What are the symptoms of COPD?



Article By: Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland
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COPD makes breathing increasingly difficult over time and many people do not have noticeable symptoms until their late 40s.



What are the symptoms of COPD?
COPD makes breathing increasingly difficult over time and many people do not have noticeable symptoms until their late 40s.

The symptoms that often characterise COPD are:

Increasing breathlessness
Wheezing
Regular production of sputum (phlegm)
Coughing
You may also have other symptoms such as repeated chest infections, weight loss and tiredness or fatigue.

What causes COPD?
The main cause of COPD is smoking. In the UK, around 8 out of 10 people with COPD are either current smokers or have previously smoked.

But smoking is not the only cause of COPD. The condition can also develop due to poor air quality, work-related exposure to dust, chemicals or fumes, or genetic factors.

How is COPD diagnosed?
There are a number of forms of COPD diagnosis as it tends to “creep up” with worsening symptoms over time. Your doctor will likely ask you a series of questions about your family background, your general health and if you’re a smoker. They’ll then examine you by listening to your chest, looking at other parts of your body such as fingers and ankles to rule out any other possible conditions that could be causing your symptoms.

Then, they may assess the severity of your breathlessness to get an idea of how much COPD is impacting your day-to-day life. Once COPD is diagnosed, the severity is defined under Mild, Moderate, Severe or Very Severe.

Your BMI may also be calculated to see if being underweight or overweight is potentially worsening your symptoms.

Then you may be offered one of the following tests to understand which treatment will be most effective for you and your condition:

Additional breathing tests to decide whether you have asthma or COPD
Functional breathing tests to see how activity affects your breathing
A blood test for alpha-1 antitrypsin to find out if you have alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (an inherited condition that can cause COPD)
A computerised tomography (CT) scan of your chest to get a detailed picture of the structure of your lungs
An electrocardiogram (ECG) or echocardiogram (Echo) or both to check whether COPD has affected your heart
Pulse oximetry to measure how much oxygen there is in your blood
A sputum test if an infection is suspected

How is COPD treated?
If you’re a smoker, the first step in treatment is to stop smoking. This will slow down or prevent further damage to your lungs. If you’re in the early stages of COPD, this may be the only treatment that you need to undertake.

COPD cannot be cured but medical treatment can improve your symptoms and prevent a further flareup of symptoms.

There are several treatment options for COPD and the one that you’re prescribed will depend on your symptoms and the severity of your COPD. The process of finding the right treatment for you can require a little of trial and error meaning that your treatment will be reviewed regularly and you may have to try several until you find the one that fits you best.

COPD medicines are often inhaled, through an inhaler or nebuliser, allowing the medicine to go directly to the lungs, getting the greatest effect with the least side effects. Other medicines include mucolytic medicines which make phlegm less thick, steroid tablets are prescribed for flareups and if you have an flareup that is thought to be the result of an infection, you may be prescribed antibiotics.



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