SearchExclusive.com

4 Frequently Asked Questions About Emphysema

4 frequently asked questions about emphysema
A chronic lung condition, emphysema is a condition that comes under the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Emphysema is caused because of damaging of the air sacs lining the lungs. This leads to shortness of breath along with other symptoms that affect the lungs and the person’s immune system. Gradually, the inner walls of the air sacs deteriorate leading to air being trapped in the lungs. This significantly brings down the level of oxygen in the bloodstream. Often, people with emphysema tend to develop chronic bronchitis. This causes inflammation of the bronchial tubes and leads to persistent coughing. There is no permanent cure for emphysema. All treatments are geared toward improving the quality of life and extending emphysema life expectancy. Read on to know more about causes, symptoms, treatments, and emphysema life expectancy.

What are the causes of emphysema?

Tobacco – One of the major causes of emphysema is tobacco. Smoking causes damage to the air sac linings of the lungs. An excessive consumption of tobacco can also destroy the protective air sac linings. This causes emphysema. Smoking and tobacco consumption increases the risk of emphysema.
Alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency – The alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) is a naturally occurring protein that circulates in the bloodstream. This protein prevents the white blood cells from damaging the normal tissues. While these cells are important to fight off infections, a deficiency of AAT in the body can cause the cells to damage the lungs. This can lead to emphysema. The deficiency of AAT is usually a congenital condition that carries the risk of emphysema along with other disorders.

What are the symptoms of emphysema?

One of the most common symptoms of emphysema is shortness of breath. This can be accompanied by wheezing and coughing caused because of the production of mucus. There are no acute episodes of shortness of breath. However, the symptoms may aggravate slowly over time.
Another significant symptom is pursed lip breathing. An emphysema patient has difficulty in completely exhaling empty air trapped in the lungs. They tend to purse their lips that leaves a small opening. While exhaling, the pursed lips block the airflow, which increases pressure on the airways. This causes the collapsed airways to open up and the trapped air is exhaled out of the system.
Emphysema patients often develop a barrel chest. The distance between the chest and back increases due to the air trapped in the collapsed airways.

What is the life expectancy of an emphysema patient?

Emphysema life expectancy depends upon a number of factors. These include chronic smoking habit, excessive consumption of alcohol, age, gender, body weight, exposure to second-hand smoking and poisonous fumes, and pre-existing medical conditions, such as diabetes, HIV, connective tissue disorder, and heart problems.
The stage of emphysema also determines the life expectancy of the person. Life expectancy of a 65-year-old man who is a heavy smoker and is in stage 1 or stage 2 of emphysema reduces by 3.3 to 5.7 years. The life expectancy of chronic smokers in stages 3 and 4 of emphysema reduces by nearly 9 years.
The life expectancy of people who have quit smoking and are in Stage 2 or 3 of emphysema reduces by 5 years. In Stage 4, the life expectancy reduces by nearly 9 years.

Which treatments help in extending the life expectancy of emphysema patients?

Medications – Doctors usually recommend medications in the following categories—bronchodilators, inhaled steroids, and antibiotics. Bronchodilators open up blocked airways and alleviate symptoms of shortness of breath, coughing, and other breathing problems. Inhaled steroids or corticosteroids are usually in the form of aerosol sprays. These give relief from inflammation and shortness of breath. Antibiotics are recommended if emphysema causes pneumonia or acute bronchitis.
Therapy – Therapy includes pulmonary rehabilitation, nutrition therapy, and supplemental oxygen. Pulmonary rehabilitation therapy involves breathing exercises that can reduce symptoms of breathlessness and improve an emphysema patient’s ability to do light exercises. Nutritional therapy is required to maintain an adequate body weight as per the stage of emphysema.
Surgery – Surgery is usually recommended based on the severity of emphysema symptoms. There are two major surgeries that can be done for emphysema—lung volume reduction surgery and lung transplant. In lung volume reduction surgery, small portions of damaged lung tissue are removed. The removal of the damaged portions helps the lung to expand and makes it easier to breathe. Lung transplant is usually recommended as a last resort when no other treatment works.

