Hope for COPD

How to Improve Indoor Air Quality in 14 Easy Steps Face it, upon the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which is an umbrella term that includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, you have to constantly consider if the environment you are in is safe for your respiratory health. With a diagnosis of a chronic lung disease there are numerous lung irritants no matter where you go, but the one place that should be your respiratory safe haven is your home. Today we will be discussing 14 tips on how you can ensure that your home is free of symptom worsening lung irritants so you can relax and actually enjoy the time you spend at home. Enough chatter, it’s time to get into the nitty gritty details of how to effectively improve your home’s indoor air quality starting today. The Three Types of Substances that Reduce Indoor Air Quality: Allergens – This type of substance causes your body’s immune system to have an allergic response. Typically the most common sources of...

May is Better Sleep Month Getting a restful nights sleep is essential to your health. For those with chronic illness, it may be a real struggle. Many, have trouble falling asleep, and staying asleep for a variety of reasons. I would venture to say most, but don't quote me.  What ever the reason, Americans are not getting enough sleep in general. If you have a chronic illness, it is just icing on the sleep thief's  cake. Some are "tied up" to an oxygen machine, cpap or bi-pap machine, making sleep less comfortable. Others suffer from chronic pain and that pain flares and awakens them frequently.  And, for some, medications may cause a disruption in your ability to get to sleep and stay asleep. Many have minds with no off button. When your mind is constantly on, you can't relax and get some sleep. Many of your thoughts are about bills, tasks that need completed at work or home.  The vast majority of retail workers never have t...

COPD Unaware A guest post by Duke Reeves  Despite the advances in medicine and technology, COPD rates and the financial burden of COPD continue to rise. While part of the rising rates can be attributed to a growing population, the bottom line is that the majority of COPD cases are preventable through awareness and education.  The most common symptoms and signs of COPD are shortness of breath, chest tightness, coughing up mucus, and a chronic cough. Looking at these symptoms, it’s easy to see how we can brush them off and assume they are from a common cold or old age. However, by brushing these symptoms off we are setting ourselves up for a potentially rude awakening. COPD is a progressive disease which means the longer it goes untreated the more damage it’s going to cause. The best way to ensure you live a full life with COPD is by catching the disease as early as possible. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) predicted COPD would become the 3 rd leading cause of...

#3 in the Stress Awareness Month Series Breathing and Exercise Breathing can pull you out of a rage, or stressful moment... It can help quell your pain, calm you when upset... Breathing is a very basic function, yet one we take for granted until the day we have trouble doing it.  Yoga and Qi Gong can be very gentle, very effective forms of exercise. Do as much as you can... Time yourself, and every week, add another minute or two. Try your best to get in at least a full 30 minutes. Break it up as you please, 1 30 minutes session, 2 15 minutes sessions, 3 10 minutes sessions. Build up more time each week, but don't over do it! Try to not go over 60 minutes a day.  Here are some videos that focus on breathing:   4 - 7 - 8 Breathing Technique This one works very well! You are getting sleepy, sleeeepeeee. Because we have COPD please exhale for as long as it takes to clear your lungs. Repeat steps 4 times... Don't do this one more than ...

What is this IODINE that I keep posting about? IODINE, is an amazing site and Chrome browser extension!  Why am I writing about this? I am always reading and posting new information about COPD research and information. This tool will help you, as it helps me, make the best of the research and information.  When we can really understand what we are reading, we can better understand our disease, treatment  options, medications, and better communicate with our doctors about our concerns. Education is POWER! You install it to your Chrome browser and it will search for medical terminology or jargon, then highlight and translate it to simpler terms when you move your mouse over it!  This makes reading medical information a breeze for those who have little or no medical background, or even those that have been out of service for many years. Like a refresher course! This picture shows you what it will look like after being installed,...

Is it COPD? Or something else? Every week I scour the internet and medical journals for new COPD related information. I came across this news article, by a small TV news Team. I thought it was important to get this information out globally. So I s ent out a Tweet about it.  I got several replies thanking me for the tweet!  Apparently, this is something that medical professionals need to be more aware of when diagnosing and treating COPD patients or others with respiratory ailments.  Open         Collapsing Collapsed In a nutshell, the trachea and bronchi become weakened, flaccid, and collapse usually when one is breathing harder than normal, eating, crying or, you guessed it... Coughing.  I have ALWAYS told my doctors that when I have an exacerbation, it feels like my throat is closing. I can't get air in or out. So this is something I will be having checked at my next appointment.  If you too feel li...

