Does anybody know any treatment or medication that works best for COPD.He tried almost everything even herbal meds.
120499
His doctor should be the one to locate the best meds for him. I have COPD. Everyone is different and in different stages, so everyone requires something unique to their COPD.\n\nAlso, it is highly unusual to prescribe the right drugs in the beginning. Mine have changed many times. I also find that stress has a strong effect. So does the weather. After you have had the disease for awhile, you learn the triggers and what to avoid.\n\nTo me oxygen should be a very last resort. I am not a doctor but I would try everything else first. I want to avoid a tank or a tube up my nose for as long as I can.\n\nIt is just too difficult to give this kind of advice when you don't know everything. \n\nI am currently on Uniphyl(pill to open your lungs)and the inhalers,Advair, Spiriva and I have a nebulizer. The nebulizer works great for me. I am also on Zoloft and Xanax.\nEveryone questions my use of Xanax. I was experiencing severe spells during the early a.m. hours(between 4 & 6).I went to the hospital several times and once I was so bad I had to call an ambulance. I was turning blue. The Xanax and concentrated deep breathing stopped the spells completly.\n\nI am now on medical disability, My stress was so bad. I have been off work since Feb. 28,2006. I have not felt this good in years. I am 60 years old. I have to start exercising now. My COPD still stops me from a lot of things, but my breathing is 100% better. I found out how big a role stress can play with this disease.\n\nGOOD LUCK to your dad. I hope he finds what I have. We don't have to die........
351380
Please, stay away from the meds. I've had two friends wind up in the emergency room from pills- not 'overdoing' it or anything. Try green tea, ginseng, anything natural
155867
there are some herbal meds that can help. but i need more info about your health and other meds that you are on. contact me direct @ widowmaker54@yahoo.com\ni'm an herbalist and i will do my best to help you. my info is free.
434354
well i would try consulting a pulmonary doctor to see what kind of medication would help
33982
Prilosec OTC...it's costly, but worth it. My fiance had horrible, horrible hearburn and acid reflux.  We tried EVERTYTHING and finally tried this.  He has no problems,and if he doesnt take it for a few days, his symptoms are back.  Give it a shot!!
111515
Best thing you can do man. I read abit about that before its amazing the results they had.  Doesnt take years like psycho-therapy and you dont have to deal with malicious anti-depresents in you bloodstream. Best thing you can do, highly recomended.
506338
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a general term for a group of diseases that cause progressive damage to your lungs. These diseases include chronic bronchitis, asthma and emphysema. Of the more than 16 million Americans with COPD, nearly 3 million have symptomatic emphysema and millions more are in the early stages of the disease before signs and symptoms appear.\n\nUnlike asthma, which occurs when the muscles in your airways tighten, emphysema causes a loss of elasticity in the walls of the small air sacs in your lungs. Eventually, the walls stretch and break, creating larger, less efficient air sacs that aren't able to handle the normal exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.\n\nWhen emphysema is advanced, you must work so hard to expel air from your lungs that breathing can consume up to 20 percent of your resting energy. Unfortunately, because emphysema develops gradually over many years, you may not experience symptoms such as shortness of breath until irreversible damage has already occurred. Treatments focus on relieving symptoms and avoiding complications.\n\nreduced capacity for physical activity, both of which are likely to become worse as the disease progresses. In time, you may have trouble breathing even when lying down, and it may be especially hard to breathe during and after respiratory infections, such as colds or the flu.\n\nOther signs and symptoms of emphysema include:\n\nChronic, mild cough. You may produce sputum or phlegm when you cough. \nLoss of appetite and weight loss. It's a vicious cycle. Emphysema can make eating more difficult, and the act of eating can rob you of your breath. The result is that you simply may not feel like eating much of the time. \nFatigue. You're likely to feel tired both because it's more difficult to breathe and because your body is getting less oxygenWhen you inhale, air travels to your lungs through two major airways called bronchi. Inside your lungs, the bronchi subdivide like the roots of a tree into a million smaller airways (bronchioles) that finally end in clusters of tiny air sacs (alveoli). You have about 300 million air sacs in each lung. Within the walls of the air sacs are tiny blood vessels (capillaries) where oxygen is added to your blood and carbon dioxide — a waste product of metabolism — is removed. The air sac walls also contain elastic fibers that help them expand and contract like small balloons when you breathe.\n\nWhat happens in emphysema\nIn emphysema, inflammation destroys these fragile walls of the air sacs, causing them to lose their elasticity. As a result, the bronchioles collapse, and air becomes trapped in the air sacs, which overstretches them and interferes with your ability to exhale (hyperinflation).\n\nIn time, this overstretching may cause several air sacs to rupture, forming one larger air space instead of many small ones. Because the larger, less-elastic sacs aren't able to force air completely out of your lungs when you exhale, you have to breathe harder to take in enough oxygen and to eliminate carbon dioxide.\n\nThe process works something like this: Normally, you exhale in two ways, actively and passively. When you exert yourself and need more oxygen, your chest muscles contract, forcing air out rapidly. On the other hand, when you sit quietly, your diaphragm contracts and your chest muscles expand to take air in, but your muscles don't actively contract to let the air out. Instead, the elastic tissue around your air sacs contracts, and your lungs passively shrink.\n\nBut if you have emphysema, many of these elastic fibers have been destroyed, and you must consciously force air out of your lungs. The forced exhalation compresses many of your small airways, making expelling air even more difficult.\n\nMost common cause is smoking\nCigarette smoke is by far the most common cause of emphysema. The damage begins when tobacco smoke temporarily paralyzes the microscopic hairs (cilia) that line you
26980
I don't have any great advice unfortunately but please keep pursuing it. If I were you I would definetly report it to his medical association. \n\nI'm really sorry you are going through this. Hope someone comes along with a good answer for you.
