Rampant respiratory illnesses and their symptoms

Every year, thousands of Americans succumb to treatable respiratory illnesses simply because the treatment came too late or they weren’t able to see their physicians sooner.  Even symptoms as simple as coughing should be treated seriously as they may be signs of another, more serious illness.

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First, lung diseases can either affect the trachea, which is where air passes through to reach the lungs, the air sacs that are mostly lung tissues, the blood vessels, or the pleura, the thin lining surrounding the chest wall.  Here are a few of the major respiratory illnesses and their symptoms.

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Asthma:  Asthma occurs when the airways are persistently inflamed, causing spasms, wheezing, and shortness of breath.  It can be triggered by external factors like airborne substances or respiratory infections.

 

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease:  COPD is defined as the inability to exhale properly.  Its symptoms include wheezing, tightness in the chest, chronic coughing which contains mucus, and shortness of breath.

Emphysema:  Emphysema is when air is trapped inside the lungs when it’s damaged.  Its symptoms include frequent lung infections, reduced appetite and weight loss, sleeping problems, wheezing, large quantities of mucus when coughing, as well as anxiety and depression.

Cystic Fibrosis:  Another illness caused by frequent lung infections is cystic fibrosis.  This illness causes poor clearance of mucus from the bronchi, restricting airflow.  Symptoms of cystic fibrosis include constant cases of coughing, wheezing, and bouts of pneumonia or sinusitis, difficulty in breathing, increased appetite but little weight gain, and bulky, smelly, greasy bowel movements.

Dr.  Lisa M.  Cannon  is  a  New  Jersey-based  physician who specializes  in  pulmonary  disease,  critical  care,  and  sleep  medicine. For more information about pulmonary diseases and her practice, visit this  blog.

Critical Care: a Brief Introduction

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Critical care is providing specialized, continuous, and multidisciplinary care for patients undergoing a life-threatening yet treatable condition, specifically one where vital organs of the body are at risk of failing. Critical care uses advanced therapeutic, diagnostic, and monitoring technology, maintaining organ system function and alleviating the patient’s condition for the eventual treatment of the underlying illness or injury.

Critical care services are delivered by a specialized team of healthcare providers in adult or pediatric intensive care units, as well as a range of post-operative units. Commonly found in these units are monitors, intravenous or IV tubes, catheters, feeding tubes, breathing machines, and other equipment. At its core is the ICU, where healthcare professionals work around the clock to save the life of the critically ill patient.

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This aspect of healthcare involves a very intensive input of resources for a small number of patients. In addition, it occupies a proportionately huge fraction of a hospital’s infrastructure, intended for a small part of the in-patient population. It should be noted, however, that critical care is inappropriate for patents who stand no realistic chance of recovery, except in very rare instances. An example is when the patient wishes to be an organ donor, which usually entails a period of critical care before donation.

While many patients here recover and survive, some die. There are those with advance directives, which assist doctors and family members in making end-of-life decisions for the patients.

Dr. Lisa M. Cannon is an accomplished physician with a private practice in New Jersey. Her practice is focused on providing diagnostic, treatment, and management options to patients with pulmonary and respiratory conditions like COPD, tuberculosis, and pneumonia. Learn more about her practice areas on this site.