Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Emphysema symptoms and preventive care and cure

At present, advice for primary prevention is limited to the admonition: "If you don't smoke, don't start, and if you do, stop as soon as possible." Detection of emphysema and chronic bronchitis is complicated by the insidious nature of these diseases. 

They may take a long time to produce symptoms, and by the time they do, much damage has been done. There are certain clues, however, that make the physician suspicious that a patient may be showing early signs of chronic bronchitis or emphysema. One is a history of chronic "cigarette cough," usually worse in the morning on arising and frequently productive of sputum. Another is a history of frequent respiratoryinfections which are severe and take long to resolve. 

There are other possible clues: on physical examination, the physician may detect some wheezing after forced expiration or may find an increase in chest diameter ("barrel chest"). Not everyone with such symptoms and signs necessarily has emphysema or chronic bronchitis, but the physician may suspect that this is the likely diagnosis if there is no past history of asthma, other lung or heart disease, and if there is a smoking history of ten or more years' duration.

 By making use of certain simple lung function tests (spirography), the physician can confirm the diagnosis. While chest x-rays may not reveal emphysema until the disease is well along, the routine yearly or semiannual physical checkup is the time for detection of symptoms and signs that indicate that emphysema may be present -and with early detection, appropriate measures can be taken to pre- vent worsening. All too often it is severe shortness of breath or severe respiratoryinfection that brings the emphysema patient to the doctor for the first time-at a point when much damage may already have been done.

 Are chronic bronchitis and emphysema different diseases? When lung tissue is examined under the micro- scope, a distinction can be made. But during life, the distinction is hazy be- cause the two problems so often co- exist. For this reason, they are frequently described together under the name of "chronic obstructive lung disease" (COLD) or "chronic obstructive pulmonary emphysema" (COPE). 

The word "obstructive," which appears in both names, refers to the changes that occur in the air passages (the bronchi and bronchioles) which conduct air to the lung areas where oxygen is ex- changed for carbon dioxide. The bronchi and bronchioles serve as a first line of defense against infection. They have special cells that destroy invading organisms. 

Smoking causes Cardiovascular dieseases

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

The most common cause of death in the United States is coronary heart disease, and over the past 20 years many studies have shown an association between this disease and smoking. In coronary heart disease, the coronary arteries which nourish the heart muscle itself become narrowed by deposits. When one of the coronary arteries becomes obstructed, usually by a clot that forms in the narrowed, roughened vessel, a heart attack results.

Certainly many factors may enter into the development of coronary artery disease. Sedentary living is one. Diet, particularly diet heavily laden with fats, is another. Excess weight may be involved. High blood pressure is an important factor. But cigarette smoking has been found to be associated with the disease to the point that, as far back as 1965. 

Smoking studies and research on lung cancer and cardio problems

A United States study found death rates for men aged 45 to 64 to be 6.6 times as high for smokers; in the age group 65 to 84, 11.4 times as high. For women smokers, it is, overall, 4.9 times as high as for nonsmokers and 7.4 times as high for the heavier smokers.

Smoking: American heart Association authorities stated that 100,000 preventable deaths each year are associated with cigarette  as published by the National Cancer Institute, "Smoking in the Death Rates of One Million Men and Women," the conclusions were reached: In the 45 to 54 year age group, deaths from coronary heart disease are 2.8 times as high for men as high for women smoking a pack or more of cigarettes or nonsmokers. 

The greater the number of cigarettes smoked, the inhalation, and the earlier the age when smoking starts, better the death rate. And autopsies of people dying from diseases him coronary heart disease show more plaques, or roughened, on which clots can develop and much more extensive atherosele - the coronary arteries of smokers than nonsmokers.

Many studies show that smokers have larger amounts of cholesterol in the blood than nonsmokers. Other studies indicate that smoking prevent clotting of blood, which increases risk of clot formation in the coronary arteries. Smoking also increases the work load of the heart, forcing it to pump more blood more rapidly because the carbon monoxide from smoke reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood and impairs the elasticity and gas-exchange capacity of the lungs. 

There is evidence, too, of an association between cigarette smoking and strokes, which annually kill 200,000 Americans. An American Cancer society study found that stroke death rates are 74 percent higher among women and 38 percent higher among men who smoke cigarettes than among nonsmokers.