COPD symptoms and COPD causes

COPD Symptoms and COPD Causes

COPD, or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, is a lung disease that makes breathing difficult. It is a type of lung disease that gets worst over time. The effect of COPD is inflammation and the inability of air to flow through the lungs.

COPD is more of a general definition used to describe some critical breathing problems like:

  • Chronic Bronchitis
  • Emphysema
  • Asthma

COPD Causes KandyMask

Most of the people that have COPD usually carry two of the conditions. Some will carry Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema, and some may only carry asthma.

COPD causes are all the usual suspects

  • Cigarette smoking or long-term exposure to second-hand smoke is the leading COPD cause.
  • Air pollution and not taking precautions by wearing a mask can be COPD causes
  • Dust or workplace fumes are COPD causes
  • Breathing in wildfire smoke without protection is COPD causes


All COPD causes act as lung irritants and can contribute to COPD. There is a genetic deficiency of Alpha-1 antitrypsin that can also cause COPD, but it is rarer.

A virus that causes influenza or pneumonia will not cause COPD, but it will make you extremely sick if you already have COPD. You must keep your vaccination records up to date because the doctor will need to see these results one day.

COPD symptoms come in stages

When you first get COPD, you often have symptoms or only mild experience symptoms. As the disease progresses, the symptoms start to get worst. Common COPD symptoms include:

  • Shortness of breath
  • Wheezing
  • Chest Tightness
  • Ongoing wet cough with quite a lot of mucus
  • Frequent or flu.
  • Feeling tired

As the COPD symptoms worsen

Breathing requires a lot of energy, making it difficult to play sports or do any cardiovascular exercise. Often the mucus gets trapped and becomes infested with germs causing more issues. It will become difficult to do routine activities like:

  • Tying your shoes
  • Getting dressed
  • Climbing stairs
  • Ongoing persistent and chronic cough.

COPD Causes

 

When you're at the more advanced stages of COPD, symptoms will be

  • feeling tired
  • Weight loss
  • Loss of muscle strength and endurance
  • Swollen legs or feet from the fluid build-up
  • Blue lip due to lack of oxygen

There are 3 stages of COPD Symptoms are:

  • Mild
  • Moderate
  • Severe

Under normal conditions, air travels into the lungs through the windpipe into the bronchial tube. Once the air gets into the lungs, it follows different paths into smaller tubes called bronchioles with a lot of blood supply.

Near the end of the bronchial tubes are billions of air sacks called alveoli. Under normal conditions, the walls of these sacks are flexible and can contract in and out while inhaling and exhaling.

This action in the lungs provides oxygen to the blood, which then carries oxygen to all body parts.

For people with COPD, the airways don’t work as well because they are thick and inflamed, causing airflow to be restricted. Lungs will also have more mucus than normal lungs, creating clogs in the airways, so the air doesn't pass as easily.

Finally, the billions of air sacks are also damaged and lose flexibility or elasticity. As these air sacks get more damaged over time, fewer air sacks provide oxygen to the bloodstream.

It is hard for lungs with COPD to inflate and deflate like normal lungs. Because trapped air is in the damaged air, it is harder to get fresh air into the lungs.

COPD is a leading cause of death and is primarily diagnosed in 40+ year-olds

United States
  • 3rd leading cause of death
  • Affects 14 million people
  • COPD is more common in men
  • But more women die from COPD
Canada
  • Affects 3 million people
  • 4th leading cause of death.

Government restrictions to curb smoking help, but COPD worsens worldwide due to smoking and PM2.5 air pollution. Protecting the health of your lungs is more critical than ever.

There is no cure for COPD.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for COPD, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. You can slow the disease's progression by protecting your lungs through a healthy, active lifestyle.

  • Daily exercise
  • Wearing a good face mask with filtration if you live in a polluted area
  • Stop smoking
  • Ask your family member not to smoke when you are around.
  • Using a good HEPA air purifier to ensure the air is clean in our home.
  • Consult your doctor early
  • Pulmonary rehabilitation or therapy


We hope you find this information on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and COPD helpful. We are not medical doctors at KandyMask, but we are passionate about lung protection. 

If you need absolute filtration protection, please check out our 4-layer reusable mask, the 99.8% effective filtration.  We hope we can provide you with additional respiratory protection to make life easier.

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