COPD, a chronic tormenting disease! In the later stage of the disease, every minute I feel the pain of not being able to breathe!

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a respiratory disease characterized by incompletely reversible airflow limitation. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients often experience a progressive decline in lung function, resulting in chest tightness, shortness of breath, wheezing, and decreased activity tolerance, as well as quality of life. continued decline.

How can COPD patients delay the decline of lung function and ensure the quality of life? Mainly rely on attention to conditioning and maintenance in daily life. Today, I will summarize for you how to maintain COPD in life, which can be summarized as the following "" 4 dos 4 do not.

COPD "4 Essentials"

1) To strengthen nutrition

Because the course of COPD is usually long and the disease is prone to repeated attacks, even if the patient with COPD is in a quiet state, the body will be in a state of high metabolism. Inadequate nutritional supplements in patients with COPD will lead to decreased respiratory muscle function, respiratory muscle weakness, and increased dyspnea.

In addition, due to malnutrition, the body's immunity will also decline, and the chance of being infected by pathogenic bacteria will increase, which will increase the risk of acute attacks. Therefore, patients with COPD should have a high-protein and high-fiber diet to maintain a normal body weight, thereby increasing the muscle strength of the respiratory muscles and improving the body's immunity.

2) Adhere to pulmonary rehabilitation exercises

Many COPD patients give up exercising because they experience breathing difficulties with a little activity, but the correct approach is just the opposite. The maintenance and recovery of lung function mainly depends on exercise, so COPD should insist on pulmonary rehabilitation exercise.

There are many types of pulmonary rehabilitation exercises, such as exercise training, respiratory muscle training and oxygen therapy, among which exercise training is the main way, and you can perform appropriate brisk walking, jogging, and going up and down stairs.

Breathing exercise training includes pursed lip breathing exercise and diaphragmatic breathing exercise. For specific methods, you can consult a respiratory specialist.

In the acute stage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, when the symptoms of cough and expectoration are obvious, cough and expectoration training is required to avoid subsequent complications caused by accumulation of phlegm. The correct way is to sit up straight as much as possible, after a deep inhalation, press the abdomen with both hands, lean forward slightly 20-45 degrees, cough continuously, contract the abdominal muscles when coughing, and forcefully expel the phlegm deep in the lungs. Cough training can be combined with postural changes, chest tapping, and aerosol inhalation for better results.

3) Regular follow-up visits

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a life-long therapeutic disease. During this process, patients need to have regular follow-up visits, so that doctors can timely understand the patient's recent physical condition, drug treatment effects, etc., so that doctors can adjust treatment drugs or formulate individualized pulmonary rehabilitation training programs for patients in a timely manner. .

4) Adhere to drug maintenance therapy

During the stable COPD stage, drug maintenance therapy is the main treatment measure to reduce acute exacerbations and alleviate COPD symptoms. The main treatment drugs for COPD in stable stage are glucocorticoids and bronchodilators, mainly local atomization inhalation, and patients should insist on taking them.

COPD 4 Don't

1) Don't catch a cold

Whether it is viral or bacterial infection, it will induce acute exacerbation in patients with COPD, and each acute exacerbation may cause a further decline in lung function. Therefore, patients with COPD should keep warm in winter and not catch a cold. If you have frequent acute attacks, you can also consider getting vaccinated, such as influenza vaccine, Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine, etc.

2) Do not smoke or drink

Smoking is the biggest risk factor for COPD, and drinking alcohol is not conducive to the recovery of lung function, so patients with COPD should not smoke or drink.

3) Do not change or interrupt the treatment drug by yourself

When you feel that the medicine you are using is inappropriate or intolerable, it is best to consult the doctor in charge, and do not stop or change the treatment without authorization.

4) Do not blindly inhale oxygen

When the patient has no obvious dyspnea and shortness of breath, that is, the body is not hypoxic, do not blindly inhale oxygen, which is not conducive to lung function.

To sum up, patients with COPD need to pay more attention to the details of life, remember the above 4 or 4, in order to maintain lung function as much as possible and ensure that the quality of life does not decline, due to COPD, smoking, and inhalation of harmful particles. Therefore, the prevention of COPD focuses on quitting smoking, staying away from second-hand smoke, and minimizing the inhalation of oil fumes and harmful gas particles.

references:

[1] Chen Yahong. Interpretation of the global strategy for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in GOLD in 2021 [J]. 2021, 13(1): 16-37.

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