Today is World COPD Day--a day to raise awareness of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD. What is COPD? What does it mean to have COPD? COPD is a term used to describe chronic lung diseases that can limit your airflow and compromise your lung function. COPD includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. If you are living with COPD then you may be experiencing common day-to-day COPD symptoms include a cough, coughing up mucus or phlegm, difficulty breathing and shortness of breath, wheezing and chest tightness. Over time, some patients with COPD suffer from shortness of breath so severe that it interferes with their most basic daily activities including sleeping, talking, and even dressing.
There's no denying that COPD is a serious disease. In recent in-home research conducted by GSK, patients with COPD described that their disease progression leads to physical and social isolation. They also revealed that they perceive their disease as both a burden they must deal with and a loss they have experienced. They characterized the loss as a combination of factors including loss of energy, loss of control, loss of independence and loss of their old self.
Hearing you have COPD can be incredibly tough, and there is no cure. But it's far from a helpless situation. Start right now by working with your doctor to learn ways to improve your breathing, stay more active, and slow the progression of the disease. If you have COPD, it is important to find out the facts from your doctor to know that you don't have to settle for a life defined by the disease. While some people view a life with COPD solely in terms of limitations, others see possibilities. Living with COPD certainly presents challenges, but many things are still firmly within your control. You'll still be able to make decisions--some big, some small--as you shape the kind of life you want to live with COPD.
As the disease progresses, research participants report they've become more reliant on the Internet as a source of important information on how to help manage their illness and as a means to interact with other people who can share in their experiences. With more information about their disease, people with COPD feel better able to manage it.
For the 12 million individuals diagnosed with COPD in the United States, www.copd.com offers easily accessible online destination to help inform them on their disease and its different stages and offer them things to consider that may help them live with COPD. For caregivers, www.copd.com offers information on how to care for a loved one with COPD.
World COPD Day is an annual event organized by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) to improve awareness and care of COPD around the world.
www.copd.com is a website by GlaxoSmithKline.
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