What happened this week? 4/3/2017

Today, in Cardiac Pulmonary Rehab, we had an educational session for the Pulmonary patients after their exercise session. The session discussed risk factors for people who have COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). COPD is used to describe progressive lung diseases including emphysema, chronic bronchitis, refractory asthma, and some forms of bronchiectasis. This disease is characterized by increasing breathlessness. Unfortunately for COPD patients, there are many things in our normal environment that can cause episodes. These episodes will include breathlessness, wheezing, coughing, and tightness in the chest region. Some risk factors that cause these episodes are smoke, dust, chemicals and fuels. A patient can easily be affected by their household cleaning products or even dust from furniture. It is very difficult to prevent most of these situations, however, it is encouraged that patients wear masks if they are put in these situations, keep a constant clean environment, and circulate air throughout their living environment. A rescue inhaler is also recommended to help with unexpected episodes. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to live a normal life with COPD, however, we hope that by attending these exercise sessions, patients will be able to continue to live their daily lives.