Getting diagnosed with COPD can seem overwhelming, especially when it catches you by surprise. It's often even more overwhelming to get used to all the new treatments, medications and lifestyle changes required to keep your lungs healthy, especially while you're still trying to come to terms with your diagnosis.

As a chronic disease, COPD requires constant work and careful decision-making to keep the symptoms under control. Because of this, it's no surprise that new COPD patients make a variety of mistakes that can affect their health and well-being.

Between making changes to your diet, exercise routine, medications, and many other activities of daily life, there are a lot of opportunities for error. As you adjust to life with COPD, it's important to avoid making mistakes that could serious consequences for your health, or at least catch and correct them early on.

That's why you should learn and pay attention to the mistakes that other new COPD patients tend to make. It helps you learn more about your disease, what to look out for, and how to keep your body and lungs as healthy as possible.

In this guide, we're going to help you avoid common pitfalls by showing you the mistakes that new COPD patients frequently make. Along with each mistake we've provided solutions so you'll know how to avoid that mistake and do the correct thing instead.

By taking the time to learn from others' mistakes, you'll be much less likely to encounter the same problems yourself. In the next sections, we'll give you all the information you need to avoid falling into the same pitfalls that other patients end up in.

However, it's important to remember that mistakes and struggles are inevitable as you adjust to the many changes that getting diagnosed with COPD brings. But if you educate yourself now, you can easily correct these mistakes and avoid serious problems that could permanently affect your health.

A major part of keeping your lungs healthy and keeping your COPD under control is learning everything you can about your disease. It also means being an active, motivated participant in your treatment and knowing what you shouldn't do just as much as the things you should.

The Mistake: Not Using Your Inhaler Correctly

While inhalers may seem like fairly straightforward devices, a surprisingly large percentage of patients don't use their inhaler correctly. This happens to many patients who never learned the proper technique or forgot the correct steps over time. Other patients get too complacent or careless and skip steps to save time, not realizing each step is important.

Most of the mistakes patients make with their inhalers have to do with preparing the inhaler and using the right breathing technique. This is a serious problem, since these steps are necessary for getting the medication into the lungs where it needs to work.

Unfortunately, many doctors don't do their due diligence in training their patients to use their inhalers correctly. Even though doctors are supposed to check patients' inhaler technique at every appointment, it is often rare for them to take the time to do it properly in practice.

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It doesn't help that many doctors don't even know proper inhaler technique themselves, meaning they can't give their patients adequate instruction. Luckily, the medical community has recently acknowledged the extent of this problem and is making efforts to raise awareness among doctors to correct it.

Here are some of the common mistakes to look out for:

• Not shaking the inhaler before each puff
• Not exhaling fully before using the inhaler
• Not holding the inhaler in the correct position
• Not timing your inhale with the spray from the inhaler
• Not inhaling deeply enough
• Not inhaling slowly enough
• Not holding your breath after inhaling the medication
• Inhaling through your nose instead of your mouth

Making any of these mistakes can result in getting too little medication or none of the medication that you need. This can be very dangerous when you suffer from COPD, because you need your full dose to prevent serious symptoms and exacerbations.

The Solution: Learning Proper Inhaler Technique

Because all inhalers are different, the only way to ensure that you're using your inhaler correctly is to re-read your inhaler's instructions and re-evaluate your technique. That means going over all the steps and guidelines in the information packet that comes with your medication.

This is important whether you're a newly diagnosed COPD patient or you have been treating your disease for some time. No matter how well you think you know it, it never hurts to double check.

You should also take your inhaler with you to every doctor's appointment so you can show your doctor exactly how you usually use it. That way, your doctor can identify any mistakes you make and show you the correct technique.

Every time you use your inhaler, make sure you follow every step and don't rush or cut any corners. Don't forget to shake or prime your inhaler if needed, and always remember to exhale before using it.

Timing your inhale with the spray from your inhaler is extremely important, but also difficult, which is why this step tends to cause patients the most problems. It may take some practice to time correctly, and you may need to use a spacer attached to the mouthpiece to help you do it right.

 

Studies show that when you inhale too early, then you only get about 35% of the full dose you're supposed to get. If you inhale to late, however, you end up spraying the medication in your mouth and throat instead of inhaling it into your lungs. This makes the medication ineffective and puts your lungs at risk.

To make sure you inhale at the right time and get the full dose, start breathing in slowly just before you press the button to release the medicine. Continue inhaling slowly and deeply as you feel the spray to draw the medication all the way into your lungs.

Remember that inhaling the medication isn't the last step; you still have to hold your breath to keep it in your lungs. Most recommend holding your breath for about ten seconds, then you can slowly and gently exhale.

If you are using an inhaler that contains steroid medications, then you still aren't done quite yet. To prevent the medication from drying out your mouth and throat, you need to rinse your mouth out with water before you're done.

If you ever have any questions or concerns about using your inhaler, don't hesitate to talk to your doctor. You can also ask your pharmacist to demonstrate how to use your inhaler(s) or to answer any other questions you have.

You can also find tips and information online for a variety of different types of inhalers. However, this should never be a replacement for the information you can get from your doctor and prescription information.

The Mistake: Not Knowing When to Take Which Medications

Nearly all COPD patients take two major types of medications: maintenance medications and quick-relief medications (also known as rescue medications). Both medications are delivered via inhaler, which is why patients sometimes get them confused.

This can be dangerous, because you need to use both medications correctly in order to treat your COPD effectively and keep your symptoms under control. Mixing up the two medications or forgetting to take them at the right time could make your symptoms worse or cause you to have a serious COPD exacerbation.

Other medications can be confusing to use, too, especially if you are only supposed to take them on certain occasions. For example, many doctors prescribe oral antibiotics and steroid medications for their patients to use as needed to prevent and treat COPD exacerbations.

The Solution: Following Your COPD Action Plan

Every COPD patient should get a COPD action plan from their doctor shortly after getting diagnosed. If you haven't received one yet, ask your doctor to work one up for you, as studies show that they help patients better manage their COPD at home.

A COPD Action plan acts like a set of guidelines for you to follow based on how bad your symptoms are from day to day. For example, most action plans have three major “zones” that correspond to the severity of your symptoms; the first zone is for when you are feeling fine, the second for mild flare-ups, and the third for more serious symptoms and complications.

Click here to see what a sample COPD action plan looks like.

Every day, you should evaluate your symptoms to determine what “zone” to look at. Then, you simply follow the instructions in that zone for what medications and what doses you should take. Most action plans also include guidelines to let you know when its safe to exert yourself and at what point you should call your doctor when your symptoms flare up.

Because most COPD patients have several different medications to keep track of, it's extremely important to take the time to learn all of the important facts about each of your medications. That includes learning their full names, what they look like, and what you are supposed to use them for.

This ensures that you can match your medications with the instructions in your COPD action plan and use them exactly as your doctor directs you to. It also makes you much less likely to mix your medications up, take them at the wrong time, or forget about them altogether.

You should also bring a complete list of your medications with you anytime you go to the hospital or doctor's office. This will make it easier for the medical professionals who look after you to ensure you get the best treatment possible.

It is also important to bring this list with you whenever you travel, especially if you will be taking your medication with you on a bus, train, or airplane. You may need to present your list of medications to travel personnel, and it will come in handy if you need medical attention while you're away from your regular doctor.

The Mistake: Not Quitting Smoking

One of the most important things you can do for your health when you have COPD is to stop smoking. Unfortunately, too many patients believe it's too late for them to quit and continue to smoke even after their COPD diagnosis.

The thing is, even after you've developed COPD, there are still enormous benefits to quitting. In fact, having COPD makes it even more imperative to quit, since continuing to smoke can cause your disease to rapidly get worse.

COPD is a result of reduced lung function, often due to smoking, but continuing to smoke after COPD has set in will only harm your lungs even more. Smoking causes you to lose lung function at an accelerated rate compared to COPD patients who are able to quit.

Reduced lung function will make it even more difficult to breathe, do physical activities, and can significantly reduce your quality of life. If you quit, however, you may even see an improvement in your COPD symptoms, and you can enjoy the lung function and lifestyle you have for much longer.

While quitting smoking cannot reverse the damage that's already been done to your lungs, it can slow down the damage from getting worse. It can also increase your lifespan and reduce the number of exacerbations, flare-ups, and hospitalizations you experience because of your COPD.

Don't forget that quitting can reduce your chances for a variety of other serious health problems as well. For example, you can significantly reduce your risk for heart disease, lung cancer, and stroke if you successfully quit smoking.

The Solution: Making the Decision to Quit

It's important for every COPD patient to understand that it is never too late to quit smoking. Whether you are 25 or 65, you can improve your health and possibly even your lifespan by making the decision to quit today.

It's not an easy decision to make, and it's even harder to actually follow through. However, every year at least 350,000 smokers in the US are able to quit completely, and there's no reason why you can't be one of them.

Although quitting is hard, there are many things you can do to increase your chances of success. For example, using a quit-smoking medication or joining a quit-smoking program can make your quit attempt more likely to succeed.

