Emphysema - An Irreversible Respiratory Disease

By Kate Mary Hudson

Emphysema is actually a respiratory illness of the lungs that is progressive in nature and causes breathing complications. This illness belongs to the class of diseases known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is popularly known as obstructive lung disease. It is triggered when the alveolar walls of the lung become damaged along with the capillary blood vessels. The result is that this condition shrinks the area inside the lung where blood and air meets each other thereby reducing the impending oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange. This makes the victim experience severe breathlessness and difficulty in breathing.

One of the main causes of emphysema is smoking that stimulates the inflammatory cells present in the lungs thereby causing inflammation inside the bronchioles and stimulation of specific enzymes known as proteases that assault and damages the lung tissues. It can also be triggered by a genetic deficiency of a chemical that guards the lungs against destruction by proteases. Another main factor that causes this problem is old age.

The most apparent indications of this disease are severe breathlessness, headaches, recurrent cough, wheezing, and problems in concentration, constriction in the chest, irritation and chest distention. If you find that you are a victim of more than one of the above mentioned indications, it is advised to consult a doctor and rule out this illness. Diagnosis is based on lung function test, blood tests, X-rays and a CT-scan if necessary.

Emphysema has no permanent cure as the lung destruction that has occurred is irreversible. But since it is a progressive disease, treatment can be done to arrest further progression and damage of the lungs. If the victim is a smoker, the primary goal is to stop smoking completely. Bronchodilators are prescribed to aid in relaxing the muscles and helping to loosen up the breathing tubes and promote more flow of air. You can also resort to natural remedies that will help to fortify your respiratory and immune system.

The author is a blogger and she writes regularly on health related topics.

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