Male Speaker: It's a disease that affects the lungs and can eventually make the otherwise unconscious effort of breathing seem almost impossible. COPD or Cronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease can do damage for decades without giving any noticeable signs that it's there and so permanent and irreversible damage has been done.
Dr Gene Colice: Initially patients will notice that they can't walk up hills or can't mow their lawn or can't do their shopping that they were used to, but as the disease gets worse patients are more and more restricted. And the real severe case is people are really limited, they are so short of breath they can't do anything else other than just sit in a chair and watch television.
Male Speaker: 72-year-old COPD patient Marvin Tibbits describes how it feels to lose his breath.
Marvin Tibbits: To sum it up real fast it's just like you're drowning. If you could visualize yourself underwater and you expanded all your air in your body and you need a breath of air, it's not there.
Male Speaker: In the United States tobacco use is a key factor in the development and progression of COPD.
Dr. Gene Colice: Probably about 90% of patients who has COPD have a pretty clear history of cigarette smoking. It's been estimated between 10% and 20% of patients who smoke regularly gets COPD, but everybody who smokes is at risk. There are very good studies that show that if we are able to get people to stop smoking the disease course will not be as bad as it would otherwise be. People will not go back to normal, but the deterioration of lung function overtime will not be as bad.
Male Speaker: Here is a typical example of someone who starts smoking when they are young. At age 18 the lungs are grown and completely open, no damage is evident. By age 28 there is a consistent cough, sometimes called a smoker's cough. By the mid to late 40s lung function is beginning to be seriously impaired and there is difficulty in breathing with some simple tasks. By the 50s people who perform physical labor, for instance, find it hard to continue this kind of work.
Most COPD patients can't walk for a long distances and can't lift objects. By the late 50s or early 60s quality of life is severely impaired. COPD patients assuming they continue to smoke cannot do much of anything in the way of physical activity. The standard treatments for COPD are medications called bronchodilators; their main job is to help keep airways relaxed, so airflow can be increased. These treatments won't restore damaged lungs, but they can definitely improve the symptoms of COPD. In addition patients are encouraged to use pulmonary rehabilitation.
Laura Pluskis: Pulmonary rehab is a combination of exercise and education that is geared to promote self care of patients with the pulmonary conditions. Because there is no cure, but we don't want the condition to get worse and then reduce their quality of life any further.
Marvin Tibbits: It's not to give me anymore breath, but it's teaching me ways that I can breathe better. I'm breathing better today than I did yesterday and day before.
Male Speaker: But the bottom line here is simple, people need to stop smoking.
Marvin Tibbits: It's not as terrible and horrible to stop as what you think it is. But you're going to have to want to stop, that's the key; you want to stop. And my advice to people is, stop before you get sick.
Male Speaker: It's clear the dangers of smoking must be communicated long before people pick up their first cigarette. Hopefully as the number of people who smoke decreases, the probability of patients suffering from COPD will decrease as well.
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