COPD Eating

While I haven't done a LOONNG post in forever, this is related to the series I started about COPD. It's short and sweet. Because COPD affects your breathing, it can also affect how you eat. I was very pleased when earlier today, Health.com posted an article on how you can enjoy your meals more when suffering from one of the many conditions under the COPD blanket. Eating is super important because, according to the chief medical officer for the American Lung Association, COPD leads to hypermetabolic states. This means burning of excess calories leading to weight-loss and undernourishment.

Many of the tips may seem like common sense, but people may need to be reminded of these things. People with COPD should first and foremost quit smoking. Also, drinking anything while eating can be a bit tricky. Another good tip is to eat your largest meal early in the day and try to eat many smaller meals. The list includes many other helpful tips so if you or someone you know suffers from COPD, you may want to check it out. There are 15 very easy tips in all.

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COPDPart 2: The Lungs

In this post, I hope to give you all a better understanding of what the lungs do and why they are important. If you remember my first post in my COPD series (I know, it took me a while to get to this one), I gave a brief overview of some of the diseases that this blanket term covers. By giving you a small idea of the function of the lungs, I hope to make it easier to understand future posts about how the specific diseases affect a person in different ways. Remember, click the diagram to view it in a larger format. Now, on to learning!

How We Breath
At its simplest, breathing is comprised of air entering the main windpipe- labeled the trachea on the diagram- enters the right and left main tube (stem bronchus). From here, the bronchus splits into more than 100,000 bronchioles and form more than 300 million air sacs.

Because of all of this branching and forming, the surface area of the lungs is huge. It usually averages about 100 sq yards. The air sacs themselves are quite small at only about .3mm diameter and they are covered with lots of capillaries. This small size makes the transfer of gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide) really efficient.

A Line of Defense
The lungs are not only our gas exchange center, but act as a line of defense against environmental factors and many diseases. The lungs will form a mucus and expel any build up or pollutants. The lungs aid in disposing of blood clots from our veins. They also get rid of gas bubbles in our blood stream. If that wasn't enough, they are believed to also act as a cushion around the heart to protect it from light physical trauma. Think of them as a cushioned helmet or knee pad for the heart. Pretty impressive!

Shape
The lungs actually flank the heart. While at first glance, the two lungs may appear symmetrical, they are not. They are actually separated into distinct lobes (think like the partitions on a fish gill) and there are three lobes on the right and two on the left. Also, the "cardiac notch" gives them each a unique shape. This is the hole that allows the heart to rest between the lungs so well. Since the heart is not symmetrical, the notches to accommodate it between the lungs are not either.

What Does This Do For Me?
In case you haven't figured out why the lungs are important yet, here is a synopsis of why:

• aid in waste transport in by removing waste gas and blood clots
• help fight off infections that could affect other parts of the body
• other parts of the body need oxygen to function
• they protect our heart
  
• they let us talk, yell, sing, whistle, yawn, and more!

I hope this clears things up for you all. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know in the comments.

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COPDPart 1: An Overview.

This post (or series as it is turning out to be) is dedicated to Wendy.

What is COPD?
COPD, or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, is actually an umbrella term that refers to a group of lung diseases that block the airways in the lungs. Since these disease block airways and airflow, the simple act of breathing becomes increasingly difficult. The most common of these diseases are emphysema and chronic bronchitis. The word chronic means "long-term" and treatment for COPD is usually just to control and minimize the symptoms, not reverse the damage to your lungs.

What is emphysema?
It is a lung disease that causes damage to the air sacs in your lungs. The most common cause is smoking and the damage gets progressively worse over time. Persons with air sacs that are diseased cannot fill their lungs with fresh air, therefor limiting the bodies supply of oxygen. Common symptoms are chronic coughing that does not produce mucus, wheezing, swelling around ankles, and wight loss.

What is chronic bronchitis?
This lung disease actually causes an inflammation of the main airways in your lungs. Smoking causes it and allergies, secondhand smoke, and air pollution make it worse. Some symptoms are coughing with mucus, wheezing, fatigue, and ankle and foot swelling. There is no cure for chronic bronchitis.

The next post in the series will be about how the lungs work to give you a better understanding of how COPD can affect your life.

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