derekc

When I was first diagnosed with COPD there was no internet. Help groups, and good information was non-existent. Information was not given to the point I did not even know...

Pollutants can be both a cause and a trigger of COPD. Polluted air contains irritants - tiny particles that cause damage to the lungs. Breathing irritants for extended periods of...

Many with COPD suffer physical pain, other than the breathlessness that almost all of us with a respiratory condition suffer. I am lucky as a part from cramps I have...

I have written much over the last decade about COPD, and my personal fight with it, how it is possible to improve our lives despite our illness, and of the...

The lungs are huge. Shaped like an upside-down butterfly, the top of each lung extends into the lowest part of the neck, just above the first rib. The bottom of...

COPD effects each of us differently. But the one thing we all have in common is breathlessness which at times can  - for us in the more advanced stages -...

It would be easy sitting here in my man cave as I look out the window on this dismal dark and cold dreary day while watching the raindrops falling gently...

I have journeyed many years with COPD. Next year  will be an incredible 30 years since being first diagnosed by my then doctor. The year 1987 was much different to...

As a continuation of my previous article, Getting Fit with Pulmonary Rehab, I wanted to discuss the past and also some outdoor fun. If I would have had COPD with...

Twenty-one years of having COPD had passed before the progression of my illness forced me to retire from work. Another three years later, I was prescribed oxygen after falling blood...

There is a saying, 'The older we get the more pill we take.' I am sure this applies even more for us with a chronic health problem. Many with COPD...

Sadly my mother suffers COPD at an advanced age. As a result I am sure sometimes our genes are more responsible for our COPD than we realize. I had sarcoidosis...

In part one I explained how COPD causes many of us to bloat. I also explained how large our lungs become inside our bodies. Bloating can be uncomfortable, and in some...

This week I am writing about the bump many of us wish we did not have: bloated stomachs that no amount of effort on our part seems to deflate. I...

If you are diagnosed anything other than mild COPD I always advocate buying an oximeter to check blood oxygen levels, more so when active. An oximeter is attached to the end...

Sadly, winter is approaching as we are into fall. With it comes gentle reminders to prepare for the coming cold we in the northern hemisphere are about to endure. Many...

Like many with very severe emphysema, a component of COPD, my worst moments often occur soon after waking. Today was no exception. It is the moment when my long acting...

As someone who has written a journal on my journey with COPD for a several years I often receive emails from frightened readers. Or notice a search engine query asking if...

The one thing most if not all us with COPD have in common is – we don't breathe right. Even though we fought to breathe from birth many of us never...

Sometimes us with COPD find it hard getting others to recognize we have a disabling, chronic illness. A recent photo of myself taken by my wife Lynne has me looking very...