18392
He needs another drug Clartin and cleranex make me dissy.  I would ask the doctor about lodrane or lohist in is an old Rx both it works great for me and I have bad allergies.
161166
I have chronic bronchitis.\nI have not heard of anything new. There is very little funding for these types of diseases so there is very little research being done to develope new treatments.\nMeanwhile it continues to be a leading cause of death.\nI now ride an exercise bike for almost an hour 6 days a week and I think that helps.\n\nTo the dude below me:\nI have had chronic bronchitis for 40 years, since I was 14.\nI have drunk gallons of green tea--still have bronchitis.\nI have breathed the vapors of pure eucalyptis oil for years and love the smell--still have bronchitis.\nMINE is NOT curable. And I just can't stand to hear someone come on here and tell me that it is curable.\nThat is the absolute limit. \nLung disease including bronchitis is the fourth leading cause of death. I have "airway remodeling". Once those breathing tubes are damaged, they are beyond repair.
368342
I can only speak from personal experience. My boyfriend also has extreme issues with ARD. The only thing that has worked for him is the Atkins diet. Every time he goes on it (of course, he has a hard time staying on it for long) his symptoms disappear. And we're talking about someone who can't make it through one night's sleep without getting up to chew some Tums. Obviously, not official advice, but it's what has worked for him.
289972
~~ I am asthmatic... ask your doctor about Singular, (which comes in tablet form) and Maxair Autohaler, which is similar to albuterol, but i have found it works faster with less shaky effects.  start out with a low impact exercise program, and work your way up.  you may even ask your doctor about physical therapy to build up your stamina. and... I'll be praying for you too.  God Bless\n\nif you would like to chat some time click on my avatar and add me to your yahoo messenger. ~~
426303
Pretty scarey stuff. \n\nI had never heard of COPD when the pulmonologist said I had it. I also was diagnosed with the asthma. According to all the info I could find, COPD was either emphysema or chronic bronchitis. The pulmonologist assured me I had asthma COPD. Then I tried to find information on the life expectancy; all I could find was that it's the 4th leading cause of death in the U.S. and did, indeed, sound as though my time left was seriously short. After a lot of exploration and talking with others having COPD, I determined that everyone is different. Johnny Carson died of emphysema at 85. He had had it for at least the past 20-30 years.\n\nI was diagnosed three years ago and the doctor suggested from my history of pneumonia, colds, etc, that I had had this condition for many years. In 1996 I had to have a company physical and flunked the spirometry test. I was told that people often have the condition for years before it is properly diagnosed. As HMOs are prone to do, they determined a specialist was unnecessary and the family practitioner prescribed inhalers, steroids, asthma medication, etc. for every incident of flareups. \n\nI would have told you three years ago my time was very limited. Would have bet no more than a year or so. Actually, now that my medication has been adjusted to necessary levels, I feel better than I have in years. I went from oxygen 24/7 to now only when I sleep and exercise. I go to the healthplex and use the treadmill and pool often. I amaze myself at how much I have improved with a little exercise. \n\nMy doctor does recommend I keep my pnuemonia and flu shots up to date and steer clear of anyone with a cold to lessen the chance of exacerbation. The asthma medication can have a side effect of depression, so be alert to that. We especially don't need to slump into a depression. I do take an anti-depressant because finding out I had the condition really hit me hard and coupled with the medication, well, I need it. Attitude is a big determinant in COPD's severity on a person.\n\nAbsolutely no one can tell you how much time you have left whether because of COPD or anything else. You're not going to be doing any more mountain climbing or run the Boston Marathon, but it is so important to live each day to the fullest.  There's still plenty you can do, and you will probably live a long, productive life as long as you aren't your own worst enemy and just give up.
245798
I tried REIKI. I went from wanting small doses of morphine to not needing anything at all. There are no guarantees with anything and don't EVER give up your regular treatments, but I don't thnk REIKI will hurt and its worth a try. I have inflamatory osteo arthritis and fibromyalgia.
337394
Tell that to the doctors that told me in December that my husband was going to die, that there was nothing that any of the medications, doctors or anyone else could do for him.\n\nask the same surgical team who could not understand why my husband was not on life support and was breathing on his own, oxygenating at 98% on 3L of oxygen when it should have been a vent breathing for him.\n\nThe same doctor that told me there was nothing that modern medicine could do saw my husband in the month of February for his check up and told him point blank that he KNEW my husband had a miraculous recovery.  Believe what you want about who you want, and respect the right of the born again to believe what they want...you won't change us, nor will you break our faith.
446383
ugggh- i had them last year.  He can take advil- that will help, but mine were so awful that they gave me vicodin.    I also had this stuff that my mother in law gave me (she's a physical theraptist)- it's called biofreeze.  that stuff was great for the pain and the itching.
173216
Reiki, take him, get him attuned. This is a spiritual matter, no drug will suffice--just a suggestion, the stuff is amazing............