When you make the decision to quit, remember that you are not alone and there are many ways to get support. First, you should talk to your doctor to see what kinds of medications and support programs are available to help you.

You may want to try nicotine replacement therapy, which is proven to increase smoking cessation rates. There are many different forms available, too, including nicotine gum, skin patches, tablets, oral sprays, and inhalers.

For more information on how to quit smoking, visit the CDC's website for a variety of helpful links and resources. You can also find helpful quit-smoking tips from the American Lung Association's website or from smokefree.gov.

Don't be discouraged if your first, second, or even tenth attempt to quit smoking ends up failing. It takes most smokers at least six attempts to quit smoking, and sometimes up to twenty, before they are able to quit long-term.

As the CDC puts it, “Quitting smoking is a marathon, not a sprint,” and you have to be in it for the long term if you truly want to live smoke free. Even though it is a long and difficult process, it is more than worth the benefits you will receive through improved health, reduced COPD symptoms, and your overall quality of life.

The Mistake: Not Eating a COPD-Healthy Diet

In order to keep your lungs and the rest of your body strong, you need to feed them the nutrients they need. That means eating a healthy, balanced diet every day to give your body fuel to work as efficiently as possible.

Unfortunately, many new patients find that controlling their weight and eating healthy foods is difficult with COPD. The disease can make it difficult to exercise and prepare healthy meals, both of which are vital for a healthy lifestyle.

COPD can make it difficult to lose weight and difficult to gain weight, which is why some patients struggle with being underweight while others struggle with obesity. Either situation is bad for your health and can make it more difficult to breathe.

If you get too few calories and nutrients, then your lungs won't have enough fuel to keep up with your body's needs. However, eating too much and gaining weight puts extra strain on your muscles and lungs, which can also make your COPD symptoms worse.

Also, because COPD makes your lungs less efficient, it means they have to work harder than healthy lungs in order to get enough oxygen to your body. This means that COPD patients need more calories and more nutrients to fuel the needs of their lungs and breathing muscles.

Another danger that many new COPD are unaware of is eating a diet that's too high in carbohydrates. Carbohydrates actually put extra strain on your lungs when digested, because they release large amounts of CO2 that then has to be processed through your lungs.

The Solution: Eating Whole Foods and Balanced Meals

Staying healthy with COPD requires a variety of lifestyle changes, including changes to your diet and eating habits. While this is never an easy thing to do, it can make a huge difference in your mood, your symptoms, and your overall physical well-being.

It helps to work with your doctor or a licensed dietitian to develop a nutrition plan that works for you. However, it is certainly possible to manage a healthy diet on your own by simply eating a balanced diet.

A healthy diet is one that's full of whole foods, which generally means foods made by starting with raw, unprocessed ingredients. These include whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, and lean, unprocessed meats like poultry and fish.

To avoid putting extra strain on your lungs, you should also try to limit the amount of carbohydrates you eat to the minimum healthy amount. That means avoiding processed grains, sugary foods, and processed snacks like crackers and chips.

If you want more information on eating a COPD-healthy diet, take a look at any of the several comprehensive guides we've created to help you out:

• 21 Healthy Foods You Should Eat if You Have COPD
• 11 Foods You Should Avoid if You Have COPD

The Mistake: Not Getting Enough Exercise

It is common for COPD patients to avoid physical activities because it makes it more difficult to breathe. This causes a vicious cycle of inactivity, where the less exercise you get, the weaker your lungs and breathing muscles become, which in turn makes physical activity even more and more difficult to bear.

It doesn't help that COPD can cause fatigue, coughing, depression, and other symptoms that make it difficult to live an active lifestyle. Some patients give up on exercise altogether, which is devastating to their health.

Living a sedentary lifestyle will only end up making your COPD symptoms worse and can even make the disease progress more rapidly. It can also cause you to gain weight, lose mobility, and raise your risk for heart disease and a variety of other COPD complications.

Studies show that COPD patients who exercise and stay active are less likely to experience exacerbations, hospitalizations, and may even live longer than those who don't. That's why it's so important to work through your symptoms and find ways to stay active in spite of your disease.

The Solution: Stick With an Exercise Plan

Even though it may make you feel short of breath, exercise is healthy for your lungs and your overall well-being. It also helps you maintain a healthy weight and keep your physical mobility as you age.

If you have been diagnosed with COPD, then making the decision to stay active is one of the best things you can do for your health. To help keep you on track, work with your doctor to come up with an exercise plan that is realistic and sufficient for you.

If you find yourself struggling for any reason, never be afraid to talk to your doctor or ask for help and advice. If you're finding exercise too difficult because of your symptoms, ask your doctor about attending a pulmonary rehabilitation class, where you can learn how to better manage all kinds of physical challenges that come with COPD.

By keeping up with your exercise plan, you can keep your body toned, your breathing muscles strong, and live a much better quality of life with COPD.

If you need some help getting started, check out the following guides. They contain a variety of practical tips and tricks you can use today to make exercise easier with COPD.

• Home Exercises for COPD
• How Pulmonary Rehabilitation Can Help You Master Exercise with COPD
• Breathing Techniques and Exercises to Help You Manage Your Breathing

The Mistake: Not Conserving Energy

When you have COPD, you have to adjust to certain physical limitations. You will find that, over time, the disease makes many activities that you are used to doing more difficult by making you feel breathless and run down.

Many patients get frustrated when tasks that used to be easy become a struggle, triggering their COPD symptoms and sapping their energy. This can cause significant anxiety, depression, and cause some patients to give up on hobbies and physical activities they enjoy.

However, these problems can be managed by pacing yourself and learning how to better manage your limited energy reserves. Unfortunately, new patients who are still coming to terms with their limitations often deplete their energy quickly during the day, which causes them to live their lives feeling ever breathless and fatigued.

This can be incredibly disheartening for new COPD patients who haven't got the hang of managing their disease. However, by recognizing your limitations and

In this article we are talking about what it means to build new habits, break old ones, and create healthy routines. We will talk about how you can do this successfully, and why it is important for everyone that wants to live a healthy and long life, that cultivating healthy habits is the best way to do it! 

The initial steps towards building a healthy routine and good habits can cause a lot of resistance, this is because humans are creatures of habit, therefore any kind of change even if it is good change, is often met with resistance. Resistance starts out as a small hesitation to grow or change, and then you become overwhelmed with it all to the point where you can’t commit to building a healthy routine anymore. 

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If you have Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) building a health routine includes, taking you medication, accomplishing your oxygen therapy, exercising, eating well, among many other things. 

COPD is a progressive and chronic lung disease, and it is treatable. COPD causes breathlessness, either due to inflammation in the airways, excess mucus production, or both. People with COPD are treating their condition to avoid exacerbations, improve quality of life, and of course to reduce the chance of death. 

Ironically, COPD is often a result of a lifetime of unhealthy habits, like smoking cigarettes, In fact, the primary cause of COPD is exposure to tobacco smoke. So quitting life threatening habits is one of the steps we will discuss in this article.

In this article we will talk about the steps towards building healthy habits, and if you have COPD, how you can use these techniques to create a routine that helps you maintain your COPD treatment on a daily basis.

The first step to building healthy habits is to “Make it Easy”.

Make it Easy 

Successfully implementing lasting changes into your life is hard, period. So, our first pieces of advice is to make it easy. Make the change so small and so easy that you have to do it!

The first step in creating healthy habits that stick, is to make the initial changes very simple. This way, there is no excuse not to do it!

There are two ways you can change, you can work towards quitting a nasty habit or getting in the routine of creating a healthy habit.

For instance, if you want to start exercising more, consider doing a minimal amount of exercise per day, this way you can’t excuse the action one day by saying you’re too tired. This goes back to minimizing the amount of resistance. The amount of exercise you set yourself up to accomplish everyday will be relative to your health, so whatever is doable for you whether that is walking to get the mail, or walking 1.5 miles, make it a point to do it everyday. 

If you are working towards cutting something bad out of your life, such as eating fried foods, give yourself as easy alternative. Fried foods can cause bloating and discomfort by pushing on your diaphragm, making it difficult and uncomfortable to breathe. Excessively eating fried food can cause you to gain weight which increases pressure on your lungs. If you eat a lot of fried food, working to eat less fried foods can be a habit that you break. 

Make this easy by giving yourself a tasty alternative, that fulfills the craving but isn't as bad for you. For instance, 100 grams of fried and battered chicken breast contains 13.2 g of fat, and  over-roasted chicken breast only contains 0.39 g of fat. 

Breaking habits along with building healthy ones takes time, start making simple changes to train yourself, and this will help you make bigger changes in the future once you are ready.

The next step to building healthy habits or breaking bad ones, is using incremental steps rather than all at once. 

Take Multiple Steps to Reach Your Goals

This is a hugely important step to take when breaking down those sticky habits and in some cases curing addiction. Smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable death worldwide and is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, which goes to show how quitting smoking is not easy. 

if you normally smoke one pack a day, it would be unlikely that within one day you will quit smoking entirely. Nicotine is the most common addiction in the United States, a study by the CDC back in 2015 suggested that while about 70 percent of current adult smokers in the United States wanted to quit, about 55 percent had attempted to do so , but only 7 percent were successful in quitting.