***Very opinionated post, may cause anger, is intended to raise your blood pressure. Please take a moment to read this article:  How does  stigma  surrounding COPD affect research and care? That article is the inspiration for this post. Since being diagnosed with COPD I have run into a few people that wanted to blame me for my own illness. "Well, you shouldn't have smoked!" Coming from someone who also was a smoker, but had quit years ago. "It's your fault, you smoked!" Again, coming from some who had also previously smoked! (If the so called facts are correct, since they both smoked over 100 cigarettes in their life, they WILL get COPD) I personally call BS on that. This post is not the most pleasant. I am just tired of the BS. Even the questionnaires, and studies I have done, focus only on smoking. They read like a huge demographic study... Zip code? Age? Sex? Highest education level completed? Income level? Did you smoke? Who much ...

This year I am teaming up with Concentric's #daretostair campaign to raise awareness!  I hope that you will all join me to help raise awareness!  COPD sucks, so little research is being done!  We need to FIGHT and make more people aware of this very misunderstood illness.  Share with your friends, family, and dare them to take the stairs November 19th!  Ask them to share videos or photos on social media sites documenting their stair climb  using the hashtag  #daretostair Let's help others understand what COPD is like. Could you have COPD? With increased funding, death rates DROP!!!! We MUST raise awareness to help ourselves, and our loved ones!  I cannot do this alone, I need you to join me.  You can find me here: Twitter HOPE for COPD Facebook group COPD Foundation Google + And of course here, at the  BLOG

On Wednesday I tried to refill my prescriptions. The pharmacist called to tell me that all them were rejected by my insurance because, it EXPIRED! Now, since I had to quit working, I have had to depend on Medicaid to cover my medical expenses. Great, that is fine. But when I expire without notice? That is a huge problem.  Calling the Department of Human Services is no easy task. It takes about 40 phone calls over the course of several days to finally get a hold of anyone. Of course, that person can't help you. So I explain ever so... Dramatically, that I will DIE without my medication and oxygen. Of course, my oxygen concentrator went out too!  Still waiting to hear back from DHS. He did call back. But of course,  I missed his call and he left no message. I called 4 more times and got no answer. After spending all day on the phone, I took a nap! LOL Have any of you had issues like this with your insurer?  Let me know in the comments, or shoot me an email!...

So this is 40! I wish I was 17 again, no wait... Maybe 21. The past week has been tough. My Uncle lives a block over from me. I saw flashing red and blue, and an ambulance. So I picked up the phone and called my Aunt to ask if everyone was okay. Nope, they were taking my Uncle to the ER. No diagnosis yet. So I took a little trip to Kentucky with a cousin. We get there and find out that another Uncle is in the ER, his pacemaker stopped working well. They sent him home and told him to go to the VA Hospital the next day. Then when we got home my father needed to go to the ER, turns out it was just a UTI, thankfully. Got home from that to find out my mothers cousins husband (LOL they were like sisters) is in the hospital, diagnosed with end stage liver cancer! WHAT???? That was the 5th, his birthday was the 8th, he passed away on the 9th. Tomorrow my baby brother will be getting married. Then I have to clean an office (I actually pay someone else to clean it, but I do some dusting)...

The apps listed here are not COPD specific. They can be used for many different illnesses.  My personal favorite! That is why I included it again.  MediSafe Meds & Pill Reminder ANDROID https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.medisafe.android.client&hl=en iTUNES https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/medisafe-meds-pill-reminder/id573916946?mt=8 I LOVE this app! This is what I use to remind me to take my medications on time every day. It has many features that make it one of the best apps I have tried for this purpose. It will even remind you of refills, and remind your health partner to remind you to take your meds! You can use it for multiple people, and it has a great notification sound of shaking a pill bottle! MediSafe is a beautiful, visual and easy-to-use pill reminder and medication management app. It will help you take your medicine on time and safely. It also allows you to help your family members with their pills. --->...