“Golden Habits for COPD” brings you Five More Habits for Coping with COPD in 2023. We promised them to you at the end of our previous blog. Thus, we present you with 5 more golden lifestyle habits. These five are companions of the 5 mind-boggling COPD life changes we brought you in our previous blog.
COPD Attacks People of Any Age Due to Long Term Exposure to Air Pollutants.
Although the two blogs stand alone, you might want to read or review the first five Mind-Boggling Changes at this point. We are naming these “golden” because of the new COPD perspectives in the Gold Report for 2023.
Number 6 of the Golden Habits for COPD: Understanding and Treating a Flare
What is a Flare, or Flare-up during a COPD exacerbation? If your doctor has diagnosed you with COPD, chances are good you already know the feelings that go with this term. However, let’s break those drowning, choking feelings down into symptoms.
Additionally, let’s find the Golden Habit that helps you get through the experience.
Experts explain that in a COPD flare, “during a COPD exacerbation, your airway and lung functions change quickly and dramatically.” This causes several uncomfortable symptoms.
- Breathless Moments: You find yourself gasping for air or perhaps you cannot bear to take a deep breath.
- Coughing Assaults: Hard coughing hits you in spasms. It feels miserable. However, remember that coughing can clear out irritants that empty irritants from your lungs and bronchi.
- Wicked Wheezing: You’ll hear a wheeze and it hurts sharply in your chest. Research proves it means “that air is being forced through a narrower passageway.”
- More Mucus: With a Flare, you might be coughing up more than your usual amount of mucus. Also, watch for different colors in this discharge.
- Frightening Fatigue: Because your lungs might be getting “less oxygen to your lungs and body,” you might feel overwhelming exhaustion upon little activity. This can also be the result of sleep disturbances, like fits of coughing.
- Cognitive Impairment: Since your brain might not be getting enough oxygen, you could feel “confusion, slowed down thought processing, depression, or memory lapses.”
How To Control a Flare of COPD 2023
Sharing Feelings About COPD With Friends and Family Can Help You Fight Depression.
In the first place, do not think the COPD attack will just go away by itself. Know the action plan you and your doctor have discussed and devised.
Important Point: Knowing what to do will calm your nerves in the midst of the struggle to breathe. You probably will need to medicate immediately. Here are a few examples of golden habits you must develop.
Firstly, Find Your Inhaler
For almost instant relief, grab your quick-acting inhaler. It will deliver much-needed medication into your lungs. You should discover your airway relaxes and you begin to breathe easier.
2nd, Corticosteroids to the Rescue
Another feature of many COPD action plans includes corticosteroids. “Corticosteroids reduce swelling and may help to widen your airways…” You might get a prescription for several days after your flare-up. This will help tame the inflammation in your lungs and airways.
Next, Insure Oxygen is On Hand
Another helpful prescription your doctor might put in your action plan is the use of supplemental oxygen. Again, follow your action plan, and relax.
Mechanical Methods of Intervention
Mechanical Intervention: Some Times, Hospitalization is Necessary When Rescue Inhalers Are Not Enough.
What if you try your rescue inhaler, your steroids, and your oxygen, but you cannot control your exacerbated symptoms?
Then do not be afraid to go to the hospital. Your healthcare team might need to put you on a machine to relieve your breathing difficulty.
Likewise, you might get an IV medicine called a bronchodilator. Additionally, you might need IV antibiotics for infection.
Thus, we have explained in detail, the symptoms of a COPD Flare and the action plan that helps you conquer it. Most importantly, we noted the value of understanding and following your COPD action plan.
7. Next on Our List of Golden Habits: COPD Diet
Our Golden Lifestyle Habit Number Seven is not as long and complex as the previous number 6. It can be stated simply. However, it is difficult to maintain.
In brief, a COPD patient should adopt a healthy plan of nutrition and diet.
Have you heard about COPD and the Obesity Paradox? To put it simply, the Mayo Clinic writes, “Underweight individuals with COPD may not live as long as those who are overweight or obese.
This is called the “obesity paradox.” It suggests an association between obesity and better outcomes for those with COPD.”
As we have reported in previous COPD blogs, researchers really do not understand the reason for this unique effect. That’s why it is a paradox.
Thus, we see two categories of body types coping with COPD. On the one hand, you might see ultra-thin figures with muscle loss.
On the other hand, you might see hearty-looking or obese individuals with severe COPD. Find out more at this linked online resource.
Golden Habit Number 7: Special Diet!
COPD Exercises Can Enhance Your Over-All Feeling of Wellness. They May Even Prevent Exacerbations and Hospitalization.
Thus, the dietitian’s job is to help you customize your diet. As soon as you are diagnosed with COPD, you must strive for balance without losing or gaining weight.
As we have stated in previous blogs, you can see a general description of a dietary guideline for patients with COPD, on this linked page from the American Lung Association.
Remember, your dietitian will work with you to adjust your diet.
Number 8 of our Golden Habits: Avoid Sick People
Beware of infections! Let friends and family know they must stay away if they are feeling just a little under the weather. A light virus could make you desperately ill if you are diagnosed with COPD 2023.
Golden Habits Number 9: Sweet Dreams!
Nights and sleep can be challenging for any COPD patient. You must strive to attain a full night’s sleep. Your body needs that sleep to fight COPD and to breathe.
Additionally, your doctor might prescribe supplemental oxygen on an “as-needed” basis. By the way, if you are a COPD patient, FLASS advises you to check with your doctor before using oxygen all night.
Number 10 on FLASS’s Golden Habits for Patients with COPD: Say No to Depression
Have you ever choked on a piece of meat or lost your breath while swimming? That choked-up breathlessness is an awful feeling. And COPD feels like that quite often.
Thus, we are not surprised that depression and anxiety can destroy the COPD patient’s mental and spiritual life. Find out more at this helpful online source.
A Few Helpful Hints for Number 10 of our Golden Habits for COPD, 2023
Our Mind-Boggling and Jaw-Dropping Life Style Changes May Positively Affect Your Ability to Control Your COPD Condition.
First of all, talking about the COPD lifestyle changes with your circle of friends and family can help you stave off feelings of anxiety.
Likewise, keep lines of communication open with your healthcare team. When you feel overwhelmed by the mind-boggling lifestyle changes your COPD demands, distract yourself.
Immerse yourself in your hobby, or exercise routine. Additionally, set aside some time with your favorite book, meditation, or prayer.
With these two recent blogs, we hope you remember our FLASS 10 golden habits for COPD 2023. We know they will enhance your quality of life.
We leave you with a special quote from the writer, Brandt Reader: “The ability to breathe is a gift. Wake up grateful each day for that gift.”