Do not let the statistics deter you from trying! Simply start by quitting a little bit day by day and using supplementary hand and mouth fixation tools. Eventually, you can make a step towards going one full day without a cigarette, and subsequently a few days in a row. 

There are thousands of quitting techniques circling the internet, and getting advice from you doctor can help you find a technique that works for you. If you fail the first time, try something else, and just take it one step at a time.

This brings us to the next step, and that is celebrating small victories. 

Small Wins and The Snowball Effect

Celebrating the small victories in your journey to create new habits implements self trust into your life. Self trust is saying you are going to do one thing, and having the courage, strength, and honestly to stand by your words with your actions. 

Self trust is an important aspect of building healthy habits, and breaking down bad ones. Using healthy routine building tools can help you build a solid foundation of self trust.

To celebrate your small wins you reward good behavior, this generates a snowball effect that can start rolling in a positive direction. The goal is to build a small habit initially, it can be easy at the beginning and by using incremental steps over the course of time, you will succeed. In doing so, you will gain the confidence in yourself and your ability to follow through. 

Underwhelm yourself, do not overwhelm yourself. Feeling overwhelmed initiates a stress repose, making it even more challenging to do anything. You can build on the underwhelming feeling, and encourage yourself that more positive change can be done little by little. 

Living with COPD is challenging enough, but standing by and not doing anything is worse than challenging yourself to break bad habits and build healthy ones. 

As we mentioned above, changing your habits doesn't have to be hard, and in fact, it should be easy when you are first starting to make a change.This means creating an attainable plan of action that is easy to accomplish successfully. From there, you can start taking incremental steps towards a larger goal, this takes time and patience, but it is the best way to stay committed to a goal. Lastly, celebrate the small wins, and encourage yourself to continue doing better.

Health Habits for People With COPD 

So now that you know where to start, comes the hard part. Deciding what it is you need in your life, or don’t need, that will improve your livelihood. We drafted a few of the habits that are great for people with any respiratory disease including COPD, you can also discuss with your doctor and decide together what it is you should work towards. 

Eating more protein rich foods: 

Protein is essential to daily living whether you have a respiratory disease or not. Protein gives you energy, something respiratory patients desperately need in order to get through the day.  Protein helps build and repair muscle, tissues, and every cell in your body.  It can also strengthen your immune system, making you less susceptible to sickness and infection.

Here are some tips for getting protein into you meals more often:

• Try to eat 5-6 small meals daily. In each meal make sure that you have protein. You can try these small meal idea to get started: 
  • Peanut butter and crackers
  • Handful of nuts or trail mix
  • Apple with string cheese
  • Greek yogurt with berries
  • Sandwich with hummus and vegetables
  • Baked potato with cottage cheese
  • Hard boiled egg with whole grain toast
  • Bean burrito
    
• Try making a smoothie with protein powder, fruit, and milk, and you can even add peanut or almond butter for an extra serving of protein
  • Choose whey, pea, or bean protein for best quality.
  • Look at the ingredient list to make sure protein is the main ingredient.
  • Avoid protein powders that have herbs or other foreign or unrecognizable ingredients.
    
• Try to plan your meals and snacks in advance. This will help if you tend to forget to eat or avoid eating because you do not have a strong appetite.
• Before bed, have a protein-rich bedtime snack to make sure you meet your daily protein needs
  
• To increase the protein intake of foods you eat regularly, you can add dry milk powder into milk, oatmeal, overnight oats, or yogurt

Exercise 3-4 Times Per Week 

This is a habit that is often met with a lot of resistance, and it is something you should work your way up to before going all in. 

If you have COPD and do not exercise regularly, starting to exercise will be a challenge. This is when you have to force yourself to do easy exercise that you can accomplish, rather than setting the bar too high. 

If you start exercising too much all at once, you will not feel good, and it can tire you out to the point where you end up quitting entirely. 

Depending on your current physical activity, you and your doctor or respiratory therapist can set up an exercise program that will start off slow and steady and gradually gets more intense, until you are at a healthy place, which for people with COPD is often 20 - 30 minutes. 

Here is a great resource for exercise options for respiratory patients: Improving Your Exercise Tolerance and Quality of Life with COPD.

Get a Portable Oxygen Device

It is normal for oxygen therapy to start interfering with the quality of your life, and while it is important to cover all of your oxygen therapy needs, you cannot let your oxygen therapy control the quality of your life.

If your oxygen tanks are heavy and bulky, it is harder to exercise.

If you have an oxygen tank you cannot travel with it on airplanes.

You might have difficulty carrying a large oxygen unit on errands and end up spending a lot of time at home. 

There are a number of aspects that oxygen therapy has held oxygen patients back from doing, and this does not have to be your reality. 

Switching to a lightweight, portable oxygen concentrator unit can make it easier to move around, exercise, travel, and so much more. Activities like going to restaurants, running errands, and even traveling can become a lot more convenient with the help of a lightweight battery powered portable oxygen concentrator. 

Education is a very important aspect of buying a portable oxygen concentrator, understanding your condition as well as the device will set you up to succeed throughout your oxygen therapy treatment. 

Portable oxygen concentrators costs range in prices, depending on if you need a pulse flow device like the Caire Freestyle Comfort, or a continuous flow device like the Respironics SImplyGo. Prices also depend on the batteries each device is equipped with, its weight, and the technological capabilities. 

The best way to learn about your options is to speak over the phone with a respiratory specialist, they can converser with your doctor's office to find out exactly what your oxygen intake is, and from there find the perfect device for you.

Learn Breathing Techniques

Practice implementing breathing techniques into your daily life, it is a great way to control your COPD symptoms. 

Pursed-lip breathing can open up your lungs, allowing you to take in more air. The purpose is to strengthen your lungs so you can enjoy more activities without breathlessness.

Follow these simple steps:

1. Position your lips as if you’re about to whistle
2. Breathe in slowly through your nose and count to two or three 
3. Breathe out through pursed lips and count to four or five
4. Repeat this technique up to five times to control your breathing
5. Do this multiple times per day if you have time

You can also discuss with your doctor about  the possibility of attending a pulmonary rehabilitation course in your area. This type of rehab teaches you different ways to breathe, and better manage your other symptoms.

Learn Coughing Techniques 

Coughing is a common symptom of COPD, however it actually has a useful purpose, if done so correctly. 

Oftentimes, your cough can be caused by excess mucus that is trapped in your airways, coughing is the natural reaction your body initiates to clear the mucus. If you work on purposefully coughing correctly to clear your airways, you will experience less involuntary coughing throughout the day a night.

You can work on these techniques in the morning and night, as well as before and after you eat. Hopefully, the more you do it in the beginning, the more productive it becomes. 

It is also important to take the necessary steps to prepare for clearing your airways, such as drinking plenty of water which will thin out the mucus, and do not eat food that promotes mucus production, such as having too much dairy in one meal.  

Huffing, otherwise known as huff coughing, is a coughing technique that helps move mucus from your lungs and it is similar to exhaling onto a window to steam it up.

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Huffing is not as forceful as a cough, but it can work better and be less tiring.

The Huff Coughing Technique:

1. Tilt your chin tilted slightly up and mouth open 
2. Take a slow deep breath to partially fill your lungs
3. Hold breath for two or three seconds
4. Exhale forcefully, but slowly, in a continuous exhalation to move mucus from the smaller to the larger airways
5. Repeat this maneuver two more times
6. Follow with one strong cough to clear mucus from the larger airways
7. Do a cycle of four to five huff coughs as part of your airway clearance

Accomplishing these huffing techniques enables air to get behind the mucus and separates it from the walls of your lungs so it can be coughed out.

There are a lot of other coughing techniques that can be found in this article: How to Cough Correctly with COPD

Overview 

Building healthy habits start with a mind set. You can make positive changes in your life that will greatly impact your ability to do more things, and feel physically and mentally better. 

Make the initial changes easy, this way your actions cannot be met with resistance, and accomplishing small goals will lead to your capacity to accomplish large goals. 

Develop steps for yourself, when changing a habit or creating a new habit, take incremental steps to get to your desired results. 

Lastly, cultivate a sense of achievement, even in your small endeavors. This creates self trust, that will reinforce your ability to change for the better. 

If you have COPD, changing your habits may be an essential treatment that your doctor tells you is going to help you live longer, and healthier. Your chronic lung disease will not disappear, but you can take control of it. 

We hope that you can use the tactics laid out in this article to make healthy lifestyle changes in all aspects of your life. 

Health professionals are some of the most important and trusted members of our society. They’ve gone through many years of schooling and they’ve had to pass rigorous tests that make them qualified to look after our health.

While we can and should hold health professionals in high esteem, it’s important to remember that they aren’t infallible. Just like the rest of us, they are prone to mistakes from time to time. 

