When coughing persists Incurable disease can be the cause

Ignorance about widespread disease COPD: First symptoms are often not taken seriously

Especially now in the cold period, prolonged cough is often not taken seriously enough or attributed to an existing flu or a simple cold. But the complaints can also be caused by a previously incurable common disease: COPD.

The third leading cause of death worldwide

If there is a prolonged cough in the autumn and winter, this is often justified by the fact that simply the body's defenses are not strong enough during the cold and you have therefore caught a flu or a flu infection. However, the symptoms may also indicate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Although this disease is the third most frequent cause of death worldwide after heart attack and stroke, according to experts, the knowledge about it is still alarmingly low.

Long-lasting cough can be a sign of COPD. Although the lung disease can not be cured, timely diagnosis can slow or stop it. (Image: highwaystarz / fotolia.com)

Untreatable illness leads to torturous death if left untreated

Although more and more people are suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is also popularly known as smoker's cough or smoker's lung, the knowledge of this disease in the population is still alarmingly low, Austria's pulmonary specialists warn.

Since clear symptoms are often ignored and often a doctor is consulted very late, valuable time is lost, because the sooner the disease is treated, the greater the opportunities to "stop" COPD today..

This is of central importance, because the disease is not curable and untreated leads to a painful death by suffocation.

Already first notes seriously

The Secretary General of the Austrian Society of Pulmonology, ÖGP, Prim. Priv.-Doz. Dr. Bernd Lamprecht, on the occasion of the World COPD Day on November 21, emphasizes the importance of taking early indications of COPD such as long-term coughs seriously and of seeing the doctor.

However, as stated in a company communication, the existence of a number of different risk factors also makes it necessary to clarify whether COPD is present.

Until a few years ago, the therapeutic possibilities were still very limited. In recent years, new therapeutic approaches or even the hope of a breakthrough in the treatment of COPD have been reported again and again.

However, it is always crucial that the earlier the disease is diagnosed and treated, the better the prognosis and quality of life of those affected.

AHA symptoms can be first signs

Expectoration, coughing, shortness of breath - the so-called AHA symptoms may be the first signs of COPD.

But these initial symptoms are often trivialized or attributed to other "circumstances" or illnesses. Thus, breathing is only slightly limited at the beginning, respiratory distress occurs only with physical stress.

A symptom that is dismissed with sentences like "At the moment you do not have a good condition". Even the key symptom "coughing" will, according to Dr. med. Lamprecht unfortunately often trivialized.

"COPD is so insidious, among other things, because the first symptoms of the patients are often not properly perceived, recognized and thus not communicated to the doctor," said the physician.

Especially in the cold period, prolonged coughing is in many cases not taken seriously enough or attributed to an infection and COPD not recognized in time. Therefore, patients should always report to their doctor about a persistent cough.

Especially when the cough persists for over eight weeks, the alarm should ring.

History can be slowed or stopped

A simple pulmonary function test, called spirometry, can provide valuable initial information about the possible presence of COPD.

It is important to diagnose and treat the condition as soon as the symptoms are not clinically significant. In other words, if the patient is already ill, but the symptoms can still 'hide' through avoidance strategies - even in front of oneself.

After all, the sooner COPD is recognized and the more individualized it is, the more favorable the course. Although COPD can not be cured, it slows down or stops it.

Main risk factor smoking

Although some non-smokers are also affected, "smoking is by far the biggest risk factor for the development of COPD. The majority of all COPD patients are active or former smokers, "explained lung specialist Lamprecht.

"Tobacco smoke contains many substances that cause inflammatory reactions that damage the lung tissue," said the physician.

"On the one hand, this increases the production of bronchial mucus and, on the other, it affects the self-cleaning mechanism of the respiratory tract. Foreign substances can no longer be adequately removed and the lung tissue is additionally damaged," says the expert.

"But: not only active but also passive smoking can lead to COPD!"

Persons from risk groups should become a lung specialist from the age of 50

Other risk factors include: increased respiratory disease in childhood, particulate matter pollution from, for example, traffic and industry and other pollutants from air and environmental pollution.

Or also stress in the workplace (for example, chemicals in the plastics industry or in car paint shops, dust on construction sites, in cattle sheds, in mining and in welding and fire fighting, etc.).

People who suffer from a serious, rare hereditary disease, the so-called alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, are also at high risk of COPD.

"Anyone who belongs to a risk group should, even if he does not suffer from chronic cough, at the latest from the age of 50 check with the pulmonary specialist, if there is a COPD."

COPD affects the entire body

"COPD can also be 'associated' with other lung diseases. For example, in COPD patients lung cancer, pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension and respiratory disorders occur more often during sleep than in healthy peers, "explained Lamprecht.

Subsequently, the disease affects the entire body: cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, but also anemia, muscle loss and weight loss are among the consequences of COPD.

"Mental illness, especially anxiety and depression, which increase with the severity of the disease, are a frequent companion of COPD and impair the quality of life in addition difficult," said Lamprecht.

Especially in the advanced stage of the disease, in which patients are struggling with severe respiratory distress and constantly need to be supplied with oxygen via "nasal cannula".

Although modern mobile oxygen devices are a tremendous advance over the past, patients suffer from the limitation of their range of motion and action. This often leads them into social isolation.

"Nasal cannula and oxygen therapy immediately show that it is a seriously ill person. And that alone affects many people affected as very stressful and stigmatizing, "said Lamprecht.

Increased quality of life of patients

However, Austria's pulmonary specialists also have good news: thanks to a better knowledge of the different forms of COPD, new insights and a deeper understanding of the complex relationships of this disease, modern diagnostic options and new drugs and concomitant therapies, COPD patients today can do much better and with significantly less Side effects are treated as earlier.

"People who have COPD have the same symptoms but different manifestations of the disease," explained Lamprecht.

"And that is exactly what it is now to recognize. The 'right therapy' must be used in the 'right expression'. And we are getting better and better today. "

The various therapeutic options, such as inhaled drugs, oxygen therapy, non-invasive respiratory support, valves to reduce pulmonary hyperinflation, etc., can now increasingly be targeted where they bring the most success.

This saves valuable time, avoids side effects and saves costs. And very important: the quality of life of patients is significantly increased. (Ad)