Causes and Treatment of COPD Term Paper

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COPD Case Study

The author of this report has been prepare a brief report about Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD for short. There will be two main foci when it comes to the subject. The first part will speak to the facts and details that pertain to COPD and what is involved in living with and treating the disorder. Further, there will be an explanation of how to implement these facts and details in a clinical setting. There will also be a case study subject selected and scrutinized as part of this report. There will be an explanation of the diagnosis, a comparison between the prior-researched guidelines and the patient's condition and the treatment or management options that exist for the patient based on all of the above. While COPD is a grave diagnosis to run into, it can be managed and quality of life can be maximized post-diagnosis.

Analysis

As explained by WebMD and their voluminous website, COPD is usually (but not always) caused by smoking of tobacco and/or marijuana on an extensive basis and/or over a long period of time. Quite often, COPD can be the confluence of both chronic bronchitis and emphysema. While smoking is not the only COPD risk factor, it has been asserted by many medical scholars that up to half of all smokers over the age of sixty years old will end up with COPD at some point in their elderly lives. Symptoms of COPD include a persistent cough that will never go away with treatment. There is often the coughing up of mucus and/or shortness of breath with COPD sufferers. There is also commonly a tightness in the chests of COPD patients. Emergency intervention is required if breathing stops, if there is moderate to severe difficulty breathing and/or severe chest pains are present. A visit to a regular doctor or specialist is called for if there is coughing up of 0.5 cups or more of blood, shortness of breath or wheezing that progressively gets worse, coughing is getting deeper and/or more often, a high fever (101+ degrees Fahrenheit) is present or any combination of flu-like symptoms.

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Ways to avoid or at least slow down COPD is to avoid smoking. This would include cigars and pipes. Avoidance of areas with bad air quality is also a wise thing to do whether one has COPD or not. Getting vaccinated for the flu, pneumonia and pertussis (whooping cough) is also a very good idea for reasons that include but go beyond COPD. Treatment of COPD is more about managing it and slowing it down as getting rid of it is not possible. Generally, the goals relating to COPD treatment are to slow down the progression of the disease, the limitation of symptoms, the increase of overall health quality and the prevention/treatment of flare-ups (WebMD, 2016).

As far as how this could and should translate to a clinical setting, there is more than one way to do this. If it comes to light that a patient is a smoker, that patient needs to be strongly urged to quit due to the risk of COPD as well as other health maladies like cancer and others. The fifty percent COPD contraction rate for smokers that are older than sixty should be a huge red flag but even younger patients can be sternly warned that their habit will end up shortening their life by years or even decades. Regardless of how much time is lost, the quality of life will tend to be much poorer and there is also the risk of things like second-hand smoke and so on. As far as treatment options and planning, those that are identified as having COPD should visit their doctor often. A treatment and….....

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