5 Types of treatment for COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an incurable condition. That is why, the treatment you will be running will mostly include controlling COPD symptoms. This aims to prevent deterioration. Good COPD treatment can help you be active and improve your overall health, prevent COPD relapse, and treat complications.

What are the treatment options for COPD?

There are four main approaches to COPD treatment, depending on the severity of your disease: lifestyle changes, therapy, pulmonary rehabilitation, medications, and finally surgery.

1. Treatment of COPD with lifestyle changes

In mild cases of COPD, most doctors will recommend lifestyle changes alone. In fact, this lifestyle change should still be done in moderate or severe conditions. The very first lifestyle change is to stop the most common cause of COPD, namely smoking.

Try to avoid cigarette smoke and other airborne irritants, such as dust, combustion fumes, and other toxic chemicals. Make sure the air you breathe is clean and free of COPD triggers.

Another lifestyle change is a matter of exercise. COPD makes it impossible for you to exercise to your full potential. Your doctor may recommend avoiding certain sports. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't exercise at all.

Exercise can strengthen your diaphragm (the muscle between your lungs and stomach that helps you breathe). Talk to your doctor about the right exercises for COPD.

The third lifestyle change is a matter of diet, aka diet. COPD sometimes makes eating difficult, causing fatigue. You may also have trouble swallowing solid foods.

You can get nutrition by eating smaller portions. You can also take vitamins, mineral supplements, and herbal remedies to treat COPD.

Taking breaks before eating may also help. Try to consult a dietitian, especially if you have difficulty eating.

2. Treatment of COPD with therapy

COPD impairs your ability to breathe. Quoted from the Mayo Clinic, there are several lung therapies that can be used as a treatment for COPD:

a. Oxygen therapy

This therapy can make your breathing easier and supply enough oxygen to the lungs. Oxygen therapy can help you:

• relieves COPD symptoms
• supply oxygen to the blood and other organs
• makes it easy to sleep
• prevent symptoms and extend life span

b. Pulmonary rehabilitation program

Another treatment for COPD is pulmonary rehabilitation (respiratory rehabilitation). This is a special program for people with lung disease. Here, you can learn how to control your breathing through exercise, nutrition and positive thinking. You will work closely with a variety of specialists who can tailor your rehabilitation program to meet your needs.

Pulmonary rehabilitation decreases your chances of being admitted to the hospital, increases your ability to perform daily activities, and improves your quality of life.

c. Home non-invasive ventilation therapy

A non-invasive ventilation therapy machine is a device that supports breathing without cutting the upper airway with a tracheal pia. This therapy uses masks to improve breathing. Therefore, its use can be done at home.

3.Treatment by managing exacerbations (worsening of symptoms)

You may experience symptoms that get worse for days or weeks, despite ongoing treatment. This condition is called an acute exacerbation, which can lead to lung failure if you don't get treatment right away.

When an exacerbation occurs, you may need additional medication, such as antibiotics, steroids — or both, supplemental oxygen, or hospital admission. Once symptoms improve, your doctor may suggest steps to prevent exacerbations, such as quitting smoking, taking inhaled steroids, long-term bronchodilators, or other medications.

4. Treatment of COPD with drugs

There are several types of drugs to treat COPD symptoms, namely:

a. Bronchodilators

Bronchodilators are drugs that open the bronchial tubes (the tubes that lead to the lungs from the airway). An inhaler or nebulizer can be used with this medicine. This device will deliver the drug directly to the lungs and airway.

Two classes of bronchodilators, namely:

• β-agonists (beta-agonists) can be either fast acting (eg albuterol) or slow acting (such as salmeterol). Fast-acting β-agonists are often referred to as “rescue inhalers” because they can be used to rapidly improve breathing when it occurs. flare-ups (exacerbation) COPD. Slow-acting β-agonists are used twice daily, for maintenance therapy.
• Anticholinergic drugs, such as Atrovent, works by blocking the chemical acetylcholine, which causes airway constriction. You can use this medication every 6 hours.

b. Corticosteroids

Corticosteroids, such as prednisone, are well-known drugs to reduce inflammation in the lungs caused by infections or irritants such as cigarette smoke, extreme temperatures, or harmful fumes. Corticosteroids can be used in inhalers, nebulizers, tablets, or injection.

c. Antibiotics and vaccines

Antibiotics are used to prevent infection while you have COPD. Getting infected while suffering from COPD can make breathing, which was already hard work at first, more difficult.

Antibiotics only work on bacteria and not on viruses. To prevent viral infections that can worsen COPD, you should get vaccinations for illnesses, such as the flu or pneumonia.

Make sure you don't use antibiotics carelessly because they can have an impact on health. Consult your doctor first before consuming it.

d. Medicines that help quit smoking

Quitting smoking is one of the main ways to treat COPD. If you find it very difficult, you can use drugs to quit smoking.

These drugs aim to replace the nicotine in cigarette sticks with other chemicals that are less harmful to the body. Nicotine replacement medication for COPD can be available in the form of chewing gum, patch, and even inhalers.

Your doctor may also give you tips for quitting smoking, such as chewing gum, or introducing a rehab group for you.

e. Anxiolytics (anti-anxiety drugs)

COPD is a chronic disease. As it progresses, you may experience anxiety or depression as a result of the symptoms. Anxiety medications such as diazepam (Valium) and alprazolam (Xanax) have been shown to calm patients in the late and terminal stages of COPD, resulting in improved quality of life.

f. Opioid

Opioids are also called narcotic drugs or painkillers. These drugs have other uses in that they reduce oxygen demand (or "air hunger") by blocking signals from the body to the brain.

Opioids are often given only for advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, because they can be addictive. Opioids are most often given in liquid form and are absorbed through the lining of the mouth.

You should discuss with your doctor about any type of medication that you are taking and will be taking. The doctor will later tell you more about the combination of drugs that may be right for you.

5. Treatment with surgery

Some cases of COPD can benefit from surgical procedures. The goal of treating COPD with surgery is to help the lungs work better. There are generally three types of surgery:

a. Bullectomy

If damaged, the lungs can leave air sacs in the chest area. This air sac is called a bulla. This procedure to remove the air sacs is called a bullectomy. This operation can make the lungs function better.

b. Lung volume reduction surgery

As the name implies, this procedure reduces the size of the lung by removing the damaged part. This operation carries many risks and is not always effective. However, in some patients, this surgery can improve breathing and quality of life.

In this operation, the surgeon removes a small piece of damaged lung tissue from the upper lung. This creates extra space in your chest cavity, so that healthier lung tissue can develop and the diaphragm can work better.

Lung volume reduction has been approved by the FDA in the United States, the equivalent of the POM in Indonesia for treating COPD.

c. Lung transplant

In severe cases of COPD, you may need a lung transplant to still be able to breathe and live. This operation carries many risks. You could get an infection or your body could just reject the new lung. Both risks can be fatal. When successful, this surgery can improve lung function and quality of life.

While there is no guarantee that every COPD treatment will work, most of them are positive. Discuss with your doctor first what is best for you, and continue with follow-up to make changes over time.