As many as 15.7 million people in the United States live with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This condition isn’t one disease but a group of them that progressively make it harder to breathe. Learn more about COPD and how it can impact your life.
What Is COPD?
COPD is the term for a group of progressive lung diseases that include emphysema and chronic bronchitis. If you have a COPD diagnosis, it means you have one of these conditions or symptoms of them.
Emphysema is a disease in which the walls of the air sacs at the end of the bronchial tubes deteriorate. Because these air sacs play a role in transferring oxygen into your blood and removing carbon dioxide, any damage to them causes trouble breathing.
Chronic bronchitis irritates your bronchial tubes, which help carry oxygen to and from your lungs. The tubes swell and fill with mucus, narrowing the opening and making it harder to breathe.
What Causes COPD?
The primary cause of COPD is smoking, including secondhand smoke. Air pollution and workplace fumes and dust can also lead to COPD. There is a genetic predisposition for developing COPD, as well, with people who have an alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency being more likely to get it.
Treating COPD
Treatment can vary depending on the stage of the condition. For some people, corticosteroids and inhaled bronchodilators offer relief, while medications like phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors can help reduce inflammation for those in later stages.
Another treatment option is stem cell therapy, which utilizes stem cells to help increase blood circulation to the lungs at the same time it helps reduce inflammation.
Treating COPD With Regenerative Medicine
Regenerative medicine helps manage the underlying causes of COPD. It doesn’t just mitigate symptoms. By turning to stem cell therapy, you could be allowing yourself to breathe better without undergoing invasive treatments.
This post was written by a medical professional at Stemedix Inc. At Stemedix we provide acces/autois to Regenerative Medicine for hair, also Stem cell treatment for COPD. Regenerative medicine has the natural potential to help improve symptoms sometimes lost from the progression of many conditions.