Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

To diagnose COPD, your health care provider will ask you about your family and personal history, and do a physical exam. She or he may ask you to have pulmonary function tests, which find out: the amount of air in the lung (called lung volume); the rate of oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange; and the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your blood. Lung volumes are measured by breathing into and out of a device called a spirometer. Researchers are still looking for a way to figure out a person's chances of developing COPD, because none of the current tests find the disease before lung damage that cannot be repaired occurs.

As COPD gets worse over time, it can cause you to become unable to carry out your daily routine. At the very least, it causes shortness of breath that can make you need oxygen. Treatments can include bronchodilators (drugs used to open up air passages in the lungs), antibiotics, and exercise to strengthen muscles. Women with COPD can also get help through pulmonary rehabilitation, a program that helps people to cope physically and mentally with the disease. When you have COPD, it is important not to smoke. Talk with your provider if you do smoke and need help with quitting. For individuals with severe symptoms, lung transplants may be an option. Lung volume reduction surgery (a number of different types of surgeries that removes part of the lung) also is showing promise for some individuals in the last stages of emphysema.