopsy of the nodule to see if it is malignant or cancerous. Less than five percent of pulmonary nodules cause cancer, but it is better to be safe than sorry. Other causes of these nodules include infection, neoplasms, or sarcoidosis.
What Next?
The experts at Pulmonary Associates of Brandon are equipped to diagnose and treat a variety of pulmonary diseases and conditions such as asthma, bronchitis, acute and chronic respiratory failure, lung cancer, pulmonary hypertension, lung infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and sleep disorders. They can help you determine what is causing your abnormal chest scan, and can help decide the best path to take for it. The team of highly specialized physicians will know the best way to analyze a chest scan and the most effective way to proceed from any abnormalities.
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The respiratory system is made up of several organs and structures, including the lungs, windpipe, diaphragm, and alveoli. It is responsible for taking in oxygen and expelling carbon-dioxide waste. But you probably knew that. What you may not know is that you take approximately 22,000 breaths every 24 hours. And that when you exhale, you also release up to 17.5 milliliters (0.59 fluid ounces) of water per hour. Here are 8 more interesting facts about the lungs:
The lungs are the only organ that can float on water. Each of your lungs contains about 300 million balloon-like structures called alveoli, which replace the carbon-dioxide waste in your blood with oxygen. When these structures are filled with air, the lungs become the only organs in the human body that can float. In fact, medical examiners use the so-called “lung float test” during autopsies to determine if a baby was stillborn (died in the womb). If the lungs float, the baby was born alive; if the lungs don’t float, the baby was stillborn. This method is accurate 98 percent of the time, according to a 2013 study in the International Journal of Legal Medicine.
Your left and right lungs aren’t exactly the same. The lung on the left side of your body is divided into two lobes while the lung on your right side is divided into three. The left lung is also slightly smaller, allowing room for your heart.
Can you live without one lung? Yes, you can, it limits your physical ability but doesn’t stop you from living a relatively normal life. Many people around the world live with just one lung.
People who have a large lung capacity can send oxygen around their body faster. You can increase your lung capacity with regular exercise.
An average person breathes in around 11,000 liters of air every day.
The study of lung diseases is known as pulmonology.
Asthma is a common disease that affects the lungs. Asthma attacks happen when your airways narrow after being irritated. The narrow airways make it hard for you to breathe in air. However, between the 1930s and 1950s, it was commonly thought that asthma was a psychological problem. Therapists even interpreted a child’s asthmatic wheezing as a suppressed cry for his or her mother, according to a 2005 article in the journal Clinical Practice & Epidemiology in Mental Health.
Chest movement during breathing isn’t the result of air movement. When you breathe in, our chest swells; when you breathe out, our chest collapses. But these chest movements are not actually the result of air filling up or exiting the lungs.During inhalation, the diaphragm — a thin sheet of dome-shaped muscle that separates the chest and abdominal cavities — contracts and moves down, increasing the space in the chest cavity. At the same time, the muscles between the ribs contract to pull the rib cage upward and outward. During exhalation, the exact opposite happens.
The lungs should be considered “the environmental organ.” They are unique in their size and formation, and they interface with all the materials you inhale from the community environment, the work environment, and the personal environment. The lungs are made up of a series of branching tubes that provide the pathways for air entry and exit. These pathways, called bronchi, are exquisite in their design, with each tube branching twice: The major airway or windpipe (trachea) divides into two main bronchi, which in turn beget smaller and smaller orders of bronchi until some 22 divisions result in the final conducting passageways.
The respiratory or gas exchange function of the lungs begins in tiny sacs or folded structures (alveoli) attached to these tiny passageways. These smallest passageways continue to branch and finally connect with alveolar ducts, passageways thoroughly lined by alveoli. Each duct ends in a mass of alveoli. The alveolar-capillary membrane lines all of the alveoli and works as the blood-air interface. It allows life-giving oxygen into the blood and extracts the waste gas, carbon dioxide, from the blood. This delicate membrane is only 1/50th the thickness of tissue paper, thin enough to transport oxygen and carbon dioxide, but still a barrier against fluid formation within the alveolar spaces.
