COPD has a whole lot of symptoms and they are all connected with the lungs which are the organs that are affected. There are three diseases that fall under the COPD umbrella so let’s take a look at the symptoms that each of them manifest.
The first one is emphysema and here, you will find that the least bit of physical exercise brings on breathlessness. The person feels a tightness in the chest and there could be wheezing. There’s a general feeling of discomfort as the person tries gulping in more air. In chronic bronchitis, you could have a cough that goes on for at least two months of the year and the sputum could be yellowish. In the beginning, it is just the cough and the having to clear your throat in the mornings that is apparent. Later on, as the disease progresses, there will come a time when the breathlessness begins. A person with chronic bronchitis will suffer from respiratory infections often. In chronic asthmatic bronchitis, you will find all the symptoms of bronchitis together with those of asthma. The person could suffer from bronchospasms as well as wheezing spells.
So these are the symptoms in brief of all the three conditions that occur in COPD or
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Overall, all COPD patients will go through breathlessness at some point of time in the disease. There could be periods of wheezing as well. The shortness of breath may not be apparent or felt all the time in the beginning but it will be felt when there is a little bit of physical effort like walking fast, climbing stirs or running to catch a train. Very soon even dressing up or making a cup of coffee could make you feel very tired. This phase does not last forever and soon, even with medication, there could be a decline when you feel breathless most of the time.
The wheezing does not come on for all the three types but it could be tiring when it does. Wheezing is the sound made by the air rattling in the narrowed airways. The air that enters the lungs goes through with effort and this is the sound of wheezing. The airways are narrow because of the inflammation and the air that is sucked in goes in noisily into the lungs.
There could be a lot of mucous when you have COPD. Any infection brings out the mucous which is the body’s reaction to the infection. This mucous fills the lungs and the airways and causes even more breathlessness. If bacteria enter the lungs at this stage, the mucus or phlegm will be an indicator of any infection because it will turn green or yellow. There’s a lot of phlegm that COPD patients cough up daily.
With the lungs being so weak, it is little wonder that these people are prone to chest infections. Then, all the symptoms become so much worse when there is an infection. Both bacteria and virus attacks are common and while antibiotics can deal with the former, they cannot get rid of the latter. So even common viruses can play havoc with these patients and cause so much suffering. One will just have to treat the symptoms and live in hope that these conditions respond. The unfortunate thing is that while for many an attack of flu or anything like that will pass and you just need to wait a few days, in this case, any bacteria or viral might not run its course but will just make the symptoms worse.
You might see a few other symptoms too when it comes to COPD. There could be weight loss for many of these patients and they feel tired all the time because they don’t get enough oxygen. They could also feel terribly depressed because they tend to feel ill most of the day. Just the fact that they feel breathless can make them feel extremely uncomfortable and everything, even the smallest chore seems so hard to do.
Very often, just a mention of the many symptoms is enough for your doctor to come up with what the disease is. However, if, after his stethoscope test he feels you need to go to a specialist, he will recommend a pulmonologist whose main area of specialization is the lungs. In most cases, the symptoms are very clear and the general practitioner could perhaps make the diagnosis but he might prefer to send you to a professional. So it is very important for you to write out your symptoms so the doctor has a clear picture of what you are going through and can make a fairly accurate diagnosis. They symptoms of COPD are fairly easy to spot and this is why you need to write down every thing.