One mistake health professionals can make is called a “diagnostic error.” This is when a patient receives a delayed diagnosis, wrong diagnosis, or missed diagnosis from a doctor which can lead to a patient using the wrong treatment or no treatment at all. 

In this post, we’re going to take a look at how diagnostic errors affect people with lung diseases such as COPD, asthma, and cystic fibrosis (CF). If you have any questions, be sure to leave them in the comment section below and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. 

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What is a Diagnostic Error?

According to the National Academy of Medicine, a diagnostic error is the failure to establish a timely and accurate diagnosis of a patient’s health problems or an inability to communicate them effectively. These errors are divided into three groups:

Delayed Diagnosis

This is when a disease is diagnosed much later than it should be. After a delayed diagnosis, patients may have progressed to a point in their disease where it is difficult or impossible to receive certain treatments. 

Missed Diagnosis

A missed diagnosis is when a patient has symptoms that are never addressed by a health professional. It’s estimated that 100,000 people in the United States are permanently disabled or die each year due to an illness that was either delayed or missed.

Wrong Diagnosis

A wrong diagnosis or misdiagnosis is when a patient is diagnosed with a condition that they do not have. In a worst-case scenario, a patient is diagnosed with a condition that is less urgent than the condition they actually have. This can lead to the delayed onset of treatment regimes that would improve medical outcomes for the patient.

The Cost of Diagnostic Errors

Diagnostic errors pose a major health risk to people all across the country. According to the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM), diagnostic errors are found in 10 to 20 percent of autopsies, meaning that 40,000 to 80,000 people die each year as a result.

Despite the fact that diagnostic errors affect as many as 12 million Americans every year, there remains a lack of federal funding and research that could help prevent these issues. At this point in time, SIDM is the only organization that is committed to improving the timeliness and accuracy of diagnosis and combating issues associated with diagnostic error.

Another problem with diagnostic error is that it’s very difficult for a patient to take legal action if malpractice is involved. According to Nolo, a legal resource website, medical malpractice cases are some of the most difficult cases a lawyer can take on, especially those involving diagnostic errors.

There are a lot of moving parts in a medical malpractice case and it requires a patient to prove the following:

• A doctor-patient relationship existed
• The doctor did not provide treatment in a timely and skillful manner
• And the doctor’s error resulted in harm to the patient

While this may seem pretty straightforward, there’s a lot of gray area and it requires an attorney to be particularly well-versed in medical jargon and processes. As a result, attorneys often charge a high price for these cases or they will simply turn them down altogether if they believe the case is not worth pursuing. According to the Rosenbaum Firm, even with strong evidence of negligence, patients win an average of 50 percent of medical malpractice cases. 

The Role of Diagnostic Error in Lung Disease

Respiratory illness is one of the most common medical conditions in the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) alone accounted for 3 million deaths in 2016, followed closely by lower respiratory infections such as pneumonia. 

Not surprisingly, patients suffering from respiratory symptoms can also fall victim to diagnostic error. One of the most common diagnostic errors in terms of lung disease is the overdiagnosis of asthma.and the underdiagnosis of COPD. Since asthma is such a common disease (1 in 13 people have it) it’s not uncommon for health specialists to jump the gun and diagnose it before doing proper testing. 

On the other hand, it’s likely that COPD is significantly underdiagnosed because its symptoms are often ignored as a sign of aging. COPD can progress differently depending on the individual, so a patient may experience symptoms for years before finally seeking help. Let’s take a look at some of the top reasons lung disease is often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.

Similarity of Symptoms

Possibly one of the most common factors affecting the diagnosis of respiratory illness is the similarity of symptoms. For example, the symptoms between asthma and COPD are almost identical making it nearly impossible to diagnose an illness simply based on the symptoms you’re experiencing. 

Another problem overlapping symptoms can cause is when comorbidities are present such is the case with cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis. Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a chronic lung disease that usually begins in early childhood and it’s inherited through genetics. This condition affects the cells that create mucus causing it to become thick and sticky. This leads to coughing, wheezing, and frequent lung infections.

Cystic fibrosis commonly causes a condition called bronchiectasis which occurs later in life. It’s caused by damage and widening of the bronchial tubes which makes it difficult to clear mucus and bacteria from the lungs. If someone has lived with CF their whole life, it may be difficult to recognize the symptoms of bronchiectasis when they appear because they are nearly identical to that of CF.

Errors in Spirometry Testing

Spirometry is a type of lung function test designed to measure how much air you can inhale, exhale, and how quickly you can exhale. While spirometry may seem like a simple test on the surface, it’s actually very difficult to interpret the results correctly. Even a small error in spirometry testing can lead to inaccurate disease diagnosis. 

During a spirometry test, patients are asked to exhale for a certain amount of time into a small mouthpiece. This will provide your doctor with two different measurements: forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume (FEV). FVC is the total amount of air you can forcefully exhale and FEV is the amount of air you can exhale in a given period of time. 

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Once these values are calculated, they are compared to “normal values” based on the patient’s age, gender, height, and weight. If any of this information is entered incorrectly, it could throw off the whole test causing your health specialist to either over exaggerate or under exaggerate the severity of your symptoms.

Aside from issues with interpreting test results, there are also a number of problems that can occur during the test itself. For example, a patient may perform the test incorrectly without the moderator knowing. If the patient does not inhale fully before blowing into the mouthpiece or they have air leaking out the side of their mouth when they exhale, the results could be under interpreted.

Ultimately, there are a lot of different factors involved in getting accurate results from a spirometry test. The test results can easily become skewed if the patient is not aware of how to perform it or the technician conducting the test is careless or inexperienced. When this happens, the results may be misleading or unhelpful when it comes to diagnosing a lung condition such as COPD. 

Lack of Appropriate Testing

Another factor that can lead to diagnostic error is a lack of appropriate testing. A medical specialist may not perform the right tests or they may not perform enough tests to get an accurate picture of a patient’s lung condition.

While spirometry is often considered to be the most effective test for diagnosing COPD and asthma, other tests may be more effective when it comes to diagnosing other chronic lung diseases, especially the less common ones.

High-resolution computerized tomography (CT) scanning is one test that can be extremely beneficial in diagnosing lung disease. This is similar to an X-ray, but the computer will take multiple pictures from different angles. 

Once the images are collected, the computer uses processing to make cross-sectional images of all the tissues in the lungs. Although X-rays can be useful in diagnosing some conditions, CT scans provide medical specialists with a much more detailed view of what’s going on in your lungs.

CT scans help to provide evidence of things like interstitial lung disease, an umbrella term for diseases that cause scarring (fibrosis) in the lungs. It can also be used to provide additional evidence for COPD and other lung diseases in order to provide a more accurate diagnosis.

Last but certainly not least, blood gas analysis can be useful in diagnosing many respiratory illnesses. Your doctor will either recommend that you have your blood drawn so that it can be tested in a lab, or he/she might use a pulse oximeter for a less intrusive option. This is a small device that slips over your finger.

Blood tests will provide your doctor with a lot of important information such as your partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2), partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2), pH, bicarbonate (HCO3), and oxygen content (O2CT). 

Threshold for Defining COPD

Threshold is the value that needs to be crossed in order for COPD to be diagnosed. Currently, the threshold for COPD is an FEV1/FVC ratio of 0.70. While this is considered by many to be the most optimal threshold for COPD, there are other methods out there such as the lower limits of normal (LLN) method. 

The LLN method uses an additional step of comparing the FEV1: FVC ratio to demographics such as age, height, race, and gender in order to determine a “normal.” A recent study, however, showed that the fixed threshold of 0.70 was consistently more reliable and accurate than LLN and other methods of diagnosing COPD.

If you’re concerned at all about a diagnosis that you did or didn’t receive, it never hurts to discuss them with your doctor. He/she will likely be very open about the methods used to come to a conclusion, and if you still have doubts, there may be an opportunity to get retested or have your doctor double-check the results.

Miscommunication Between Doctor and Patient

Possibly one of the most common reasons for respiratory illness being misdiagnosed is a miscommunication between a doctor and his/her patient. For example, a patient might wait too long to address their symptoms with their doctor or they might forget certain details about their symptoms.

Genetics is also a major determining factor of whether someone can develop a lung disease so if a patient miscommunicates their family’s history of illness, it may be significantly more difficult for their doctor to discover the root of their problems.

There are many mistakes that can occur on the doctor’s side as well. For example, he/she could keep inaccurate information about your height, age, gender, or weight which could skew the results of any test you take.

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What You Can Do to Ensure Accurate Diagnosis

Be Open and Honest With Your Doctor

The best thing you can do in order to prevent diagnostic errors is to be open and honest with your doctor. Unfortunately, when people start experiencing respiratory problems, their first instinct is to shrug them off as a sign of aging or they wait until their symptoms have progressed to a point where they need to seek help.

Alternatively, you should be contacting your doctor as soon as problems arise. Most conditions such as COPD and asthma can be treated more effectively if they are diagnosed early on. These are both progressive diseases, so there is no way to cure them or reduce the damage effects. All you can do is prevent further damage from occurring.

