Treating COPD

COPD doesn’t have a cure, but it does have treatments that can help you live a better life. Having COPD does not mean you cannot lead a full life. With the right medication, a proper diet and lifestyle changes you can achieve good symptom control and quality of life

• Say no to smoking

If you’re a smoker, stop smoking. This is the single most important lifestyle change you need to make. Staying away from smoking, no matter how long you have had the habit, helps reduce the damage to the lung tissues. Now, there are products that can help you quit smoking. Your doctor can tell you about these.

• Avoid other lung irritants

Apart from smoking, there could be other factors that are irritating your lungs such as second-hand smoke, chemical fumes and dust, which should be avoided.

• Take the right medication regularly

Medications can reduce symptoms and cut down on flare-ups. COPD medication helps the airways in 2 ways – widening them and reducing the swelling. All the latest medication for COPD are highly effective, and they help improve your quality of life. Most of the medicines are available in an inhalation form – as inhalers are safer. One needs to take the medication regularly (as the doctor prescribes) to control the symptoms.

Sometimes, COPD can cause the oxygen levels in the blood to drop. Before you start getting tense about it, this phenomenon can be easily tackled with supplemental oxygen.

• Vaccines

People who have COPD have difficulty clearing their lungs of bacteria, dusts and other pollutants in the air and are therefore more likely to get lung infections, that may cause further damage to the lungs So you may need to get a flu vaccine every year.