Tags: emphysema life expectancy

Related Reading

Tips for Buying the Best Dog Food

Most of the dogs do not have a food fuss and may eat almost anything that you feed them. Dogs are not choosy at all when it comes to food and nutrition. Hence, it is important to make sure that the food that you are purchasing for your dog is healthy. The landscape of dog food has been developing by leaps and bounds in recent times. There is a wide variety of options to choose from in the online and offline market. Given the wide range of options that are available today, buying the best dog food might seem to be a confusing task indeed. All the commercial pet food that is available in the market today is regulated by the FDA. Therefore, most of the products do contain nutritious, healthy, and safe ingredients. But it does help to know certain basic factors you should look for while buying food for your dog. Prioritize on the nutritional guarantee The best dog food, which meets the dog’s needs adequately has a statement written on the label of the product, from the Association of American Feed Control Officials. Buy from some of the best dog food brands, such as Fromm Family Foods, Earthborn Holistic, Nature’s Variety Instinct, and The Honest Kitchen.

Different Types of Kitchen Cabinets Available for Your Home

The most important aspect when designing your kitchen is deciding on the type of cabinets. In addition to functionality, kitchen cabinets score on aesthetics as well. Once the layout is planned, you can go ahead with choosing the cabinets. If you’re remodeling your home or just the kitchen, what you need to consider are the types of cabinets that furnish your kitchen. Here are a few types of kitchen cabinets that you can choose from. Base cabinets These kitchen cabinets are mounted on the floor and they are placed after checking out the floor plan. A major part of your job in the kitchen is on these base cabinets, which hold and support the countertops. These base cabinets are combined to carve out kitchen islands. A number of base cabinets are fused/set against one another and installed on site. The base cabinets, in addition to supporting the countertops, serve as drawers to hold your cutlery and appliances. Wall cabinets Mounted on the walls, these cabinets can store everything, right from your cookware to cookbooks. In terms of design, they offer utmost flexibility. Wall cabinet kitchen is available in varying heights, multiple widths, and custom depth options. This customization helps you to fit in your stuff of varying shapes and sizes into the wall cabinets.

How to Pick the Right Dog Food for a Sensitive Stomach

In today’s world, where you are presented with over a dozen choices for every item you would purchase for your own kitchen, it is not surprising that you have an equal number of options for your dog’s food. However, choosing the perfect brand and formula for your dog out of a range of options in the market is not an easy job. Your pet depends on you and trusts you to make the right choice for them. Therefore, it is imperative that you do your research about the products available in the market, understand what your dog needs, know what might be your pet’s problems, and then make a sound decision. What is a sensitive stomach? Dogs are known to have voracious and large appetites. Keeping that in mind, it is normal to assume that they have strong stomachs. They can eat close to anything be it sweets, bakes, chewy gum, hard leather or even woolen socks for that matter! It always so happens that the strongest of them are prone to allergies and can develop a disorder which is medically translated as a sensitive stomach. This might be due to a sudden change in the food habits or even due an infection picked up from somewhere.

All You Need to Know about Cat Food

For cat owners, cat food is a hot topic. You need to think about it in different aspects. The best thing is to know which ingredients are good for cat food and which are harmful. If you are aware of this, you can get an idea about the quality of the cat food just by going through the label. It is always sensible to stick to one brand of cat food. However, you may also want to try and prepare cat food yourself. There are also various options for wet cat food as well. Cat’s love for fish is universal, so you can do without going for expensive cat food. Nevertheless, whether you buy it or prepare cat food at home, you need to ensure that the food contains enough nutrition and calories. You would need to have some idea about the ingredients that must be present in cat food and make a worthy selection for your cat. Basic ingredients present in good cat foods Cats need a variety of nutrients to stay healthy and active; they need various vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, and oils. The following is a brief explanation of the basic ingredients that should be present in cat foods.