What is emphysema and what are its causes?
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Q. What is Emphysema?\nFAQ\n\nFrom Stacey Lloyd,\nYour Guide to Lung Diseases.\n\nA.\n\nEmphysema is a lung disease in which the walls of the alveoli (air sacs) in the lungs fracture or burst. As these alveoli break, the remaining alveoli become enlarged to make up for the loss. This results in a fewer number of alveoli, with many enlarged. \nWhen alveoli are enlarged, they loose their elasticity. A loss of elasticity in the alveoli results in the inability to eliminate air from the lungs. Therefore, patients must use force (energy) to expel this air. \n\nFurthermore, the loss of elasticity in the lungs affects the smaller bronchial tubes. To push air out of the bronchial tubes, a higher pressure must be developed inside the chest. \n\nThis higher pressure tends to collapse the smaller bronchial tubes, making it even more difficult to empty air from the alveoli. \nCoughing becomes very difficult and ineffective in expelling mucus, leaving the lungs more susceptible to lung infections, such as pneumonia. \n\n( http://lungdiseases.about.com/od/emphysema/f/emphysema_expl.htm )\n\nWhat causes emphysema?\nEmphysema can be caused by one or a combination of these things:\n\nCigarette smoking: Most cases of emphsyema are caused by cigarette smoking. Cigarette smoke reaches deep into the lungs and causes permanent damage. If you have emphysema from cigarettes, the best way to stop your lung damage is to quit smoking as soon as possible. It's never too late to quit smoking. \nAlpha-1 Antitrypsin deficiency: Some people have emphsyema because of a rare genetic disorder called Alpha-1 Antitrypsin deficiency. People with Alpha-1 are missing an enzyme that protects their lungs. Some people with Alpha-1 deficiency get emphysema without ever having smoked. Other people get emphsyema from the combination of smoking and having Alpha-1 deficiency. \nAir pollution: There is some evidence that air pollution can contribute to people getting emphysema, especially if the person also smokes. ( http://www.lung.ca/diseases-maladies/a-z/emphysema-emphyseme/index_e.php#causes )
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Tobacco smoke causes inflammation of the alveoli of the lungs,so surface area for gas exchange may be decreased.This is called emphysema
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It would be extremely  unlikely though there is a genetic disorder called alpha-1 antitrysin deficiency that may cause someone with the deficiency to develope emphysema  before the age of 40. In the case of a newborn I don't think its ever developed that quickly so if there is a breathing problem with a baby I think most doctors would look for another cause before even considering this because its extremely unlikely. There may be birth defects which cause symtoms much like emphysema and these too are rare.Ultrasounds are valuable tools to help discover these and they are often treatable and reversible.
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In normal breathing, air is drawn in through the bronchial passages and down into the increasingly fine network of tubing in the lungs called the alveoli, which are many thousands of tiny sacs surrounded by capillaries. These absorb the oxygen and transfer it into the blood. When toxins such as smoke are breathed into the lungs, the particles are trapped by the hairs and cannot be exhaled, leading to a localised inflammatory response. Chemicals released during the inflammatory response (trypsin, elastase, etc.) begin to break down the walls of alveoli (alveolar septum). This leads to fewer but larger alveoli, with a decreased surface area and a decreased ability to take up oxygen and lose carbon dioxide. The activity of another molecule called alpha 1-antitrypsin normally neutralizes the destructive action of one of these damaging molecules.\n\nAfter a prolonged period, hyperventilation becomes inadequate to maintain high enough oxygen levels in the blood, and the body compensates by vasoconstricting appropriate vessels. This leads to pulmonary hypertension. This leads to enlargement and increased strain on the right side of the heart, which in turn leads to peripheral edema (swelling of the peripherals) as blood gets backed up in the systemic circulation, causing fluid to leave the circulatory system and accumulate in the tissues.\n\nEmphysema occurs in a higher proportion in patient with decreased alpha 1-antitrypsin (A1AT) levels (alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, A1AD). In A1AD, inflammatory enzymes (such as elastase) are able to destroy the alveolar tissue (the elastin fibre, for example). Most A1AD patients do not develop clinically significant emphysema, but smoking and severely decreased A1AT levels (10-15%) can cause emphysema at a young age. In all, A1AD causes about 2% of all emphysema. However, smokers with A1AD are in the highest risk category for emphysema.
