According to the World Health Organization, COPD is the fourth most common cause of death after cardiovascular diseases, pneumonia and AIDS.
When a healthy person breathes fresh air into their lungs, this air is absorbed by the bronchi and oxygen is delivered to the tissues through the blood. Since the capacity of the lung will decrease if the bronchi are clogged, the breathing fresh air cannot be absorbed enough by the bronchi and consequently enough oxygen cannot be delivered to the tissues. This chronic lung disease that causes complaints such as breathing difficulties, coughs and shortness of breath in the person is called COPD.
It is a highly encountered disease in people using cigarettes, pipes, cigars. Smoke blocks the lungs and causes destruction. In fact, noticing the disease early may slow its progression. Its main symptoms are cough and sputum. This disease should come to mind, especially if there is a cough with sputum in the morning. However, since cough and sputum are already common conditions for smokers, they do not consider them an inconvenience. As such, it is often not possible to detect the disease early.
Not only cigarette smoke, but also dust, smoke and chemicals in the workplaces and the air pollution that develops due to using wood and dung as fuel can cause the bronchi to clog and cause this disease.
Quitting smoking means deciding to hold onto life again. Smoking addiction is treatable. The important thing is that the addict volunteers to quit. To raise awareness, World COPD Day activities are organized worldwide on the third Wednesday of November each year.
Coah stages:
The disease is named with 4 different stages: mild, moderate, severe and very severe Coah, depending on the severity of the symptoms.
- Mild Coah: Having shortness of breath during activities that require effort such as climbing stairs and carrying loads are the symptoms that indicate the initial stage of this disease.
- Moderate Koah: It is the Koah stage that causes shortness of breath during daily work.
- Severe Koah: The person suffering from shortness of breath cannot get wakeless sleep especially at night, breathing distress leads to weakness and is no longer necessary to do even daily tasks.
• Very Severe Coah: Breathing becomes extremely difficult at this stage, as enough oxygen is not supplied to the tissues, causing discomfort in various organs. Heart failure can be seen in the patient who has difficulty in walking.
See Also: Lung Surgery
