Posted by John O. on 9/23/2009, 11:33 am, in reply to "Wheezy girlfriend"
69.129.197.8
It all sounds pretty familiar. After smoking for 20 years, quitting in 1974, having some out of breath episodes that I shrugged off to "aging", I was diagnosed with COPD in 1980, at age 43, and lived a "perfectly normal" life for 20 more years.. id you don;t count the coughing, gagging, throat clearing, huffing and puffing on exertion, etc., that you see in your friend. So she has COPD. And if she's got an inhaler (just one?) she must be seeing a doctor. If it's just an internist it might help if she switched to a pulmonologist.
The mucus problem is common to many of us and comprises the bronchitis part of COPD. The cilia--little hairlike structures on the inside of the bronchial walls, whose function is to sweep up all the particulate matter and other junk you inhale every day--have been toasted by those years of cigs, hence don't work very well (or at all). Result is more work to get rid of the junk, and/or just leaving it to fester and act as an incubator for bacteria which have the potntial to give her infections, some of them serious. This will happen as she gets older, and happened to me once I got into my 60s, and are now fairly regular.
One remedy worth trying is an OTC capsule called n-acetylcysteine, avilable in health food stores and some pharmacies, or online. Over time it ill thin out mucus and make it easier to cough up. Another is a device--actually two different ones, Flutter and Acapella (Google) that are pipelike affairsthat you exhale into, setting up vibrations in the lungs that loosen the mucus and again let one cough it up and out.
Her doc should have her on a mix of meds, a bronchodilator like Combivent or Spiriva, and a steroid to reduce inflammation, like Advair (actually a combo bronchodilator and steroid). Also maybe to to him/er about pulmonary rehabilitation, a program in many hospitals combining classroom stuff and exercise. The fact hat she likes to walk and exercise in other ways is astrong point in her favor.
The "barrel chest" is there because she has trouble with her gas exchange.. she can inhale OK, take in oxygen, but has trouble exhaling, hence there is a buildup of CO2.
The "chest patting" is called percussion, and is helpful in loosening mcus as well.
Others will weigh in here with other suggestions. Stay with us..
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