Emphysema patients are sometimes referred to as what?
552398
Pink puffers... and chronic bronchitis patients are blue bloaters. Both are included under COPD.
1158303
Emphysema as stated previously is typically caused by smoking and less likely second hand smoke.  So not smoking would prevent the development of emphysema.\n\nThere is another rarely genetic disorder called alpha-1 anti trypsin deficiency that account of 1-2% of all emphysema patient.  \nhttp://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/alpha1def.htm\n\nThe way emphysema works is as follows: people smoke and over time the toxins in the smoke damages and thins out your lung tissue.  As you get less and less lung tissue,  there is less surface area by which the oxygen that you breathe can cross into your blood.  Remember, that with less lung issue there is less surface the oxygen can come into contact with and cross into your blood.  If enough lung tissue is destoyed, there is less oxygen going into your body and your body recognizes this.  You get short of breath.  In addition when you do activity, your body's oxygen demand increase but the limiting factor is the limited amount of oxygen your lung can get into your system.  So people with emphysema have poor exercise tolerance and they fatigue early.  By the time people develope symptoms from emphysema, it is pretty advanced.  The way that I see it is that people have alot of reserve lung tissue initially that compensates for the progressive lost of lung tissue.  There is a point when all your reserve is used up which is late in the ballgame that you become symptomatic.\n\nObviously, anything that tries to push your lungs to do more will result in the lung not being about to meet the demand.  So things like allergies, a common cold, and pneumonia  can all try to push you lungs to do more but it can't.\n\nThis however is a very simplistic view of emphysema but I hope you understand it a bit better.  Getting on medication will help with the symptoms in addition to pulmonary rehab which helps to increase you physical endurance.  Get yearly flu shots and get your pneumonia shots.  See you doctor early when you develop increasing shortness of breathe, a cold or change in you cough or a fever.  Treat allergies and cold/bronchitis aggressively.
144139
both are, any smoke that is breathed by someone not smoking that cigartee.  For example I have asthma, so alot of smoke, or at times just a little can make me physcially sick.
865601
Pneumono ultramicroscopic silicovolcano coniosis\n\nit doesn't have to do with volcanos its a lung disease sweetie.
1048365
emphysema is irreversible -- meaning it canNOT be cured. once you have it, you have it for life. the only thing you can do is to take good care of yourself so that it does not worsen. (like following therapeutic measures religiously and stop smoking)\n\ni don't believe in natural healing -- if it really existed, this would have been a medical breakthrough -- why spend all the money doing research and creating medicines, if we could get these natural things for a cheaper price?\n\nthere are 2 kinds of emphysema -- 1 is congenital (from birth) resulting from the absence of alpha-1-anti-trypsin, which helps the lungs expand, and come back to its original shape. \n\nthe 2nd one is smoking -- this destroys that elasticity, and does not help the lungs go back to its original size, so you would see people with emphysema -- they have big chests, and they'd complain that they "can't catch their breath". people with COPD -- their lungs are very very sick -- as health care providers, we watch out for these people if we were to put them on oxygen. normally, the oxygen in our body ranges from 80 to 100 mmhg (millimeters of mercury) for a COPD patient -- we lower the criteria to 60. if they inhale all those oxygen in and convert to carbon dioxide, because of their disease, this prevents them from fully exhaling all those carbon dioxide out -- which results to acidosis. then we would have to put them in a ventilator, and sedate them because it's uncomfortable (ouch!) take their blood every hour to see any improvement.  they're very tough to treat, to tell you the truth. quitting smoking is one of the best cure there is. not only do they help themselves, they make our jobs easier too.\n\nthis is just one of the many effects of smoking. i get a lot of negative responses when i talk trash about smoking -- they'd tell me, "i don't care if i get sick in the future, you can't dictate me what to do! my body is my body" -- well, they're young. they still have around 15-20 years to regret and swallow what they just said.\n\ni hope the kind of emphysema you have is congenital. if you got it from smoking, you'd probably see me roll my eyes and say "oh boy."
