Inhalers deliver medicine directly into your lungs. The main medicines used to treat COPD are inhalers. Medicines can help ease your symptoms so you breathe more easily, they can also prevent flare-ups of COPD and improve your quality of life. Read about COPD flare-up and how to manage it. If you have COPD and your symptoms become worse suddenly and particularly severe, this is known as a flare-up. increased phlegm or mucus, often thick and white or brownish in colour.problems breathing, shortness of breath or breathlessness, at first only when you exert yourself, but over time even when resting.ongoing cough, with or without mucus or phlegm.Over time, the cough gets worse and occurs throughout the day.Īs COPD progresses, you may gradually find it harder to do your normal daily activities, such as gardening, hanging out the washing or carrying groceries, without feeling short of breath. You may cough up mucus in the mornings or feel more short of breath than usual. The first symptoms of COPD tend to come on slowly, and people often mistake them as signs of ageing, lack of fitness or asthma. It is difficult to notice the symptoms of COPD at an early stage as they can be mild and may not occur all the time. Read more about alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency (external link) (external link). People who have an alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency usually develop COPD at a younger age, often under 40, particularly if they smoke. Without it, your lungs are more vulnerable to damage. Alpha-1-antitrypsin is a substance that protects your lungs. This is called alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency. GeneticsĪbout 1 in 100 people with COPD has a genetic tendency to develop COPD. The risk of COPD is even higher if you breathe in dust or fumes in the workplace and you smoke as well. Substances that have been linked to COPD include welding fumes, cadmium dust and fumes, grain and flour dust, and silica dust. Fumes and dust at workĮxposure to certain types of dust and chemicals at work may damage your lungs and increase your risk of COPD. This can increase the risk of developing COPD when you are an adult. Smoking and second-hand smoke exposure during your childhood and teenage years can slow lung growth and development. If you are an ex-smoker, you remain at risk and should watch out for symptoms of breathlessness. This is because harmful chemicals in smoke can damage the lining of your lungs and airways. Second-hand smoke is smoke that has been breathed out by a person smoking or that comes from the end of a lit tobacco product.Ībout 1 in every 4 smokers will develop COPD. In Aotearoa New Zealand, nearly all COPD is caused by breathing in tobacco smoke, either directly by smoking or indirectly from second-hand smoke. There is no cure for COPD, but there are things you can do to improve your symptoms and breathe more easily, eg, quitting smoking, using your inhaler medicines and being up-to-date with your vaccinations.ĬOPD is caused by long-term exposure to substances that can irritate and damage your lungs, such as smoking or certain types of fumes, dust and chemicals at work.People with COPD are at risk of getting chest infections and COPD is a common cause of hospital admissions.Common symptoms include shortness of breath, ongoing cough and coughing up phlegm or mucus. Symptoms tend to start slowly over a few years, so many people may have COPD but not realise it.The main cause of COPD is ongoing contact with substances that irritate and damage your lungs, most often through smoking.The 2 main conditions that cause COPD are emphysema and chronic bronchitis.It is important that you manage your COPD as well as you can by continuing to use them – even if you test positive for COVID-19. While COVID-19 is circulating, if you use corticosteroid inhalers or courses of oral corticosteroids as part of your COPD plan, you should continue to do so.
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