Vapor Steam Replaces Toxic Smoke To The Benefit Of COPD Sufferers
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) may occur when bronchitis and emphysema co-exist. Shortness of breath due to a narrowing of the airways is the primary symptom of COPD. This disease cannot be reversed and symptoms progress in severity over time. Those who suffer from asthma may display the same symptoms but the narrowed airways are reversible for those afflicted with asthma attacks.
Tobacco smoke is the primary cause of COPD. The diagnosis refers to the presence of two diseases present in the patient. Chronic bronchitis is caused by an inflammatory response in the larger airways of the body. Emphysema is damage to the tissues of the lungs caused by an inflammatory response that affecting alveoli of the lungs. The inflammation is triggered by noxious gases and particles inhaled by tobacco users.
Symptoms can worsen suddenly leading to acute episodes of COPD. Pollution in the air or an inflection can quickly lead to an acute episode. Lung function tests are used to diagnose COPD with testing to measure the volume of air and the speed of air flow of the patient.
A person with COPD requires oxygen therapy for the long term. You will often see people in public places who are wearing a bulky oxygen pack around their waist, carrying a small oxygen bottle in a backpack or even wheeling oxygen on a cart as they walk around.
COPD is not curable but relies on management to delay the advance of the disease and to help avoid acute attacks. Management strategies outlined by doctors include advice to stop smoking tobacco and to participate in rehabilitation and drug therapy. Inhalers are the most common drug therapy prescribed for patients.
Highly addicted tobacco smokers often ignore medical advice to stop smoking after receiving a diagnosis of COPD. They may believe they can’t quit but more often they feel it’s too late to quit as the damage to their lungs has been done. It is sad to see a person irrevocably linked to a tank of oxygen while inhaling yet more toxic tobacco smoke.
To increase flow to through the airways, rehabilitation for COPD patients includes sessions where they breathe steam. For those who continue to smoke two or three packs of tobacco a day the benefits of rehabilitation are short lived. These are people who are addicted to the total experience of smoking. Whether taking a puff, holding a cigarette in the hand or inhaling the smoke, this is someone who will not be placated by patches and gum. Their habit is too ingrained to be replaced by anything that does not provide the experience of smoking. Electronic cigarettes may prove to be a valuable tool for those with COPD.
Highly addicted smokers suffering from COPD find e-cigarettes to be a real alternative for them. The lack of toxic smoke allows them to gain greater benefit from rehabilitation and steam therapy. E-cigs allow the smoker to inhale a vapor that tastes and feels like cigarette smoke without inhaling the harmful chemicals of burning tobacco. The popularity of e-cigs for this sector of society has grown rapidly. Patients report an increase in their quality of life and some even claim the steam vapor produce by e-cigarettes is helpful as a steam therapy. Until scientific studies are conducted, proof of advantages of the vapor are only anecdotal. it may be that simply stopping the inhalation of the additives in tobacco smoke is responsible for the improvement in patients.
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