What causes COPD?
Moderator: talkhealth
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Vicky Barber
- Posts: 18
- Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2015 10:34 am
Re: What causes COPD?
Dear Rob
Thank you for your post.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease can have many causes;
Asthma, occupations, gastric reflux, allergies and runny nose, smoking, passive smoking and previous medical problems such as pneumonia to name a few.
COPD is a condition which mainly affects the airways. To keep things simple if we think of one of these airways as a pipe.
Our lungs deteriorate with age
The concept of obstruction is simple, if anything causes the airway to swell and it doesn't resolve quickly it will turn to scar tissue, and therefore obstruct the airway.
The severity of the airway obstruction grades the COPD.
In terms of percentages you only need to have 30% reduction in airflow to give a diagnosis of obstruction.
It is important to note that the machine can only report obstruction, it cannot differentiate between airway swelling or scarring causing the obstruction.
Your Gp quite rightly has not confirmed the diagnosis until a reliable result has been obtained.
I hope this explains things for you, but feel free to let me know or contact the British Lung Foundation helpline to speak to a nurse on 03000 030 555
Thank you for your post.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease can have many causes;
Asthma, occupations, gastric reflux, allergies and runny nose, smoking, passive smoking and previous medical problems such as pneumonia to name a few.
COPD is a condition which mainly affects the airways. To keep things simple if we think of one of these airways as a pipe.
Our lungs deteriorate with age
The concept of obstruction is simple, if anything causes the airway to swell and it doesn't resolve quickly it will turn to scar tissue, and therefore obstruct the airway.
The severity of the airway obstruction grades the COPD.
In terms of percentages you only need to have 30% reduction in airflow to give a diagnosis of obstruction.
It is important to note that the machine can only report obstruction, it cannot differentiate between airway swelling or scarring causing the obstruction.
Your Gp quite rightly has not confirmed the diagnosis until a reliable result has been obtained.
I hope this explains things for you, but feel free to let me know or contact the British Lung Foundation helpline to speak to a nurse on 03000 030 555
Vicky Barber
Nurse Manager- British Lung Foundation
http://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/on ... barber.php
Nurse Manager- British Lung Foundation
http://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/on ... barber.php
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Dr Helen Webberley
- Posts: 96
- Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2015 10:31 am
Re: What causes COPD?
Hello, as Vicky says, lungs get more 'restrictive' with age and at some point this may get labelled as 'COPD'.
The most important thing really is, how is your breathing and would any inhalers help it for you? That is more beneficial to you than a diagnosis or a label.
The chest x-ray is routine in anyone who has breathing troubles, and to be honest if you are not a smoker, then it probably won't show much. We are always on the lookout for early cancers, but lung cancer is a smoking related illness in the most part.
People who are diagnosed with COPD, however mild, qualify for extra monitoring via your GP and so your GP will be keen to get a formal diagnosis if this is what you have.
Listen to your sympotms rather than the label, if you are not a smoker then you are not in the risk group for severe and progressive COPD!
I hope this helps, Dr Webberley
The most important thing really is, how is your breathing and would any inhalers help it for you? That is more beneficial to you than a diagnosis or a label.
The chest x-ray is routine in anyone who has breathing troubles, and to be honest if you are not a smoker, then it probably won't show much. We are always on the lookout for early cancers, but lung cancer is a smoking related illness in the most part.
People who are diagnosed with COPD, however mild, qualify for extra monitoring via your GP and so your GP will be keen to get a formal diagnosis if this is what you have.
Listen to your sympotms rather than the label, if you are not a smoker then you are not in the risk group for severe and progressive COPD!
I hope this helps, Dr Webberley
Dr Helen Webberley
NHS GP and Director of www.MyWebDoctor.co.uk
MBChB MRCGP MFSRH DipGUM DipIPM
http://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/on ... berley.php
NHS GP and Director of www.MyWebDoctor.co.uk
MBChB MRCGP MFSRH DipGUM DipIPM
http://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/on ... berley.php
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