Don’t be Afraid to Ask Questions

Another thing to remember when you go to the doctor is that there’s no such thing as a silly question when it comes to your health. Chances are if there’s something you’re wondering about, there’s always someone else out there wondering the exact same thing. So, when you go in for a doctor’s appointment, don’t be afraid to ask questions, whether they pertain to your symptoms, treatment plan, or anything else.

Another reason to ask a lot of questions is that it gives your doctor a better understanding of your concerns and more importantly, the way your condition is progressing. The more your doctor knows about your respiratory symptoms, the better he/she will be able to prescribe treatments that work for you.

Schedule Regular Doctor’s Visits

Lastly, you’re going to want to schedule more frequent doctor visits. At the end of the day, the more you communicate with your doctor, the easier it will be for him/her to track your progress. And even if you aren’t experiencing severe symptoms, your doctor may be able to diagnose you sooner, leading to better outcomes. It’s recommended that people 30 years old and younger should visit the doctor once every couple of years. But the older you get, the more frequently you should go.

Conclusion

Diagnostic error is always a possibility. However, you can significantly improve your odds of receiving a timely and accurate diagnosis by scheduling more frequent doctor visits, not ignoring respiratory symptoms, and not being afraid to ask a lot of questions. As a last resort, you always have the option to file a lawsuit if you believe that negligence or malpractice was involved.

Here at LPT Medical, we aim to provide respiratory patients with transparent and helpful resources for managing their disease. If you’re in the market for a lightweight portable oxygen concentrator like the Inogen One G5 or the Caire FreeStyle Comfort, our respiratory specialists would be glad to help you out by answering any questions you may have. Fill out the contact form at the side of the page to get started. 

People reach out to us everyday and ask about how they can make their life, living with supplemental oxygen, easier. They call us wondering if there is an alternative for their oxygen tanks and how they can afford it.

When you call us, and your doctor's prescriptions states that you need to be administered oxygen via pulse dose, one of the first units we think of is the Caire Freestyle Comfort, and for a number of reasons. In this article we talk about everything this device can do for you, and how it will contribute to making your life easier and more comfortable.

For the sake of this article, we will say that it the Caire Freestyle Comfort portable oxygen concentrator is the best choice for you, so we are going to talk about everything this device can do for you, and how it will contribute to making your life easier and more comfortable.

Buying a Caire Freestyle Comfort portable oxygen concentrator

There is the argument that oxygen tanks are notably less expensive than portable oxygen concentrators, however this is not exactly the case. While a portable oxygen concentrator costs more upfront, if you have tanks you will constantly have to pay to get them refilled. Not only is this a waste of money but it also takes up a lot of time. Delivering oxygen is not a perfect science, and it may require you to cancel your plans because you have to be home all day waiting for an oxygen delivery to switch out your tanks.

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Despite the issues associated with oxygen tanks they are a very popular method for oxygen therapy because they are accessible and have low upfront costs. However, some people do not realize that these costs add up very quickly because you will always have to refill them. Not to mention they’re also really heavy, bulky, and flammable, and they are ultimately an outdated source of long-term oxygen therapy.

Investing in a long-term oxygen therapy solution like a portable oxygen concentrator means you will never have to pay or waste time refilling oxygen tanks. These machines draw in ambient air and output medical-grade oxygen. With a POC, all you need is access to a power outlet in order to charge the batteries. Additionally, the Freestyle Comfort is extremely lightweight and easy to carry making it perfect for traveling and getting out of the house. This does not go without saying that some people cannot afford even the cheapest portable oxygen concentrator.

This is why LPT Medical offers a number of ways for you to purchase a portable oxygen concentrator. We have financing options, so you can pay it off over a series of months, and you also have the option to buy a refurbished unit that will cost you much less than a new unit.

When it comes to how much you will spend on a portable oxygen concentrator, do not shy away from the prices listed online. Most of the time, the manufacturers require the sellers to post their advertising prices, but a simple phone call can adjust the price you pay for a unit, just by speaking to a respiratory specialist. You can reach us at 1-800-946-1201 or find us on Facebook, @LPTMedical.

Caire Freestyle Comfort stats

Here are some quick stats about the Freestyle Comfort.

• 5 pounds
• Pulse Flow Settings 1-5
• 10” H x 7.3” L x 3.1” W
• Up to 16 hours of Battery Life
• 3 Year Warranty

For reference 5 pounds is about the same weight as a two-liter bottle of water, and it can easily fit into a purse, or you can use one of the carrying cases, either an adjustable backpack or side satchel to wear on your hip.

The small compact size makes the Freestyle very easy to carry with you wherever you go, but it was also designed to be ergonomic, and fit into the curve of your body so it doesn’t swing around while you walk or exercise. All of the buttons to adjust your oxygen levels and the power switch are conveniently located on the top of the unit. It is easy to replace the batteries, simply by pulling them out of the bottom of the unit.

Oxygen tanks are an older form of oxygen therapy, and that is why they are not very user friendly. On the other end of the spectrum, the Caire Freestyle Comfort is the newest pulse dose portable oxygen concentrator by CAIRE Inc. which is one of the global leaders in oxygen supply manufacturing. For 50 years, they’ve worked to refine and improve oxygen delivery equipment which helps respiratory patients live more active and productive lives.

The CAIRE Freestyle Comfort does just that. Helps you to live a more active and productive life, and to do so this unit offers one of the longest lasting batteries available.

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Battery Life

So, unlike oxygen tanks, POCs run off of batteries, and the better the battery the longer the POC can administer oxygen to the user. With the Freestyle Comfort you will be able to move around on your own terms without boundaries, because this machine offers very long battery life and you can go longer without having to worry about recharging your device.

The flow settings of the Freestyle Comfort go from 1-5, and on the lowest flow setting of 1 which comes out to 210 ml/min, is 16 hours. This is even more than top-of-its-class portable oxygen concentrators like the Inogen One G5.

Similarly to with Inogen oxygen concentrators, you’ll be able to charge your Freestyle Comfort using an AC or a DC outlet, so in the cigarette lighter in your car or at home with a standard outlet.

You have the option to go with the 8-cell battery or the 16-cell. The 16-cell will be slightly more expensive, and it has a recharge time of about 6 hours. The 8-cell battery will take about 3.5 hours to charge. Both batteries will keep the unit under 6 pounds, but the 8-cell battery is just slightly lighter than the 16-cell. If you do a lot of traveling or if you need a higher oxygen output and don’t want to recharge often, the 16-cell battery is right for you. But if you like to relax at home after a trip to the grocery store, the 8-cell is perfect.

This information is similar to how our respiratory specialist will go through the buying process with you so that you feel confident about the choice you are making purchasing the Ciare Freestyle Comfort.

Here is a table the explains the Freestyle Comfort battery life depending on the battery and settings:

Flow settings

The Caire Freestyle Comfort is not just small, it is very powerful. Administering a pulse dose setting from 1 to 5, so 210 ml/min to 1050 ml/min. Because we are a licensed distributor, we can only sell you our POCs with a prescription from your doctor. We also pride ourselves on being able to offer a wide variety of units that will meet almost anyone’s oxygen requirements.

Because the Freestyle comfort does not offer continuous flow, like the Respironics SimplyGo which offers both, this unit is best for someone who needs a flow setting of around 1-3 with the option to increase their oxygen intake over time, if need be, without having to get a new unit.

It is prudent to have room to grow into your portable oxygen concentrator should your oxygen prescription change, during an exacerbation, or should you need more oxygen during exercise.

Here is a table that explains the oxygen output at each setting:

As you can see there is a lot of wiggle room for a person who only needs 420 ml/min of oxygen, and these machines are built to last. We also offer a 3 year long warranty on this unit, so if something should malfunction you will be covered.

Should you ever need to go beyond these oxygen outputs, and the Ciare Freestyle Comfort no longer fits into your daily routine, we have a buyback program in place to make the transition into a new POC smooth and financially responsible.

UltraSense Breath Detection Technology

So what else makes The Caire Freestyle Comfort one of the most efficient and effective on the market? It has an ultra-sensitive breath detection feature so rather than providing you with a constant stream of oxygen, the Freestyle Comfort delivers oxygen only when a breath is detected. This is also known as a “bolus” of oxygen, and it is perfectly synced with your breathing to ensure no oxygen is wasted.

Overview

As we mentioned in the section above, The Freestyle Comfort offers you 5 oxygen flow settings with a maximum oxygen output of 1050 ml/min which is enough oxygen for the vast majority of oxygen patients. Depending on your oxygen needs, it may provide plenty of room to move up if your symptoms progress.

Over-all The Caire Freestyle Comfort is one of the top-tier pulse flow oxygen concentrators when it comes to total oxygen output. We are so proud to sell these units in particular because it can be life changing for our patients. We are here to give oxygen patients a new outlook, and hopefully remind them that oxygen therapy can be a very good thing, with the right machinery, you will be able to travel, stay active, stay healthy, and live a longer happier life.

