Even those close to you may not appreciate how your COPD is affecting you physically, emotionally and socially. Everyone leads a busy life and sometimes family and friends don’t offer help because they don’t know you need it or they don’t know how to help. Talking about what help you need or what you are […]
Try thinking about how your COPD affects you physically, emotionally and socially. At different times these three parts in your life may be more or less important. There may be times when all three parts are having an impact on how you are coping. Once you know how these affect you, telling this to others […]
What is stress urinary incontinence? If muscles in your pelvis became weak, there is a risk of you leaking urine during exertion, or straining yourself. For example when you sneeze or cough. Women with COPD are more likely than men to have stress urinary incontinence because of the difference between male and female anatomy and […]
COPD is a long term condition which is not predictable and once lung damage has happened it is not reversible. The challenge of being unpredictable is that it is difficult to anticipate if or when your COPD will deteriorate. Everyone with COPD is an individual. Thinking about the kind of care you would want or not […]
Spirometry is: A test to show how your lungs are working. One of the first tests which may be carried out to investigate any respiratory symptoms such as shortness of breath, cough or wheeze. Used to show if you have a lung disease. Used to help to separate patients with asthma from those with COPD. […]
When you have COPD your airways may be narrowed and you will have to work harder to maintain the oxygen and carbon dioxide balance as you breathe in and out. If you have emphysema the alveoli (air sacs) in the lung are damaged and oxygen and carbon dioxide may become trapped in the lungs. This […]
Pacing yourself is all about managing the balance of all the tasks you need to do and some you want to do without rushing, tiring yourself out or making you feel worse. Pacing is important when you are living with COPD. You may find you have good days and bad days when you are more troubled by […]
GREEN AMBER! RED!! If you have COPD you are more likely to suffer from chest infections. Recognising the warning signs of infection is an important step in getting help quickly to reduce the impact before an infection can take hold. With every infection there is a risk that further damage will be done to the […]
Exacerbations or flare ups of COPD are mainly caused by respiratory viruses and bacteria which lead to increased inflammation and chest infections. The two vaccinations recommended for patients with COPD are: Influenza (flu) vaccine. Pneumococcal vaccine. Research has shown that vaccination can reduce the number of exacerbations of the disease and reduce hospital admissions.
