Breathe Easy!
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
COPD is a group of lung diseases that block airflow and make it difficult to breathe. Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are the most common conditions that make up COPD. Damage to the lung from COPD can’t be reversed. Symptoms include shortness of breath, wheezing, or a chronic cough.
Rescue inhalers and inhaled or oral steroids can help control symptoms and minimize further damage of the lung.
What causes COPD?
The most common cause is smoking. There is no explanation why, but some smokers never develop COPD. COPD can also result from consistent exposure to certain environmental factors like dusts at work, chemicals and indoor/outdoor air pollution. Genetics may also play a role.
Congestive Heart Failure
Congestive Heart Failure, called CHF, is a chronic condition in which the heart doesn’t pump blood as well as it should. Heart failure can occur if the heart cannot pump or fill adequately.
Symptoms include shortness of breath, fatigue, water retention and bloating, chest pain and rapid heartbeat.
How Can I Live Better With CHF?
- Physical exercise: Aerobic activity for 20-30 minutes 5 days a week improves cardiovascular health.
- Tobacco: Don’t smoke and if you do, quit!
- Weight Loss: Losing weight can improve cardiovascular health and reduce the risk of complications.
- Low sodium diet: Cut back on salt to no more than 1,500 to 2,400 mg per day.
- Prescription medicines: Take as prescribed.
- Devices: A defibrillator or pacemaker may be implanted.
Tips for Lung Health
- Increase walking speed
- Keep a healthy weight
- Stay hydrated
- Don’t smoke
- Learn yoga breathing techniques
- Take supplements
Prevent Lung Damage!
Remember to get your flu and pneumonia vaccines this year!
Mother’s Day! Pick up the phone! More phone calls are made on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year causing phone traffic to spike as much as 37%.
Memorial Day…
Today we remember all U.S. service members – through the centuries – who perished in the line of duty including the family members who survive them. Families grieve not just on Memorial Day, but every day. Here is a favorite quote from Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address in 1865 in which he reminds every American of the obligation to support military families of those killed in action:
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan–to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
Happy Memorial Day!
Headstones and Flags at American National Military Cemetery
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