Imagine going from lugging around a bulky oxygen tank to simply inserting you Caire Freestyle Comfort into its carrying case, your purse, or backpack and going out for a walk, to run errands, or golfing! These small freedoms add up, and over time you independence from care-takers and loved ones will blossom.

When is comes to modern oxygen delivery and technology the Caire Freestyle Comfort is at the top of the list, alongside the renowned Inogen One G5, and One G3. This unit has hardly any drawbacks, and as long as you prescription matches the oxygen output, you could go for years and year with this trusty companion. With the Caire Freestyle Comfort, the world is your oyster, and this machine is your ticket to anywhere!

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common lung diseases in the world. It’s estimated that about 16.4 million people in the United States alone have COPD and millions more are either undiagnosed or at high risk of contracting it. Despite this fact, many people are woefully unaware of what causes this disease and how it should best be managed.

In short, COPD is an umbrella term that denotes two conditions: chronic bronchitis and emphysema. While the symptoms and pathogenesis of these two diseases are slightly different, they are both primarily caused by cigarette smoking. However, in rare instances, someone who has never smoked can contract COPD through something called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AAT deficiency).

One of the symptoms of COPD that’s particularly vicious is something called an exacerbation. This is similar to an asthma attack in that it causes respiratory symptoms such as breathlessness, chest pain, and sputum production to suddenly become worse, oftentimes requiring you to seek immediate medical attention. In this post, we will help you better understand COPD flare-ups and exacerbations, as well as how to avoid being hospitalized as a result. 

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to leave them in the comment section so we can address them.

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What’s the Difference Between a Flare-Up and an Exacerbation?

Generally speaking, the terms “COPD flare-up” and “COPD exacerbation” are used interchangeably. They both refer to respiratory symptoms becoming worse due to environmental causes, infections, or any number of other things. However, when it comes to discussing these symptoms, it’s important to be precise not only about what’s causing them but how severe they are as well.

A mild COPD exacerbation is one that could lead to increased discomfort but is unlikely to cause any serious long-term consequences. These can typically be treated with short-acting bronchodilators (SABD) or “rescue inhalers” which work to quickly open up the airways allowing you to breathe better. Moderate COPD exacerbations should be supplemented with oral corticosteroids which suppress inflammation and antibiotics which can help fight inflammation.

The final type of exacerbation is a severe exacerbation, sometimes called an “acute” exacerbation. This type of exacerbation requires immediate medical attention and can even be life-threatening if it’s not treated appropriately. Ideally, the best way to prepare for this type of exacerbation is to have an action plan and ensure you always have someone on hand to either take you to the hospital or call an ambulance. 

Why it’s so Important to Avoid Hospitalization With COPD

According to the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, COPD is responsible for $72 billion a year in direct healthcare expenditures. The majority of these costs come from hospital visits which range from 4.5 to 8.8 days on average. Around two-thirds of all COPD hospitalizations are due to COPD exacerbations, and the majority of COPD exacerbations are caused by infections — specifically viral infections. 

The primary reason it’s important to avoid hospitalization for COPD is because of the risks for your health. According to another study by the aforementioned medical journal, after testing over 2 million patients, the 1-year readmission rate was 64.2% and the 1-year mortality rate was 26.2% both of which were significantly higher than rates among the general COPD population. Readmission and mortality rates are also much higher among patients who were hospitalized with severe exacerbation of COPD.

The second most important reason to avoid hospitalization due to COPD is cost. Frequent or long-term admissions can pose a significant financial burden on people with COPD which can also lead to stress, anxiety, and even depression. In our last post, we highlighted some key ways that you can avoid unnecessary financial costs due to COPD so check it out if you’re interested in learning more.

Have a Plan to Deal With Exacerbations

First and foremost, if you want to avoid hospitalization due to COPD exacerbation, you need to have a plan of action before an emergency occurs. An action plan is a sort of written outline that you will follow in order to accomplish a certain goal. This way, if you notice your COPD symptoms starting to worsen, you can refer to your sheet instead of worrying about making difficult decisions at the moment.

In order to prepare your COPD action plan, you should first consult your doctor. He/she will likely already have a template that you can fill out to make this process a little easier. On this action plan, you will need to create an “action” for every symptom you experience. For example, if the symptom is a gradual decrease in your blood oxygen levels, you might make a note to increase your oxygen flow setting or contact your doctor. If you experience sudden shortness of breath, you might make a note to use your rescue inhaler.

Another important thing to know about your COPD action plan is that it should not be private information. You should make it a priority to go over your plan with friends and family, especially if they spend a lot of time with you. This way, if you are in a situation where you are unable to act out your action plan, they will be able to help. In this post, we discuss how you can prepare for medical emergencies and hospital visits with COPD, so check it out if you want to know more. 

Change Up Your Diet

Diet can be a very difficult topic to discuss in this day and age. Most people have access to more types of food than ever before and there is a near endless list of diets that people swear by. As a result, it can feel like an insurmountable task trying to find something that keeps you happy and healthy. The good news, however, is that many years of research have been dedicated to COPD diets, so you shouldn’t have to do much scrambling to make sense of it all.

Generally speaking, COPD patients should maintain a diet that’s high in protein, fiber, and fat, but low in carbohydrates. The reason for this is that the metabolism of carbs produces the highest amount of carbon dioxide in the body while the metabolism of fat produces the least. Adequate protein ensures your respiratory muscles stay strong and efficient, and fiber helps to control blood glucose levels and reduce cholesterol in the blood.

Another reason to keep your diet healthy, natural foods rather than processed ones is because weight management is vital to COPD management. Most often, people tend to become underweight after contracting COPD due to a loss of appetite or other factors. Sometimes, people experience a loss of appetite because consuming food is more physically exerting than it was previously, and bloating can contribute to breathing difficulties. COPD patients who are underweight may find that they lack the energy or endurance to make it through the day.

On the other hand, being overweight with COPD can contribute to breathing problems as well. While it is less common for a COPD patient to become overweight than underweight, the problems associated with it can be just as severe. Simply put, having a higher body mass index (BMI) can be obstructive to your breathing by putting more strain on your lungs when you inhale. However, some studies have found mixed results when it comes to being overweight/obese with COPD.  

Be Consistent With Your Exercise Routine

Consistency is unbelievably important when it comes to treating COPD and preventing exacerbations. For example, your diet is much more likely to benefit you if you keep up with your goals week in and week out. But if you do well one week then cheat the next, you’re going to put yourself at a much higher risk of COPD complications like exacerbations. This works pretty much the same way when it comes to your exercise routine.

Oftentimes, exercise specialists will talk about getting into a “routine.” In other words, you do the same exercise each day for an allotted period of time. By doing so, it will be much easier to track your progress and catch yourself when you fall back on your plan. This works well for most people who want to commit to an exercise routine, but it’s especially useful for COPD patients who benefit more from consistent moderate exercise rather than high-intensity exercise.

Avoid Getting Sick

Lung infection is both the number one cause of severe COPD exacerbation and the number one cause of hospitalization due to COPD. With that being said, staying healthy and avoiding infection (especially lung infections) is vital. One of the best things you can do right now to avoid getting sick is to quit smoking or avoid second-hand smoke if you live around smokers.

It’s been known for quite some time that smoking reduces the immune response in the body and also makes the smoker more likely to have exaggerated responses to viral infections. During influenza outbreaks and with the current situation we face involving COVID-19, smokers have a much lower survival rate when compared to the general population. Not to mention that smoking and second-hand smoke can trigger COPD exacerbations even if an infection isn’t present.

Another thing you can do to avoid getting sick is to be more conscious of your daily habits. For example, do you wash your hands frequently throughout the day? Do you take care to avoid places that are unclean or unsanitary? Do you stay away from people who exhibit symptoms of the cold or the flu? Do you clean surfaces in your home like door handles, coffee pot handles, or faucet handles? Are you following all the precautions recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to prevent contracting the novel coronavirus? 

Last but certainly not least, you should be getting the doctor-recommended eight hours of sleep each night in order to avoid getting sick. According to WebMD, sleep deprivation suppresses the immune system and puts you at a higher risk of contracting colds, the flu, and other ailments. This is an especially difficult topic for many COPD patients because respiratory symptoms can make it difficult to maintain a healthy sleep schedule. In this post, we take a look at some actionable tips to improve your sleep if you have COPD.

Avoid Environmental Triggers

It can be a scary world out there for anyone who values their lung health. From wildfire smoke to car exhaust and pollen, it’s easy to feel like no place is safe. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) even reports that indoor air can be two to five times more polluted than outdoor air. Fortunately, it’s not all grim news for COPD patients who want to avoid exacerbation triggers. Just by following a few simple steps, you’ll be well on your way to avoiding the most common triggers.

Despite summer ending last week, we are still in the midst of wildfire season. As a result, COPD patients need to be aware of when they go outside, especially when it concerns exercising outdoors. Air quality index (AQI) is the measurement we use to determine how safe outdoor air is to breathe. Each day before you go outside, be sure to check AirNow.gov for the AQI in your area. If the AQI is above 100, this is a sign that the air quality is too poor for people with lung diseases like COPD, asthma, or pulmonary fibrosis.

