Tag Archive for: pulmonary health

9 Questions To Ask Your Pulmonologist At Your First Appointment After An Abnormal Chest Scan

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Receiving the notice that your chest scan came back a little abnormal is worrying to say the least. Your pulmonologist will probably want you to return for another appointment to speak with you about the results and perhaps order further tests.

While this can be very off-putting, it is also the right moment to ask any questions you have about your symptoms and your concerns. By arming yourself with the best possible arsenal to obtain information, you will be better equipped to handle any diagnosis. Here are some questions to ask your doctor during your visit.

  1. Can you explain the test that was run? Each test is used to diagnose different conditions, and learning about the test(s) that were conducted will help you to better understand what your doctor was looking for and how and/or why your chest scan was abnormal.
  2. What makes my scan “abnormal”? This may seem like something you don’t even need to ask, but it’s important to know exactly what your scan is showing, why it varies from the norm, and to what degree it’s considered abnormal.
  3. What can the abnormality mean? Be ready to ask your pulmonary physician about the possible diagnosis of your abnormal chest scan. It is likely that your pulmonary physician isn’t sure what the abnormality means without further testing, but knowing everything it could point at will prepare you for the final diagnosis.
  4. Will I need further testing? If so, what tests can I expect and how do they work? Usually, if an initial chest scan shows an abnormality your pulmonary physician will assign you further testing to determine whether the abnormality is malignant or benign. These tests can vary, and knowing what they are and how they work will help you get through them with more confidence.
  5. How often should I be screened for changes? This is an important question to ask regarding the maintenance for your pulmonary health. Even a positive diagnosis on abnormalities should be followed up on in case it starts to become malignant later down the line.
  6. Are you prescribing me anything for the symptoms? It’s important to understand any medications you will be prescribed as well as any side effects of the medication.
  7. Are there things I can do to manage my condition? Ask what types of habits and activities you can do on your own time to keep your pulmonary health under control or even lessen some of your symptoms.
  8. Should I follow any dietary/lifestyle restrictions? Be sure to ask and understand if there are any restrictions or changes you should make to your current regimen. Some doctors may choose to wait on further tests and simply test you again in a few months to see if your abnormality has changed or grown. In the meantime, they may recommend some lifestyle changes or impose restrictions on your diet and/or activity.
  9. What should I do if my symptoms increase? Ask your doctor when to contact them if symptoms worsen to avoid an unnecessary trip to the ER.

Preparing for your first appointment after being notified of an abnormal chest scan can be very nerve-wracking and tense. By asking the right questions and educating yourself on your diagnosis, you will be better able to maintain your pulmonary health and suppress your symptoms. Be sure to write down these questions and bring them with you so you don’t forget to ask anything!

Common Lung Infections Treated at Pulmonary Associates of Brandon

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ccording to the National Institute of Health, in a normal day a person takes about 25,000 breaths. The importance of the lungs to general health cannot be overstated. The lungs help to oxygenate your blood and expel carbon dioxide, two extremely vital bodily processes. The oxygen in red blood cells is transported throughout the body and is a necessary component of almost every cellular process that occurs.

Without properly functioning lungs, overall health decreases considerably. There are many different types of lung diseases, but some of the most deadly and dangerous lung diseases are lung infections. Fortunately our Tampa pulmonary group is here to offer treatment options for even the most challenging cases.

Let’s look at some common lung infections, and symptoms of pulmonary issues:

Treating Bronchitis in Tampa

Bronchitis

Bronchitis is the infection and inflammation of the bronchi, which are the medium and large airways in the lungs. Bronchitis is typically a viral infection, however, in some cases the cause is air pollution or bacteria. Acute bronchitis is an extremely common infection. It is often referred to as a “chest cold” and typically goes away within a few weeks. But, if bronchitis occurs often or for extended periods of time, then a patient might have “chronic bronchitis” and should seek medical attention and treatment.

Symptoms of bronchitis include a productive cough (with yellow or green mucus), runny or stuffy nose, fatigue, sore ribs from prolonged coughing, wheezing, and a whistling sound when breathing.

Bronchiolitis

Bronchiolitis is similar to bronchitis, except it is the infection and inflammation of bronchioles, which are the smallest air passageways of the lungs. Bronchiolitis is almost always a viral infection and mostly affects children and infants. It can present in adults, however it is rare and very serious. Bronchiolitis can cause scarring of the bronchioles and other lung tissue.

The symptoms of bronchiolitis are similar to those of bronchitis. They include shortness of breath, wheezing, fatigue, cough, fast breathing, cracking or rattling sounds heard in the lungs, and bluish appearance of the skin from lack of oxygen.

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Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory infection of the alveoli in the lungs. According to Dr. Hooker, “pneumonia is a tricky infection because it can be either bacterial, viral, or fungal.” The alveoli are microscopic air sacs in the lungs, which are invaluable to blood oxygenation. Pneumonia causes these sacs to fill up with fluid and impedes their function.

There are over 30 types of pneumonia, and they are typically classified into groups based on their cause. Bacteria, viruses, inhalation of toxins, and fungi can all be causes of pneumonia. Some pneumonia can be overcome without medication at home, however, other treatments include antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medications, and other over the counter treatments.

The pulmonary symptoms of pneumonia can vary. Common symptoms include coughing (often mucus producing), fever, shaking, chills, fast breathing, shallow breathing, chest pain, fast heartbeat, nausea, and fatigue.

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection of the lungs that used to be extremely common, and then became very uncommon. However, according to Dr. Lorch, “tuberculosis has become more common in the recent past in AIDS patients and other patients with compromised immune systems, such as individuals undergoing chemotherapy.”

Tuberculosis is a very serious condition, but thankfully, it is rare in otherwise healthy adults in the United States. Symptoms of tuberculosis include coughing that lasts for three or more weeks, coughing up blood, chest pain, unintentional weight loss, fatigue, fever, chills, and loss of appetite. TB can also affect your kidneys, spine, and brain.

Pulmonary Associates of Brandon

If you are experiencing lung disease symptoms in the Tampa Bay area, then you can go to the Pulmonary Associates of Brandon. Their highly trained staff can perform a range of diagnostic testing such as pulmonary function tests and chest x-rays to determine whether or not you have a lung infection, and how to treat it.

4 Ways To Improve Your Lung Functioning

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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.

What Does It Mean If My Chest Scan Is Abnormal?

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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.

Lung Facts

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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.

Crazy Facts About Your Lungs and Pulmonary Health

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Your Lungs are Amazing!

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.