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2013 COPD8 USA Conference

The 2013 COPD8 Conference will be held at the Hilton in downtown Chicago, Illinois on June 14th and 15th, with the educational workshop on the 14th only. This workshop is for healthcare providers but is also open to anyone who wants to sit in and learn about the the newest developments in health care that have an effect on how Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, can be treated, as well as clinical, research and care delivery. There will be a joint session in the morning from 10 am to noon, and the educational workshop will go from 1 in the afternoon to 2:30 PM.

April 16, 2013August 30, 2020 Scott Ridl

Managing Your COPD Symptoms Without More Medications

Having mild to moderate COPD can be more bothersome than anything else. You might not need to use medications every day but you will most likely have to deal with a cough that comes and goes, or a persistent one that won’t go away. You might try to exercise or just do normal chores around the house and have to take a break because you’ve become winded or fatigued. You will also have excess mucus that needs to be coughed up, and you will find yourself getting much sicker than people who come down with the same colds.

Moderate to severe COPD will require the use of drugs and oxygen therapy, depending on how low your blood oxygen level is. Most of the time, people with mild COPD don’t need oxygen therapy because they are still able to bring in enough oxygen and expel carbon dioxide without throwing off the levels of gases in the blood. Using supplemental oxygen when you don’t need it can be more harmful than helpful, so don’t try to help yourself. You should only be using oxygen therapy with a doctor’s prescription.

April 15, 2013April 6, 2021 Scott Ridl

Why You Should be Tested for COPD

It’s well known among the medical community that Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) can go for years undetected. In the early stages, COPD is very subtle. It’s estimated that 2 out of 3 people with COPD have it, but don’t know that they have it. The signs and symptoms don’t become apparent until they have progressed to the moderate or even advanced stages of the disease. The signs of the early stage can be easily overlooked, or written off as something else.

It also doesn’t help that many people don’t have health insurance and don’t qualify for medicaid or medicare because of income or age, so they put off going to the doctor for as long as they can, or they don’t properly communicate how they feel to their doctor. Many people go through a denial and willfully-ignorant stage because they don’t want to face the fact that something serious might be going on.

April 11, 2013April 6, 2021 Scott Ridl

New and Fun Ways to Get Exercise if You Have COPD

Many people dislike working out, but they find the motivation to do it, whether they are trying to lose weight and tone up, or keep their heart and lungs healthy. Some people don’t bother to start exercising until they’ve been diagnosed with some disease that is combated by exercise, and that’s okay, too. Better late than never is how we can look at exercise.

Of course, before you start any new exercise program, you should consult with your doctor and follow their advice. If you’ve been diagnosed with COPD, your doctor might have already told you to get a certain amount of exercise per week and may have also given you some types of exercises that would be good for someone with a lung condition.

April 9, 2013April 6, 2021 Scott Ridl

The Link Between Heart Attacks and COPD

A study from the Columbia University Medical Center suggests that even a mild lung condition can have an effect on the health of your heart and put you at an higher risk for cardiovascular disease. Severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD is already known to cause a significant amount of strain on the heart, but in general, there is still more research that needs to be done on exactly how much damage mild COPD can cause on the heart.

April 9, 2013April 6, 2021 Scott Ridl

Study Shows Approximately 1 in 4 Will Develop COPD

A long-term study in Canada monitored 13 million adults over the course of 14 years and found that 27% of them had been diagnosed with a form of COPD over that time. The people registered in the study were both smokers and non-smokers, but this was not taken into account during the study. Tobacco smoke was already well known to be the cause of 80% to 90% of all cases of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD, but this was left out since the main goal of the study was to see just how many people will likely develop COPD in general.

April 9, 2013April 5, 2021 Scott Ridl

COPD and Depression

Depression can be a big problem for people diagnosed with a chronic disease. The knowledge that you now need to take medications that you didn’t need before can make people feel trapped. It’s understandable and natural to feel a loss of confidence when you can’t breathe correctly or function the way you could in the past.

According to a recent study done in the UK, it was found that COPD is a significant cause of depression in the population. The study followed 169 COPD patients over a period of 1 year and found that the signs and symptoms of depression increased dramatically during times of exacerbation.

March 18, 2013April 5, 2021 Scott Ridl

Natural Disasters, Pollution and How they Affect COPD

You’ve taken steps to quit smoking and are working on other areas of your health now that you’ve been diagnosed with COPD. Despite all of your efforts for staying healthy and avoiding harmful things, you still seem to be getting worse and have frequent, severe exacerbations.

It’s true that some of the things that can have a significant effect on our lungs aren’t things we have direct control over. We can wash our hands and get vaccines to prevent illness, avoid allergies and take medications, but it can be nearly impossible to avoid what is already in the air around us.

Pollution, whether man-made or natural, can have serious adverse effects on our lungs. People who have a chronic lung disease like COPD or asthma will feel the effects more than anyone since the lungs are more sensitive. BioMed Central, a medical journal and article publisher, conducted a study that says forest fires are having a significant impact on people with COPD, especially. They based the findings on reports from pharmacies filling more prescriptions than usually in areas that were close to where there were recent forest fires.

March 15, 2013April 5, 2021 Scott Ridl

About COPD Advocacy and How You Can Make Your Voice Heard

Every year, the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) and the COPD Foundation get together and make COPD Advocacy Day possible at Capitol Hill. This year (2013) COPD Advocacy Day will be on March 12th.

I Can’t Attend! What Can I Do to Show My Support?

Don’t worry if you can’t go – you can still support the cause by participating in the “Lobby Week”, which is between March 1st and the 12th. You are encouraged to email your state’s governor, your representative or senator and urge them to support the Congressional COPD Caucus, if they aren’t already on board. Go to the Members List to see if your representative or senator is there (http://www.uscopdcoalition.org/index.php?t=p&p_id=4).

March 11, 2013April 5, 2021 Scott Ridl

How COPD Influences Brain Health and What You Can Do

If you stop breathing for a long enough time, what happens? Death will happen after around 5 minutes without air, with unconsciousness and brain damage occurring first. The rare exceptions are divers who have trained to hold their breath for up to 10 minutes.

There are also stories of children who have fallen into ice cold water and were without air for up to 1 hour. Their metabolism slowed so much because of the cold water that needed much less oxygen to survive. Once pulled out of the icy water and warmed up, they experienced no brain damage. Aside from these amazing cases, the average person’s brain function will suffer greatly without enough oxygen.

February 24, 2013April 5, 2021 Scott Ridl

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