Another thing you should be wary of is seasonal allergies. Contrary to popular belief, allergies are a reality during all times of the year as opposed to only being active during certain seasons. In September and October, allergens like ragweed are typically at their peak. According to WebMD, if you get allergies in the spring, you are about 75% likely to have reactions to ragweed. So, if you’re outside this trying to enjoy the fall colors and cool weather this year, just be aware that allergies are still a reality.

The final airborne COPD exacerbation triggers we’d like to talk about are the ones found in your home. Like we mentioned earlier, indoor air can potentially be more dangerous than outdoor air. This is because the air in your home is extremely concentrated, so if you track things in like dust, allergens, or smoke, it will likely start to build up in one area of your home unless you take the time to clean regularly. While it may not seem that important, taking the time to vacuum, dust, and wipe down surfaces every day can go a long way to preventing COPD exacerbations. What’s more, it will help you get your daily exercise.     

Use a Reliable Portable Oxygen Machine

Last but certainly not least, having a reliable portable oxygen device that you can take anywhere will put you in the best position to avoid COPD exacerbations and hospitalization. For the vast majority of COPD patients, supplemental oxygen therapy is a medical necessity. Not only does it stabilize your lung condition, but it also ensures your blood oxygen levels are normal, which in turn saturates every organ in your body with the oxygen it needs to function properly.

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For the foreseeable future, portable oxygen concentrators are your best bet for reliable portable oxygen. Unlike oxygen tanks or liquid oxygen tanks, portable oxygen concentrators are electronic devices. So, instead of having to go out of your way constantly to have your tanks refilled by an oxygen specialist, you simply need to carry batteries with you. Fortunately, these batteries are lightweight and don’t take up very much space in your backpack or handbag.

Currently, the best portable oxygen concentrator on the market is the Caire FreeStyle Comfort. It weighs in at only 5 pounds and it offers 5 different flow settings that you can adjust on the fly as needed. One of the unique features of the FreeStyle Comfort is its ergonomic design which keeps the device comfortably at your side rather than jostling around as some other concentrators do. 

Another portable oxygen concentrator we’d like to recommend is the Inogen One G5. While this POC came out last year, it’s still very relevant and a great choice for anyone who needs a reliable 24/7 medical oxygen supply. The Inogen One G5 has one more pulse flow setting than the FreeStyle Comfort and it weighs slightly less at just 4.7 pounds. Inogen is one of the top brands in the medical oxygen industry and they take pride in customer satisfaction.

In rare instances, your doctor may require you to use a continuous flow concentrator. If this is the case, we recommend the Respironics SimplyGo portable oxygen concentrator. This unit is twice as heavy as the Caire FreeStyle Comfort, but since it puts out a continuous flow of oxygen, it can be used with your CPAP or BiPAP machine if you have sleep apnea or another related sleeping disorder. If you’re looking for affordable portable oxygen concentrators, don’t hesitate to visit our online oxygen store.

Conclusion  

Unfortunately, exacerbations and flare-ups are a reality for COPD patients. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t take steps to reduce your risk of experiencing hospitalization due to an exacerbation. Above all, following your treatment plan as closely as possible and preventing sickness like the cold or flu will be your best bet if you want to avoid hospital visits. 

If you would like to learn more about managing chronic respiratory conditions such as COPD, stay tuned to our blog. We aim to equip our readers with the knowledge they need to combat breathlessness, chest pain, and fatigue in their daily lives, as well as learning how to cope with the mental aspects of chronic disease like anxiety and depression. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions or concerns.

So, you recently found out you have COPD and you're not sure what to do. You might be feeling scared, lost, overwhelmed, or anxious about what will come next.

First of all, take a deep breath and remind yourself that you will be okay. COPD is a serious disease, but it doesn't mean your life as you know it is over. Many people go on to live many long, happy years after getting diagnosed with COPD.

Even though the news can come as a shock, it's important not to not panic or get too discouraged about your diagnosis. COPD is treatable, even if it's not curable, and the next steps you take can have a major impact on your disease and how quickly your symptoms get worse.

One of the worst things you can do is get stuck in the trap of dwelling on what-ifs and feeling hopeless about things you can't change. Instead, you should do your best to focus on what you can change in order to keep yourself healthy and live the longest, best life possible in spite of your disease.

That's why we created this guide to help you figure out what to do after you've been diagnosed with COPD. In the sections below, we'll walk you through 11 vital steps you can take right away to preserve your health and take charge of your disease.

Learning how to manage COPD is a complicated journey, and it helps to have a roadmap to point you in the right direction. Luckily, there are plenty of resources to help you get started, including the one you're reading now, and you will find links to many more all throughout this guide.

The Next Steps: What to Do After Your COPD Diagnosis

Stop Smoking!

Don't make the common mistake of believing that it's not a big deal to keep smoking just because you already have COPD. The truth is, continuing to smoke after your COPD diagnosis is extremely dangerous; it can shorten your lifespan, make your symptoms more severe, and make your quality of life significantly worse.

One of the major effects of COPD is that it makes your lungs extra vulnerable to inflammation. Anything you breathe that irritates your lungs, including dust, allergens, and smoke, can make your symptoms worse for hours or even days at a time.

Even worse, inflammation can lead to permanent lung damage and accelerated loss of your remaining lung function. It can also make you more likely to have a COPD exacerbation, which is a prolonged episode of worsened respiratory symptoms that requires special treatment—and sometimes even hospitalization—to cure.

But studies show that if you quit smoking, it can reduce your COPD symptoms, make it easier to breathe, and reduce your risk for other health complications. It can even improve the overall function of your heart and lungs, reducing shortness of breath and making it easier to do physical activities.

Most importantly, research suggests that quitting smoking is the most effective thing you can do to slow down the progression of COPD. It can help you live longer, live better, and suffer from less severe symptoms over the course of your disease.

Of course, stopping smoking is almost never an easy thing to do. Many people need help quitting, which is why there are a wide variety of smoking cessation resources available to assist you if you need them.

U. S. Air Force photo by Beverly Joyner

Don't be discouraged if you've tried and failed before; most smokers make many quit attempts before it finally sticks. You might be more likely to succeed if you use one or more quit smoking medications, such as nicotine replacement patches or pills.

Other helpful resources include quit smoking counseling (which is generally free with medicare), quit smoking hotlines, and online smoking cessation programs. The first step is deciding that you want to make the firm commitment to quit, and then you can set up a plan including a quit date and a strategy for gathering the support, medication, and any other tools you need to help you succeed.

Learn Anything and Everything You Can About COPD

In order to manage your COPD effectively, you need to understand your disease and what it takes to minimize further damage to your lungs. The more you know, the better you can manage your symptoms, make healthy choices, and maintain your quality of life.

That's why it's important to learn everything you can about COPD and how to live responsibly with the disease. That includes learning how COPD affects your body, how it progresses over time, and the myriad ways you can improve the health of your heart and lungs. COPD oxygen therapy treatment is one of the best ways to reduce symptoms regardless of whether you have mild or severe COPD. 

There are many online resources you can use to research COPD and learn practical strategies for managing the disease. We have a variety of helpful guides on our Respiratory Resource Center blog to help you get started, all of which include numerous links to helpful information from doctors, researchers, and other COPD experts.

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You can start with following guides which cover a variety of vital COPD topics:

• Learn About the 4 Stages of COPD
• 15 Tips for Reducing Your Risk for COPD Exacerbations
• How to Prevent COPD-Related Heart Attacks
• How COPD Affects Your Immune System
• The Importance of Following Your COPD Action Plan
• How to Avoid Common Mistakes New COPD Patients Make

COPD-Proof Your Environment

One of the first things you should learn about COPD is that many common chemicals, microbes, and airborne particles can worsen your COPD. That includes common household allergens like pollen, dust, and mold, as well as other respiratory irritants like fragrances and smoke.

In order to minimize your symptoms and keep your COPD under control, it's important to minimize your exposure to these and other respiratory hazards. That means avoiding air pollution both outside and inside, but especially within your own home.

Indoor air quality is important, and one of your immediate priorities should be to create a lung-friendly climate inside your house. There are many ways to do this, including eliminating sources of air pollution and maintaining ideal temperature and humidity conditions indoors.

The first step is to deep clean your house to remove dust, mold, and other contaminants that can make it more difficult to breathe. This can make a noticeable difference in your daily symptoms and make your COPD easier to manage at home.

Next, you may need to make some changes to household habits and routines. You can reduce the amount of hazardous VOC's you breathe in, for example, by taking care to set up proper ventilation anytime you cook or clean.

It's especially important to eliminate any sources of smoke in your house, including cigarettes, incense, and wood-burning fireplaces. You should also avoid certain common household products, including many commercial cleaning chemicals and aerosol sprays, that can irritate your lungs and contribute to indoor air pollution.

On days when your local air quality is poor, you can shield your home from outdoor air pollution by keeping your doors and windows closed. You can also optimize your indoor air purity by using high-quality air filters, humidifiers, or electric air purifying appliances (such as a certified HEPA filtration system).

