The first is slow. He is a chronic disease, and the development process sometimes lasts for decades. ?
The second is limited airflow. ?
What is airflow limitation? Normal people like us, it's easy to take a breath, I can smoke as much as I want, and then spit it out smoothly. However, patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can either not take a deep breath or can't exhale when inhaling. This is airflow restriction. This is very painful.
The third feature is that there is a stable period and an acute exacerbation period.
In the stable period, the patient's symptoms such as cough, wheezing and dyspnea are relatively mild. In the acute exacerbation period, infection usually occurs, with the possibility of bacterial infection. Cough intensifies, phlegm becomes particularly thick, it is not easy to cough up, and breathing is more difficult. Acute exacerbation is very serious, and the average patient needs to be hospitalized for about a week to recover. If left untreated, it is likely to lead to death. ?
The fourth characteristic of COPD is progressive development. It just gets worse. You may gasp when you start running and climbing mountains, and you will gasp after walking for a few years. Later, as long as you move, you will gasp and can't wear clothes. Later, if you don't sit still, you will be panting and eventually die of respiratory failure.
If chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is not controlled, it will continue to develop. Its development is divided into three stages.
Chronic bronchitis, emphysema and cor pulmonale
1) What about the old chronic bronchitis?
Let's take smoking as an example to see how smoking causes diseases. ?
After smoking a cigarette, many small particles enter the lungs. These small particles will be deposited on the bronchial wall, and some will run into the alveoli.
The respiratory defense system of normal people;
Particles enter-secrete mucus-cough-cilia swing-discharge. ?
There are many glands and tissues in the bronchial wall, and there is a layer of mucosa on the surface. Usually, he secretes some mucus to keep our respiratory tract moist.
These small particles of cigarettes stimulate these glands, and when the glands are uncomfortable, they will secrete a layer of mucus. Mucus will wrap these small particles. At this time, the airway will feel uncomfortable and will contract instantly, which is what we call cough. Cough can promote the excretion of these phlegm. ?
In addition, there are many tiny cilia on the inner wall of trachea and bronchus. These tiny cilia swing 1000 times per minute, like a broom, sweeping garbage from bottom to top.
The formation process of old chronic bronchitis:?
Chronic inflammatory stimulation-hyperplasia and hypertrophy of mucosal glands-hypersecretion-hyperplasia of fibrous tissue-cilium reduction, death-lumen stenosis-cough.
But smokers smoke every day, and some people smoke for ten or twenty years. There is more and more garbage in the lungs, and an inflammation constantly stimulates the airway wall, and the mucosal glands secrete more mucus. When it is not enough, it begins to proliferate and become hypertrophy. If the sputum is not discharged, it will become drier and harder and stick to the airway wall. The cilia on the bronchial wall also fell off, and some died, making it more difficult to discharge. At this time, the bronchus has changed from a wide airway to a narrow airway. People often cough at this time. ?
The harm of phlegm-cold-acute attack?
It is a great hidden danger that these sputum cannot be discharged. Because the sputum secreted by glands contains a lot of protein, it is a hotbed of bacteria, which is easy to breed bacteria and cause infection. Originally, it was an upper respiratory tract infection, but the lower respiratory tract has lesions and sputum, and bacteria can easily run to the lower respiratory tract to cause infection. 80% acute attack of chronic bronchitis is caused by cold.
The main symptoms of the patient are cough and expectoration.
How to solve it: quit smoking, expectorate and clear the airway.
This is an old slow-moving disease.
2) What is emphysema?
Emphysema evolved from the old chronic bronchitis.
Formation process:
When we inhale, our chest, trachea, bronchi, alveoli, etc. are all in an expanding state, and gas can easily enter. But when we exhale, our chest contracts, and our trachea and bronchus contract. The bronchi of elderly patients with chronic bronchitis become narrower when contracting, and some of them are blocked by sputum when contracting, so it is difficult for gas to go out. Slowly, the alveoli become very large, and slowly, the surface of the alveoli is propped up and has no elasticity.
Symptoms:
This is emphysema. The lungs are filled with a lot of gas, as if they were swollen. The main symptoms of the patient are dyspnea, cough, wheezing and chest tightness. It is more difficult for patients to breathe than in the elderly with chronic bronchitis. Exhaust gas can't get out, and oxygen can't get in. Form a vicious circle.
How to solve the problem:
Air jam, carbon dioxide retention. Residual gas occupies space and lacks oxygen.
Complications:
Emphysema is serious. Perhaps, if you cough violently and lift a heavy object to make it harder, these large alveoli will rupture and pneumothorax will appear. Pneumothorax needs to go to the hospital quickly, and it will be life-threatening after a long time.
3) What is cor pulmonale?
The full name of cor pulmonale is pulmonary heart disease.
The chronic bronchitis emphysema is constantly inflamed, which makes the pulmonary artery and bronchial artery inflamed. The thickening of pulmonary artery tube and narrowing of official cavity will lead to the increase of pulmonary artery pressure, hypertrophy of right ventricle and right atrium, and eventually lead to heart disease. This is easy to understand.
At this stage, almost all patients are lying in bed, and even there is no way to take care of themselves.
How to solve cor pulmonale: the most important thing is to control the primary disease
Throughout the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, we can see that phlegm resistance and qi resistance are the key factors leading to the deterioration of the disease. The deterioration of the disease can be controlled by removing the problems of sputum blockage and carbon dioxide mainstream.
Zhijian lung-clearing instrument uses negative pressure pulsating oscillation airflow to help patients eliminate phlegm and exhaust.
Negative pressure: that is, pumping air outward.
Pulse: It just beats like a pulse.
Negative pressure pulsation: it is an oscillating airflow that sucks air out regularly like a pulse.
Three-step therapy:
1, phlegm blocking qi blocking
2, expectoration
3. The airway is unobstructed
I hope the answer will help you.