The lungs are the largest organ in the body. The total surface of the alveolar membrane varies from 100 to 200 square meters, depending on the size of the person. The overall surface area of the alveolar membrane has frequently been equated to that of a tennis court. This comparison is really an underestimation! Thus, the lungs are by far the largest organs that make intimate contact with the environment.
The lungs are also the only organs of the body that receive all the blood from the heart with every heartbeat. Thus, any material in the bloodstream circulates through the lungs constantly. Some materials, such as small blood clots, can injure the membrane and cause the lung to leak fluid. Infections can cause pneumonia, and heart failure can flood the lungs. In these conditions, gas exchange becomes abnormal.
People who truly understand the lungs marvel at their complexity. Consider that roughly 100,000 small air passages that feed a membrane surface area greater than the size of a tennis court! This membrane wraps itself around at least 300 million alveoli and is lined with a myriad of tiny blood vessels called capillaries. Consider further the fact that approximately four quarts of air pass through the gas-exchange surface each minute, along with some five liters of blood, which traverse the capillary membrane. This magnificent machine occupies the chest cavity and, in all, is some 4 to 6 quarts of total volume. We certainly must consider the lungs the most exquisite packaging job in nature, and their function a splendid orchestration. Only the brain possesses greater complexity and capability in design and function.
Oxygen is required for all organ functions, including heart functions that are involved in every living activity. Oxygen is critical to the survival of all human beings. A shortage of oxygen affects every organ in the body. The brain has the highest oxygen requirement of all the organs. The heart has an immense oxygen requirement compared with the other organs in the body. The liver, kidneys, and all other organs require oxygen for their own vital functions. Thus, in states of oxygen deficiency, the whole body becomes robbed of vital energy.
Oxygen is involved in the process of metabolism, which converts food into the energy we need to live. The by-product of metabolism is carbon dioxide. The lungs remove carbon dioxide from the blood as it is returned from the tissues. When the lungs cannot exhale enough carbon dioxide, there is a toxic build-up, resulting in “acidosis,” an acid poisoning of all cells of the body. The brain, heart, and other organs are also impaired by carbon dioxide retention.
Understanding the lungs would be easy if they simply exchanged oxygen and carbon dioxide, but they do much more. Many of the body’s chemicals are either inactivated or activated by the lungs. For example, the lungs activate a hormone that helps control blood pressure. The lungs, through their normal function, affect our daily moods and emotions.
Naturally, the lungs must be defended against outside damage, and research has revealed some fascinating defense mechanisms. The nose acts as a filter, and the conducting air passages contain a protective mucous lining. Within the lungs, tiny hair-like cells called cilia sweep the air entering the lungs almost constantly, acting as janitors. Scavenging cells, called macrophages, are poised and ready to engulf particles that evade their sentinels. Macrophages are potent obstacles to damage from the environment, but these cells can release enzymes that damage the lung’s delicate structure.
Small amounts of normal lung fluids also help the lungs defend themselves. The surfactant system of the lungs allows easy filling and emptying of the lungs. Surfactant also provides an antibacterial and immune function to protect against infections. Within the blood vessels of the lungs, an anti-clotting system combats small accumulations of damaging cells, aggregates, and small clots that enter the lungs from other parts of the body. Thus, normal lung fluids are being formed and washed away constantly. The lungs have anti-irritants, anti-infectives, anti-enzymes, and immune defense mechanisms, all of which are coordinated to serve these organs well.
The gas-transfer function of the lungs is well understood today. In fact, everyone should learn about this process, the essence of normal organ system function. The biochemical or non-respiratory functions of the lungs are less recognized. We continue to marvel at the hormonal activities of the lungs that regulate other functions of the body, possibly including the brain. Thus, the lungs work in cooperation with the brain, and are the main control system for the body. The lungs are unequaled in their diversity of functions and contributions to the health of the individual.
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