Hope for COPD

Addressing Mental Health Before Stage 4 (#B4Stage4)  When we think about cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, we don’t wait years to treat them. We start before Stage 4—we begin with prevention. When people are in the first stage of those diseases, and are beginning to show signs of symptoms like a persistent cough, high blood pressure, or high blood sugar, we try immediately to reverse these symptoms. We don’t ignore them. In fact, we develop a plan of action to reverse and sometimes stop the progression of the disease.  So why aren’t we doing the same for individuals who are dealing with potentially serious mental illness?  When you or someone close to you starts to experience the early warning signs of mental illness, knowing what the risk factors and symptoms are will help to catch them early. Often times, family and friends are the first to step in to support a person through these early stages. Experiencing symptoms such as loss of sleep, feeling tired for n...

8 Tips for proper COPD medication adherence Taking your medication on time, at the right times, throughout the day will benefit you more than taking them at random when ever you remember to take them. Some people really struggle to remember how to take them as advised, and of course, to even bother taking them at all. I cannot tell you how many times I have forgotten to take them until it was almost bedtime!  Here are my top 6 tips on how to take your medications properly, and on time. Write the directions down on a piece of paper in the order that your doctor recommends you take them. You can also type them out on your computer using a font that appeals to use and enlarge them to fit 1 sheet of paper. Print that paper and put it in a plastic sheet protector . No matter how you do this, keep the list in the place you spend the most time in your home. Maybe that is the kitchen, on the end table next to your favorite chair in the living room, in the wall in the bath...

April is Stress Awareness month.  Having COPD, or any chronic illness can cause your stress level to be elevated, consistently more so, than normal. Stress, is BAD for your health.  So, this month, I am choosing to focus on ways to reduce stress and organ donation. As it is also National Donate Life Month. I hope you enjoy the posts and find them helpful.  I created this series of posts to help bring awareness, find ways to combat stress, and let you know that you are never alone!  What is stress? Stress is a state of mental strain, emotional strain, or tension resulting from unfortunate or very difficult circumstance. Internally our bodies all react the same way to stress. Our muscles tighten, our breathing becomes more shallow, your heart beats faster, your blood pressure rises. Because our bodies are working so hard,  this depletes our energy and taxes our immune system.  Externally we freeze up, zone out, bec...

Top 6 Foreign Films to watch when you are too sick to get out of bed. I love foreign films! You know, the ones you have to read and watch at the same time? You should never watch a foreign film with voice over in your language, unless it is filmed in your language! LOL You lose the feelings, the drama, the intensity. Here are my 6 FAVORITE movies, ever.  There is some sensitive subject matter discussed and shown in these films. So please be warned, they may be a trigger for some.  The Scent of Green Papaya This Vietnamese film follows a young servant girl named Mui into adulthood where she is now serving a handsome pianist whom she has admire for many years. This is a beautiful film, one I can watch over and over.  Ma Vie en Rose This amazing French language film follows the lovable Ludvic whose gender was chosen at birth to be male, as he professes his wishes to be a girl. His family humors his wishes, but this causes trouble for his p...

Dearest You, I just want to take a few minutes to thank you for reading, commenting, sharing! It really means a lot to me that you read my posts, share my tweets. I hope that the content I put out is helpful to you, and if there is anything you would like me to cover just leave a comment for me!  You are the reason I do this every day! We need to be informed so that we can make educated decisions about our care, or the care of a loved one.  As we spread information, we help patients learn about their illness. Not only are we helping others with COPD, but other chronic illnesses as well. We are keeping information fresh in medical professionals minds, raising awareness to the issues we as patients face.  As some of you may know, my mission this year is to erase the stigma that comes with a COPD diagnosis. That stigma, is preventing much needed funding for research, and the research itself to be done. Don't get me wrong, there IS research being done and...

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...

How much does it cost to have Severe COPD, severe arthritis, carpal tunnel, chronic pain (unexplained), and illness associated anxiety? For 2014-2015 Medications $11959.43 Dr. Visits $1620.18 (specialists and primary) OTC medications, vitamins, and supplements $798.37 Travel to specialist $681.49 (gas, tolls, parking, and meals) Grand total of $15059.47 NOT including oxygen concentrator or nebulizer rental.  Thankfully most of that is covered for me. Over 24 MILLION people in the US have COPD... 15 million don't even know it yet! As the numbers rise, the likelihood of YOU getting COPD rises... If you are short of breathe, get tested. Don't work too hard or too much, breathe CLEAN air. Work for a better way to live, work, and breathe.  Sadly, outdoor air pollution cannot be avoided. But with much effort by many, it might be reduced.

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!...

A huge part of having COPD is the horrible exacerbations we have. If you are newly diagnosed you may wonder, what exactly is an exacerbation? Well, we cough... More than we should. COPD exhibits differently in each of us. An exacerbation, is when we cough excessively and produce phlegm. Coughing up phlegm is actually a good thing for us to do, as some of us over produce it. This can be an embarrassing event. While working as a retail manager, and speaking with customers, this happened often. VERY OFTEN. Coughing up more than a Kleenex could hold, a handful of phlegm. Gross. Now, I said that is is healthy for us to do this, but you must look at it. Yes, look at the phlegm you coughed up. Keep track of the color. The color is telling you what is going on in your body. Is it clear? Then you are fine. White, okay no problem. Gray? That is okay too. Also, keep in mind that if you just drank something with color, like a glass of red wine or soda... It may be scary to see blo...

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. --->...