Emphysema

Emphysema gradually damages the air sacs (alveoli) in your lungs, making you progressively more short of breath. Emphysema is one of several diseases known collectively as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In emphysema, the inner walls of the air sacs weaken and eventually rupture creating one larger air space instead of many small ones. This reduces the surface area of the lungs and, in turn, the amount of oxygen that reaches your bloodstream.

Unfortunately, yes. I watched my father die of it a few years back.

Emphysema has been around as long as cigars. Also, Emphysema has benn around for thousands of years, since the Egyptian times. Emphysema was just recently discovered.

how long can you live on oxygen whenuyou have emphysema and your 82 years old

True

Alveoli enlarge as adjacent chambers break through. Airways collapse during expiration. Patients use a large amount of energy to exhale.

what are the symptoms of enphezema

I was recently diagnosed with rhinitis and was prescribed "verymyst" nasal spray.

To answer this you need to know what emphysema does. The lung has large clusters like grapes of what called alveoli and the grape like clusters add to the surface area and allow for maximum oxygenation. When a person develops emphysema the grape clusters disappear and it becomes more like a latex balloon. Neither the grape clusters or the latex balloons can be seen on plain xrays but are as clear as day on a CT scan.

There are several things you will need to do at home after a tracheotomy. You will need to be sure the area stays clean and dry and make sure no debris gets down into the open wound.

Emphysema is not contagious, and someone with emphysema can be around a child with respiratory problems without endangering the child. Smokers should not be around a child with respiratory problems.

Lung irritants damage the alveoli which are tiny hollow air sacs.. In emphysema, the air sacs begin to collapse, which reduces the amount of surface area where gas exchange occurs. The person coughs because the lungs feel irritated and tight, like in asthma, and the person may have wheezing.

The phrase "beginning emphysema" just means a doctor suspects or a test shows beginning changes or symptoms that are consistent with emphysema (or generally consistent with COPD). It likely means the person has symptoms of inflammation in the lungs from lung irritants.

Prevention is much better because the cures do not exist. Chemotherapy for cancer may help, depending on the type of cancer and how advanced it is. Treatment can be a miserable process. For emphysema or other lung disorder, you are always chasing the progression of the disease with medication and oxygen.

Emphysema is a chronic long-term disease that blocks air way to lungs, meaning it will continue to affect the person by giving them shortness of breath. A treatment to Emphysema is to quit smoking as mentioned above, and then there are medications like Bronchodilators which improve the construction of the airways. So unless they keep smoking, no Emphysema can not worsen and can even be improved.

A pink chest rash is NOT a symptom of emphysema. It is more likely a negative side effect from a medication. Call your doctor.

yeah

A person must have plump alveoli for gas exchange. Plus, the body begins to rely on HIGHER CO2 and can stop breathing if higher O2 is given! So external O2 by mask, canula, or by vent must be given much lower than for healthy lungs, or the person can die.

A "pink puffer" is a person where emphysema is the primary underlying pathology. As you recall, emphysema results from destruction of the airways distal to the terminal bronchiole--which also includes the gradual destruction of the pulmonary capillary bed and thus decreased inability to oxygenate the blood. So, not only is there less surface area for gas exchange, there is also less vascular bed for gas exchange--but less ventilation-perfusion mismatch than blue bloaters. The body then has to compensate by hyperventilation (the "puffer" part). Their arterial blood gases (ABGs) actually are relatively normal because of this compensatory hyperventilation. Eventually, because of the low cardiac output, people afflicted with this disease develop muscle wasting and weight loss. They actually have less hypoxemia (compared to blue bloaters) and appear to have a "pink" complexion and hence "pink puffer". Some of the pink appearance may also be due to the work (use of neck and chest muscles) these folks put into just drawing a breath.

A "blue bloater" is a person where the primary underlying lung pathology is chronic bronchitis. Just a reminder, chronic bronchitis is caused by excessive mucus production with airway obstruction resulting from hyperplasia of mucus-producing glands, goblet cell metaplasia, and chronic inflammation around bronchi. Unlike emphysema, the pulmonary capillary bed is undamaged. Instead, the body responds to the increased obstruction by decreasing ventilation and increasing cardiac output. There is a dreadful ventilation to perfusion mismatch leading to hypoxemia and polycythemia. In addition, they also have increased carbon dioxide retention (hypercapnia). Because of increasing obstruction, their residual lung volume gradually increases (the "bloating" part). They are hypoxemic/cyanotic because they actually have worse hypoxemia than pink puffers and this manifests as bluish lips and faces--the "blue" part.

No, a moon face appearance is often the result of taking steroids. Steroids are often given to manage inflammation in the lungs.

emphysema