![]() ![]() The longer you have COPD, the more severe these flare-ups will be. An exacerbation can range from mild to life-threatening. This is called a COPD exacerbation (say "egg-ZASS-er-BAY-shun"). People often lose weight and get weaker.Īt times, your symptoms may suddenly flare up and get much worse. It gets harder to eat or exercise, and breathing takes much more energy. Shortness of breath that gets worse when you exercise.Īs COPD gets worse, you may be short of breath even when you do simple things like get dressed or fix a meal.People who get emphysema in their 30s or 40s may have a disorder that runs in families, called alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. You may be more likely to get COPD if you had a lot of serious lung infections when you were a child. It usually takes many years for the lung damage to start causing symptoms, so COPD is most common in people who are older than 60. Second-hand smoke also may damage the lungs. Other things that may put you at risk include breathing chemical fumes, dust, or air pollution over a long period of time. Over time, breathing tobacco smoke irritates the airways and destroys the stretchy fibres in the lungs. What causes COPD?ĬOPD is almost always caused by smoking. But you can take steps to prevent more damage and to feel better. Less air gets in and out of the lungs, which makes you feel short of breath.ĬOPD gets worse over time. But with emphysema, these air sacs are damaged and lose their stretch. As you breathe in and out, they get bigger and smaller to move air through your lungs. In a healthy person, the tiny air sacs in the lungs are like balloons. This can narrow or block the airways, making it hard for you to breathe. In chronic bronchitis, the airways that carry air to the lungs ( bronchial tubes) get inflamed and make a lot of mucus. ![]() ![]() Chronic bronchitis (say "bron-KY-tus"). ![]()
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