255429
Restrictive airway disease is not a specific disease - its a term to describe any condition that decreases your ability to get air into your lungs.   It could be from a condition like scoliosis (an abnormal curving of the spine) which basically "squishes" the lungs, or from a problem with the lungs themselves, like pulmonary fibrosis.   But basically, it means your friend may have difficulty getting a big breath in, and may get short of breath during regular activities.
457871
Asphyxia is where one person's air supply is being choked off or in the process of BEING choked off. (Not a good thing!)\n\nPeriodic breathing is a condition originating from an earlier medical or physical problem in that person's life where they couldn't breathe normally like they wanted to. (Preemies are a good example. Underdeveloped lungs shortens their ability to breathe normally. So they had to adapt.)\n\nMost people take regular and deep breaths. Shallow breathing is common.
1123754
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis \n\nMeaning? \n\nA lung disease.
571913
This would be a ventilator unit. Vent's are machines which breath for a person unable to breath for themselves.
1104603
Depends on the disease, or type of disease.  Google the American lung association, they have links to national resources.  Good luck.
311293
pneumo-\nnoultra-\nmicroscopic-\nsilico-\nvolcanoconiosis\n\n(had to break it up, or yahoo answers makes it all ..., like this)\npneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
230680
What is emphysema? \nEmphysema is a chronic (long-term) lung disease that can get worse over time. It’s usually caused by smoking. Having emphysema means some of the air sacs in your lungs are damaged, making it hard to breathe.
112101
The constant exposure to irritants, tar etc.. causes the alveoli ( the air sacs inside your lungs that expand when you breathe in ) to lose their elasticity...as a result less oxugen is absorbed in these sacs resulting in a shrinking, hardening of these sacs, and a decrease of oxygen intake.  This is why most emphysema patients are on oxygen to help them breathe......This is emphysema
635596
The one major symptom is shortness of breath, early on in the disease it come with mild exertion, as the disease worsens the shortness of breath becomes more constant.  Coughing becomes a problem, takes alot of work to bring up the junk forming in the lungs.  Panic breathing becomes a problem, this is when you just can't seem to get enough air into your lungs it is truly frightening.  COPD is treated with bronchodilators, anti-spasmodic medications and steroids usually in the form of inhalers.  This delivers the medication directly to the lungs where it will do the most good.  Oxygen is eventually required, since the COPD patient has a hard time getting enough air into his lungs, the higher oxygen concentration helps.  Further treatment is surgical.  Lung reduction surgery can help but in the end is only temporary.  The only way to be rid of COPD alltogethor is by lung transplant.  This is how I got rid of mine nearly 9 years ago.
344759
Emphysema after dental care is caused by introduction of air into the soft tissues during dental treatment.  Are you sure he said emphysema?  Sounds more like you have pulpitis or a nerve infection..
297715
Medically spirometry is a measurement of lung capacity and lung function. Doctors interpret the results to check for asthma, emphysema and other lung problems.
305654
We have tiny little air sacs that make up our lung tissue. They're called "alveoli" (each one is an "alveolus"). In order to work properly, they need to maintain elasticity. It's also important that the walls of the sacs maintain their structural integrity. Cigarette smoke, air pollution, and some genetic conditions will cause the walls of the alveoli to harden or to lose their elasticity and for the individual sacs to collapse. If that happens, the surface area where oxygen can enter the bloodstream through the alveoli decreases. \n\nThis isn't a perfect analogy, but think about it this way: if you're trying to blow up a balloon, but you pinch the opening too tightly, you won't be able to get air into the balloon (your bloodstream). What you're doing there is decreasing the "surface area" of the hole. At a certain point, you won't be able to get any air in the balloon at all - or at least not enough to beat the resistance of the tension of the inner walls of the balloon. \n\nWith emphysema, as the disease progresses the person can't get enough oxygen through the walls of the alveoli and into the bloodstream to sustain life, and eventually asphyxiates. Even with increasingly pure doses of inhaled oxygen, the lungs lose their capacity to oxygenate the blood.\n\nAlthough emphysema isn't curable, lung transplantation offers some hope. Also, its progress can often be arrested by quitting smoking, reducing pollutants in one's environment, and by use of some steroids (some of which have very severe side-effects, though).