Smoker’s Cough? Think Again, You May Have COPD

People who smoke, or live with smokers, often cough a great deal. It’s usually referred to as smokers cough, but in over 80% of all cases, it's COPD.

To just take some over-the-counter cough medicine, or "live with it" is endangering who whole life.

COPD? COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and is usually a combination of two similar maladies, i.e. chronic bronchitis and chronic emphysema.

COPD is the chronic obstruction of the air flow through the vessels into and out of the lungs. This obstruction generally is progressive and becomes permanent.

With early care, some patients with COPD can have the symptoms partially reversed, with asthma medications (bronchodilators).

These medications both enlarge and dilate the air passages. Without care, great complications can (and will) develop with an early death as a result.

It seems that COPD mixes the symptoms of both diseases; so people with exhibit the characteristics of. It works the same for bronchitis and emphysema.

Chronic bronchitis

Chronic bronchitis exhibits inflammation and swelling of the lining of the airways of the lungs.

This will leads to narrowing and obstruction of the airways. The inflammation evokes production of mucous, which itself further obstructs the airways.

This eventually leads to bacterial lung infections, and other dangerous complications.

Chronic bronchitis is a daily cough with production of mucus for 90 days. The cough is persistent, often accompanied by fever.

Emphysema

Emphysema is the permanent enlargement of the alveoli (air sacks in the lungs).

This is caused by the destruction of the alveolar walls, reducing the elasticity of the lungs generally. This loss of elasticity results in the collapse of the bronchioles, further obstructing airflow out of the alveoli.

Air cannot leave the alveoli, so the lungs lose their ability to shrink during exhalation.

The reduced exhalation reduces then the amount of air that is inhaled. It follows that less air and the normal exchange of gasses gets into and out of the lungs.

The result of improperly exchanged gases means that the person with will not be able to properly expel carbon dioxide and take in the necessary oxygen.

Emphysema also causes difficulty in breathing, and great complications follow.

Smoker’s Cough?

If you are coughing over 2 months, and producing mucus, you must see a doctor to test what exactly you have.

Smoker’s cough is only a symptom in about 12% of the cases, and usually the problem is COPD. If you have COPD, there are medications and techniques to help you.

If you do not seek medical care, you are only reducing your life expectancy, and certainly watching the quality of what is left of your life diminish daily.

Remember, COPD is the main reason for the chronic cough, not smoke or some leftover from a cold. You need to seek out professional help. You life is at stake, nothing less.

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