What Is COPD and how can you treat it?
If you or a loved one has recently been diagnosed with COPD, knowing what it is and how to treat it will help you to manage your symptoms long into the future. In this post, we’ll be covering everything you need to know about COPD – what it is, how it’s caused, whether it’s curable, and, most importantly, how you can maintain a good quality of life.
What is COPD?
COPD stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which affects an estimated 16 million adults in the US. The name refers to a number of chronic lung diseases, the most common of these being emphysema and chronic bronchitis. We’ll cover more on these diseases below.
Emphysema
Emphysema occurs when the alveoli, or the tiny air sacs, at the very end of the air passages in the lungs become damaged beyond repair. This usu...