Check out the following guides to learn more about how to COPD-proof your home:

• How to deep clean your house to reduce COPD symtpoms
• Practical tips for improving your indoor air quality
• How to reduce your exposure to noxious cleaning products (and find lung-safe alternatives)

Learn COPD Breathing Techniques

One of the earliest and most prevalent symptoms of COPD is shortness of breath, which often appears during exercise and other physical activities. This tends to get worse with time, and it can seriously interfere with your ability to do daily activities and live an active, healthy life.

Fortunately, there are many strategies you can use to reduce shortness of breath; in fact, that is one of the major goals of COPD treatment. One of these strategies is practicing deep breathing techniques, which is proven to be an effective short-term solution to breathlessness.

Unlike many other COPD treatments, breathing exercises are simple, immediate, and they're available for you to use anytime and anywhere. Breathing techniques also teach you how to be aware of your breathing and control your breaths in beneficial ways.

Because of this, breathing exercises are an early skill that every person with COPD should learn soon after diagnosis. It works as a first-line solution to breathlessness that is effective in a wide range of different situations, including when you walk, exercise, or exert yourself in any way.

Even if you have mild COPD and don't experience breathlessness often yet, learning to control your breathing is still an important skill. The more you practice now, the easier and more natural it will feel to use these techniques as your disease progresses and it becomes more difficult to breathe.

Learn COPD Airway Clearance Techniques

Just like breathing techniques, airway clearance techniques are basic, vital skills for every COPD patient. Their purpose is to get rid of excess mucus that builds up in and blocks your airways as a result of your COPD.

Simply put, airway clearance techniques are exercises you can do to deliberately move mucus up and out of your lungs and airways. Once the mucus reaches your upper airways and mouth, you simply cough or spit it out to remove it from your respiratory tract completely.

While this might sound gross at first, this is exactly what happens anytime you have a wet cough, which often happens during minor respiratory infections like the flu. Unfortunately, people with COPD tend to produce lots of extra mucus all the time, where it blocks airflow through their airways and makes it more difficult to breathe.

Fortunately, airway clearance techniques can help you manage this problem and minimize its effect on your life. You can use include tool-assisted strategies as well as simpler techniques as-needed throughout the day.

Techniques like controlled coughing, positional drainage, and strategic tapping on the chest and back can all help you get rid of stubborn mucus at home. If you work with your doctor, you may also get to use specialized mucus-clearing tools and equipment, such as vibrating chest vests (high-frequency chest wall oscillation) and medical lung flutes.

Many people with COPD experience reduced respiratory symptoms when they use airway clearance techniques regularly. They can reduce shortness of breath, prevent coughing fits, and minimize the amount of wheezing when you breathe.

To learn more about airway clearance techniques, including methods you can use at home, check out our guide on the topic here.

Get Your Flu & Pneumonia Vaccinations

Vaccinations are important for everybody, but they are especially important for people with COPD and other chronic diseases. It is very dangerous to get sick when you have COPD because it can cause severe COPD exacerbations and other complications.

COPD actually depresses your immune system, making you more likely to get sick with infectious illnesses like the flu. It also makes your lungs more prone to infection and inflammation, so that even a minor illness can lead to life-threatening breathing problems in people with advanced COPD.

Now that you've been diagnosed with COPD, you can't take the risk of leaving your immune system unprotected. Avoiding illnesses and exacerbations is a key part of managing your disease, especially since exacerbations can cause irreversible lung damage and permanent lung function loss.

Because of this, getting vaccinated for the flu—and possibly pneumonia—is usually one of the first recommendations doctors give to someone recently diagnosed with COPD. In general, all adults aged 65 or older, or who have a chronic disease, should get the pneumonia vaccine; however, your doctor can tell you if you need it for sure.

The flu vaccine is particularly important, because influenza is a serious respiratory illness that kills up to 79,000 people every year and causes even more hospitalizations. In people with COPD, the flu can cause severe COPD exacerbations, and frequently leads to secondary lung infections like pneumonia.

While the pneumonia vaccine is a one-time thing, you will need to get a new flu vaccine every year to stay protected. Don't take this duty lightly; after all, it may only take one serious illness to make your COPD symptoms worse forever.

Even minor exacerbations can affect your ability to breathe and do daily activities for weeks, and it can take even longer to get back to baseline after a serious one. If you have severe COPD, exacerbations put you at risk for hospitalization, respiratory failure, and possibly even death.

Learn How to Manage Your New Medications

After your COPD diagnosis, your doctor will likely put you on a strict medication regimen. You are likely to receive, at the very least, a maintenance inhaler to use every day and a quick-relief inhaler to use as-needed when you find it difficult to breathe.

If your COPD is more severe, you will likely have a variety of additional medications to keep track of. This might be difficult to get used to at first, especially when some medications are regular, some are as-needed, and some you only use during a COPD exacerbation.

However, it's vital that you understand each medication as well as exactly how you're supposed to use it. If you haven't received one already, ask your doctor to give you a detailed COPD action plan, which will serve as a vital resource for you as you learn to manage your disease.

Your COPD action plan should detail each of your medications and the conditions for their use. It should explain when to take each medication, how much you're supposed to take, and if any other factors—such as bad symptom flare-ups—change how you should use it.

Once you fully understand your medications, it's important to set up a schedule and a routine to help you take them consistently and correctly. You can use whatever methods are available to keep yourself on track, such as sticky notes, phone reminders, or pill containers labeled with each day of the week.

Kickstart Healthy Daily Habits

When you're a healthy adult, it's all too easy to brush off the fact that you have a bad diet or have put on excess weight. However, these unhealthy habits become much too dangerous to ignore if you get diagnosed with COPD.

COPD patients who live an unhealthy lifestyle have worse symptoms and a much worse quality of life. This is especially true for people who have bad eating habits, don't get enough exercise, or have an unhealthy BMI.

Unfortunately, COPD symptoms like breathlessness, depression, and fatigue can make it difficult to stay healthy. However, it's important to work through these problems so that you can work out, stay active, and cook healthy, balanced meals.

It's okay if you need help; there are many diet, nutrition, and exercise specialists out there who can show you how to get on track. It's also good to start small, with simple steps and modest goals to help you move forward without feeling overwhelmed or burnt out.

Major lifestyle changes don't happen overnight, but it's important to get started as early as possible. The longer you wait to improve your habits, the worse your COPD symptoms will become, and the harder it will be to change.

However, making improvements in your diet and exercise can go a long way towards improving your COPD symptoms and your overall quality of life. It can even improve your ability to breathe and slow the rate of lung function decline over time.

If you're not sure whether or not your lifestyle needs to change, talk to your doctor about your current habits related to diet, exercise, and health. He can help you spot any unhealthy behaviors and give you pointers for how to improve.

To learn more, check out our following guides about COPD-healthy exercise and nutrition:

• Tips for Exercising at Home with COPD
• Learn which Foods You Should Eat and which Foods You Shouldn't Eat if you have COPD
• How to Reduce COPD-Related Fatigue

Ask Questions and Work With Your Doctor

Living with COPD is no simple matter, and you're bound to have a lot of questions after getting diagnosed. When you do, don't be afraid to talk to your doctor and ask him to explain anything you don't understand.

Asking questions is a good thing; it shows you want to be involved in your treatment and learn how to manage your COPD. Your doctors are some of the best resources you have, so don't be afraid to ask for—or even insist on—answers to any questions that come up.

Working with your doctor should be an two-sided dialogue, and you should feel comfortable asking your doctor to provide you with explanations and clarifications. That's why it's important to work with a doctor you get along with and who you can trust to keep you informed.

If you're not quite sure how to open up a dialogue, take some time to think about any questions or concerns you have about your health and your disease. Write down everything that comes to mind, including any topics you and your doctor have already discussed that have you worried, confused, or unsure.

This exercise will expose gaps in your knowledge and help you figure out what you need to know. Then, the next time you talk to your doctor, bring this list of questions and concerns with you so you don't leave anything out.

If you need some ideas to get started, check out our guide with 16 questions you should ask your doctor about your COPD.

Get Support and Assistance from Family and Friends

Nobody should have to cope with a COPD diagnosis all on their own. As soon as you've processed the news and feel ready to discuss it, you should consider telling your family and friends about your disease.

The reasons for doing so are two-fold: First of all, the emotional support you get from the people who love you can be a huge relief and allow you to cope with your diagnosis in a healthier way. Second, it gives your family and friends the chance to offer physical and practical support, which you may need as you go through treatment.

For example, you could ask your loved ones to help you make the lifestyle changes needed to keep yourself healthy for as long as possible. You may also need to ask them for help with daily tasks, like cooking, cleaning, and making it to doctor's appointments in the more severe stages of COPD.

In many cases, friends and family members are more than happy to do what they can, even if it's just little things here and there. Having someone to help you go shopping, pick up your medications, or simply call to check up on you when you're not feeling well can make life just a little easier to manage when you're living with COPD.

Take the Time to Look After Your Mental Health