Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Society

Question: Discuss about the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Society. Answer: Introduction The chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a disease that affects the lungs and makes it difficult for an individual to breathe. This disease occurs due to poor airflow in the lungs for a long period of time especially due to smoking. This often occurs as two diseases which are: chronic bronchitis and Emphysema. In a normal human being, the air lungs contain air sacs. As one breathes in and out, the air sacs get big and narrow and due to this process, they help air in moving through the lungs. Emphysema affects the ability of these air sacs to stretch (Abbas, 2016). This will result in shortness of breath as the only little amount of air gets into the lungs. The other disease, which is chronic bronchitis, is characterized by inflamed airways creating a massive production of mucus leading to their blockage and can make it hard for a person to breath. When one is suffering from chronic bronchitis, he or she experiences a cough for almost three months a year for almost two years. The two diseases result to difficulty in breathing (Alif, 2016). Pathophysiology is the study of body changes due to an injury or a disease (Alif, Dharmage, Dennekamp, Burgess, Perret Thomas, 2016). COPD causes the breakage of the tissues in the lungs, this is what is known as emphysema. It is characterized by poor airflow to the lungs. When the small airways are destroyed, bullae, which are large pockets of air, are created in the place of lung tissues leading to a disease known as bulbous emphysema. When one is suffering, from COPD there is an inflammatory response, and also the development of infections from the bacteria (Kirby, 2016).The inflammation occurs in the macrophages and neutrophil granulocytes, This is the white cells of the blood. COPD is a disease that worsens as time progresses. A person's daily activities such as climbing stairs and walking become difficult. The main symptoms are a long lasting cough, sputum, and difficulty in breathing (Bhowmick, 2016). Short of breath can even be seen while carrying out simple activities such as cooking or dressing. The common cause of this disease is smoking of tobacco. Taking in air that is polluted from chemicals, staying in poorly ventilated rooms, cooking oils can lead to the disease of the lungs. In the less developed countries, air pollution comes from cooling fuels and poorly vented heat. Exposure to pollution by these irritants leads to inflammation of the lungs. This results to the breakdown of lung tissues and small airways (DeMao, 2016). The most common signs and symptoms of this disease are a lack of breath, production of sputum and a long-term productive cough (Donaldson, 2016). The first sign to be experienced is a long productive cough. This cough goes for over three months annually for two years. There is the production of sputum. Chronic bronchitis can occur even before the COPD fully develops. Sputum is produced in different amounts over the hours and the days. In other individuals, a cough may be present occasionally but is not productive (Enright, 2016). One can confuse a COPD cough with cough of a smoker. Coughing vigorously can lead to fractures of the ribs or loss of consciousness for a small period of time. A person suffering from COPD can experience difficulty while breathing. This symptom worsens over time and in the worst cases, it can occur occasionally for the rest of a person's life. Shortness of breath creates anxiety and can lead to poor quality life. Patients with this symptoms aid their breathing through pursed lips. When the symptoms get worse or flare up, according to (Ghosh, 2016) this is known as an exacerbation. It can either be acute or chronic. Acute exacerbation is characterized by the shortness of the breath, which increases over time. There is also an increase in the production of sputum, the sputum also changes from yellow to green color (Hilzendeger, 2016).Other signs include the increase in the heart rate, breathing, increase in sweat and confusion are the severe symptoms of an exacerbation. Exacerbation is usually brought by air pollution or the wrong use of medicines (Apps, Mukherjee, Abbas, Minter, Whitfield, Field Ateli, 2016). Cold temperature is also a cause of this condition. This is a type of medication that is inhaled by the patient. There are mainly two types of bronchodilators: anticholinergic and agonists. They can be found in short-acting and long-acting forms. There are used in order to wheeze, reduce difficulties in breathing and limit exercises. This often leads to improvement of quality life. However, it has not yet been known whether it changes the progression of this disease. For those who are suffering from the acute form of the disease, they are recommended to take short-acting agents. While those that are suffering more from the disease should use a long-lasting agent. These long-acting agents work by improving the hyperinflation. If the long acting bronchodilators are not enough, corticosteroids should be added (Loncatore, 2016).Examples of short acting agents are terbutaline and Ventolin. This disease provides relief to a patient for about four to six hours. The side effects of this medicine include heart palpitations and shaking. The two types of ant cholinergic that are used in treating COPD: that is tiotropium and ipratropium. Ipratropium is a type of a short-acting agent while tiotropium a long-lasting agent. Tiotropium can lead to improved life and decrease in exacerbation. This does not affect mortality or the rate of hospitalization. These two medicines can lead to urinary tract diseases or dry mouth. The patients that suffer from low oxygen levels should be provided with supplement oxygen. This leads to the decrease of death and heart failure for at least fifteen hours per day. This may also lead to the patients ability to carry out exercises. For the patients that are suffering from mild levels of oxygen, supplementation of oxygen can lead to improvement breath while the individual is exercising. However, it may not lead to the improvement of the patient breathing