More than 10 million people suffer from COPD every year in India. Let us get to know more about the disease.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease also known as COPD, is a preventable and treatable lung related disease. People who suffer from COPD find it difficult to breathe and often feel tired. If you are suffering from similar difficulty, you can visit Dr Loveleen Mangla who is a COPD specialist in Faridabad.
COPD is an umbrella term for diseases such as Chronic bronchitis and Emphysema. Both these conditions usually co-exist, as they share the same risk factors such as smoking.
COPD as the name suggests is an obstructive disease. When a person suffers from COPD the airways are obstructed making it difficult to breath out the air completely.
Asthma is another disease that causes narrowing of the airways, making it hard to breathe at times, but asthma is not included in the definition of COPD. Some people do have a mix of both COPD and asthma.
Chronic bronchitis is a type of COPD which is caused by exposure to irritants. The major cause of chronic bronchitis is smoking. The irritants lead to excessive production of mucus which obstructs small airways( bronchioles). This interferes with the emptying of lungs and does not allow the air to be completely removed from the lungs.
The symptoms of chronic bronchitis may include:
Emphysema is a type of COPD which is caused by damage to air sacs in the lungs called alveoli. Our lungs have more than 300 million alveoli. These air sacs are normally stretchy and bouncy. When we breathe in the air sacs expand and when we breathe out they bounce back to their normal size.
In emphysema, the walls of the alveoli are damaged and they lose their stretchiness and are enlarged permanently. This disables them from emptying out the air completely. Therefore people with emphysema have difficulty exhaling.
The symptoms of emphysema may include:
The major risk factor for COPD is smoking. Apart from smoking the other factors that can cause COPD are exposure to irritants such as chemicals and genetic risk.
Common signs and symptoms of COPD:
If you have these symptoms, visit a COPD specialist for diagnosis.Testing should be done in people who are at risk for COPD. Your healthcare provider may have you do a breathing test (lung function test) called spirometry. Spirometry measures your ability to exhale and can detect whether your airways are narrowed.
At our clinic, Dr Loveleen Mangla, who is one of the best doctors of COPD in Faridabad, will analyse your symptoms and suggest tests such as X-ray, CT. Based on the analysis and the test result COPD will be diagnosed.
COPD is a chronic disease, which means it lasts for a long time, but it is also treatable. The treatment of COPD depends on the condition of the patient. If you want to know more about treatment options available, book an appointment today with our COPD specialist in Faridabad.
Room No 15, Old Wing, METRO HOSPITAL Sector 16, Faridabad.
Also Avialable At Mangla Chest Clinic,Opposite Civil Hospital,New Sohna Road, Palwal (Friday By Appointment Only)
+91 9625293011
09:00 AM - 03:00 PM (Monday-Saturday)
info@drloveleenmangla.com