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Your diaphragm is spasming. Your diaphragm is the muscle that separates your lungs and heart from the rest of your internal organs. It is the muscle that allows you breath. Sometimes when you eat too quickly or have a bloated stomach, the stomach pushes on the underside of the diaphragm and the diaphragm spasms causing you to inhale very, very quickly as a hiccup.
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DUE TO CONSTICTION OF BRONCHIOLES,LESS OXYGEN IS SUPPLIED TO BODY\nBUT IT NEEDS MORE SUPPLY SO IT MIGHT LEAD TO BRONCHSPASM
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lack of oxygen causes this
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It IS "Pneumonia", and can be caused by a bacterium, usually Streptococcus pneumoniae, also called pneumococcus.\n\nHope that is what you were looking for.
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A sudden intake of air in the lungs will cause them. You can hold your breath and count from 1 to 10 and that may stop them or breath in a paper bag.
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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.
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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
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In the RN program we were taught that COPD can be caused by embolisms resulting from obesity. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
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there are many diseases that can be obstructive airway diseases.. cbabe is the acronym for the diseases, bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, asthma, emphysema are copd diseases. inside your lungs there are little pockets called aveoli and for gas exchanges these aveoli fill with the air you breath and if they are damaged from disease there will be prblems with airway exchange. with obstructive disease the aveoli are streched out of shape and not reparable. this causes airway trapping , basicly the person breathes in air and because the aveoli are all streched out the air gets traped inside the lungs. \nthat is obstructive airway, then you also have the other problelms associated with the actual disease that you have,. example with asthma you have increased mucous production in the airways, the airways constrict during an ashtma attack and you haveinflamation in the lungs.\nthey need to do pulmonary function test, and more evaluations to find out what kind of obstructive disease she has... i hope everything works out for her
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copd is a generic term for mulit diseases C=chronic, O= obstructive, P= pulmonary, D= disease.  usually patients with copd have more difficultly getting the co2 out of there systems, rather than getting enough air in.  i have always heard up until just lately you need to watch the amount of concentrated o2 that a copd patients uses.  pneumonia and respiratory diseases are more common, people with copd usually fatigue quicker and are on some type of o2 and breathing treatments.
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A pulmonary embolism is a blood clot that has traveled into the pulmonary (lung) circulation and lodged there, blocking blood flow.  This prevents blood from picking up oxygen at the lungs, so the body tissues can starve from hypoxia.  A saddle pulmonary embolus is probably the worst case scenario.  Whereas most pulmonary emboli are very small (and probably not even clinically significant), saddle emboli lodge where the pulmonary artery divides to the left and right lung.  Blood flow is blocked to both lungs, and death is imminent.\n\nBig emboli like that often form in the large leg veins, especially if someone has been very inactive for an extended period (e.g. a long hospital stay).  Clotted blood isn't the only material that can cause an embolus.  Anything that gets in the bloodstream can cause a blockage -- air, fat, amniotic fluid, bacterial vegetations, and on and on.
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because it is caused by contractions in the diaphram (the muscle under ur lungs) :) (check out my question..no1 has answered it yet... lol)
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All of the herbs that have been covered in bronchitis (above) are also applicable with emphysema. Particular remedies such as elcampane and comfrey root that help to clear sputum should be considered. Also the herbs recommended for asthma (above) are also recommended to tone the lungs.\n\nThe following herbal mixture would be worth trying especially if there is a persistent cough.\n\n2 parts mouse ear \n1 part sundew \n1 part coltsfoot \n1 part thyme \n1 part white horehound \nCombine the herbs and using 2 teaspoons of the herb mix place into a cup and pour on boiling water. Allow this to stand for 10-15 minutes. When the tea has cooled strain it and drink it.