while carrying out normal activities. If the individual continues smoking while on oxygen supplement, they are at the risk of catching fire and benefiting from this oxygen. When one has an acute exacerbation, there are chances that oxygen is the best therapy (Mehary, 2016). High amounts of oxygen should not be used since they can increase the levels of carbon dioxide. This medicine is use in an inhaling form. It is also available in tablet form. It is used in treating the acute form of COPD. They lack effect on one year use. It is, however, hard to determine whether they reduce the disease from progressing. They can also lead to pneumonia for both the tablets and inhaled steroids. For the individuals who are suffering from the severe form of this disease, surgery can be an option. This can include reduction of the volume of the lungs and lung transplant. Reduction of the volume of the lungs involves the removal of the parts of the lungs that have been mostly affected by emphysema. This is done so as to allow the best part of the lungs to function much better. If emphysema has only affected the upper part of the lungs, the reduction can be carried out. This, however, increases the risk of death that can occur early or lead to adverse effects. Individuals, who are suffering from severe lung disease, require lung transplant (Treibal, 2016). Taking care of a person who is suffering from COPD at home comes with a number of responsibilities. When a person is suffering from COPD, their loved ones and family members have the responsibility of learning about the disease. Home-based care can also involve the nurses, they are important as they can help in carrying out spirometry testing and reversibility testing. The nurses help the patient and their family on how to handle the disease. The nurses are involved mostly on how they should help the patients to use medications correctly such as the use of inhalers. This involves nutrition counseling, exercises that have been prescribed by the doctor and educating about the disease. Rehabilitation can lead to the increment of strength; improve the quality of the patients life and reducing the symptoms that are brought by this disease. Before a patient is discharged, the health officials should ensure that there is someone who has the responsibility of allowing the patient to undergo rehabilitation. The loved ones should also attend these rehabs with the patients. Help with the medications Before Bill is discharged, the health professionals should ensure that there is someone who is responsible for helping the patient in taking their medicines. They should ensure that they create a chart that is responsible for knowing whether they have taken each medicine, the right dosage and at the right time of the day. This is very important since the patient may be needed to take a number of medications according to the nature of his disease. The doctors should ensure that there is a person who can accompany the patient suffering from COPD to the doctors appointments, this is important as he or she can help them remember what the doctor said. The loved ones are also responsible for asking questions on behalf of the patient. They can also get a chance to learn how medicines that have been described to the patient can be used. This includes inhalers, nebulizer and oxygen supplements The professionals should teach the caregivers on what to look for when the patient is suffering from severe symptoms of an exacerbation and when they should call the doctors. These signs include tiredness, lack of breath that can lead to a person sleeping badly, increased mucus, swelling of the hands and legs, cramping of muscles and coughing that leads to chest pains. Caring for these patients at home can be challenging. A caregiver should, therefore, follow the doctors instruction and encourage the patients to take medications so as to improve the quality of ones life. The community offers the patient with support groups that are important in helping the patient in managing the disease and also helps them in smoking cessation, exercise, medical tests, supplement oxygen and breathing exercises. The community can also offer funds that are used in treating this disease such as inhalers. For a person suffering from COPD, there should be less or no exposure to air pollution. The community has the responsibility of keeping the environment clean (Bhowmik, Tadique, Graham, Hodson Rajakulasingam, 2016). Before a bill is discharged, he should be taught the meaning of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the cause of this disease, signs, and symptoms of COPD, how the disease is treated, and whether after treatment the disease will go away (Peinado, 2016). Conclusion COPD has no cure. However, the symptoms can be treated so as to avoid the progression of the disease. Managing of this disease is meant to reduce the risk factors o as to treat exacerbation. It is also mean for managing illnesses that are associated with this condition (Huang, 2016). A patient with this condition should stop smoking and should receive an influenza vaccination once per year, another vaccination known as pneumococcal once per five years. They should also avoid air pollution. The people who are suffering from the chronic condition of this disease should be kept under palliative care. This may work to reduce symptoms and improve the breathing of the patient. In this case, patients that suffer from COPD should be managed in a primary healthcare. However, there is a big challenge in treating these patients due to poor technology and a high number of patients. When a patient has been diagnosed with COPD the patient should take treatment and carry out a number of functions s o as to reduce the impact of the disease on their lives. This includes exercise, stop smoking, eat a nutritious diet, learn about the disease and its treatment and consider home-based care. References Apps, M., Mukherjee, D., Abbas, S., Minter, J., Whitfield, J., Field, S., ...Ateli, L. (2016). A Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Service Integrating Community And Hospital Services Can Improve Patient Care And Reduce Hospital Stays. In A41. 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