To really understand COPD, you must first have a clear understanding of how the lungs work.
Breathing is often taken for granted until it becomes an effort to get air into and out of the lungs. It might be helpful if you understand how air travels through your respiratory system and where the trouble spots can be when you have COPD.
If you take a close look at where the air goes when you breathe in and out, you'll see that the path resembles a tree turned upside down. This is why your respiratory system is often referred to as the bronchial tree.
Each time you take a breath, air enters through your nose or mouth and continues down the trachea, better known as the windpipe. From here it goes into two sponge-like organs located in your chest called the lungs. Air enters the lungs through two large branches off the trachea known as bronchi. The air then travels deeper into the lungs through smaller bronchi and about a million miniature passageways called bronchioles. The walls of the bronchioles are surrounded by bands of smooth muscle which provide support. At the end of this maze of little branches are tiny, stretchy air sacs which are called alveoli. Each individual air sac is called an alveolus and is surrounded by microscopic blood vessels. The oxygen in the air you breathe travels through the stretchy air sacs into your blood so that it can be used by cells throughout your body. At the same time, carbon dioxide—a waste product—passes from the blood back into the air sacs and leaves the body by traveling back up the same path. This exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide is very important because every cell in the body needs oxygen to function. It takes a constant supply of oxygen for your cells to live.
The process of moving air into and out of your lungs is called respiration. A strong wall of muscle located below your lungs, the diaphragm, is the major muscle of respiration. As the diaphragm moves down, it creates suction in the chest and draws in fresh air which expands the lungs. Then, as this muscle relaxes, it returns to its original position and the air is pushed out of the lungs.
Conditions which obstruct the flow of air from traveling easily through the respiratory system are called "Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease" or COPD. The three conditions most frequently referred to when discussing COPD are emphysema. chronic bronchitis, and asthma. In each, when the flow of air is blocked— or obstructed— it makes it harder to get enough oxygen to meet the body's needs.
Most individuals with COPD have a combination of emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and asthma and may have other chronic respiratory problems, too. In all cases where COPD is suspected, it is important to have proper medical attention to determine which of these diseases is the primary cause of the COPD so that prescribed treatment and self-help techniques can be used effectively.
WITH CHRONIC BRONCHITIS, repeated infections and irritants such as cigarette smoke cause the airways in the lungs to become swollen and inflamed, producing large amounts of heavy mucus. This can cause clogging in the tiny air passages, and the excess mucus becomes an excellent breeding ground for infections. The major symptoms associated with chronic bronchitis are persistent coughing and production of excess mucus for long periods of time. One positive note about chronic bronchitis is that the outlook for recovery is good if you stop smoking and try to prevent repeated infections before any permanent lung damage occurs.
WITH EMPHYSEMA, the walls of the tiny air sacs break down due to smoking and other inhaled irritants. Sometimes, even heredity can be a factor. Instead of having clusters of little stretchy air sacs, people with emphysema have enlarged air sacs that have lost their natural stretchiness. When this happens, the used air cannot be exhaled completely, and the air sacs remain partially full. This limits the amount of fresh air that can be breathed in and shortness of breath becomes a problem. Trying to compensate by breathing faster only causes more used air to be trapped inside. Although there is no known cure for emphysema, following your doctor's orders, quitting smoking if you haven't already done so, and practicing basic self-help measures and breathing techniques can help make breathing easier.
WITH ASTHMA, recent findings have shown that the airways or breathing tubes respond to various triggers by becoming inflamed and swollen. The inflammation causes an increase in mucus production which clogs the already narrowed breathing passages. In turn, the muscles surrounding the airways go into spasm, narrowing and collapsing these small passageways. This narrowing of the airways is what causes coughing and, frequently, a wheezing or whistling sound as the individual breathes in and out. Asthma is one condition which is often misunderstood because its symptoms come and go and can have many triggers such as allergens (examples— mold, pollen, dust, and animal dander), weather, infections, and sometimes unknown causes that are different for each individual. Controlling asthma can be as simple as avoiding those triggers which are known to bring on an attack. Sometimes this is hard to do, but learning some simple breathing exercises and relaxation techniques and taking prescribed medications makes it easier to breathe.
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