Subscribe Feed (RSS)Understanding The Causes Of Emphysema
July 10th, 2010 by admin | Filed under Uncategorized.Emphysema is a lung disease which results in shortness of breath and physical activity is reduced. It causes a lot of damage to the air sacs and small airways in the lungs. The damaged tissue obstructs the airflow while exhaling. A lot of energy is required to exhale as the disease advances. A sad part of this disease is that early symptoms are negligible and by the time symptoms come up; irreversible damage is done to the lungs. The main symptoms and signs of Emphysema are breathlessness and low level of physical exertion.
It gets worse with time and then there is trouble lying down and breathing. After each respiratory infection breathing gets worse. However, the basic indications loss of weight due to not being able to eat as eating takes up a lot of breath. With the result that you may not feel like eating too much so loss of weight occurs. Another factor is that when you eat the stomach expands and puts pressure on the diaphragm thereby compressing the lungs and making it difficult to breath.
Fatigue is another sign that sets in after some time. You are very tired as the body does not get enough oxygen and exercise makes you short of breath. Carbon dioxide remains in the body leading to other related diseases.
Understanding what happens in this disease is important. In Emphysema inflammation strikes alveoli or the walls of the air sacs which make them lose the elasticity. The bronchioles collapse and air is trapped in air sacs which makes them expand and slowly they rupture to form one large air sac. This obstructs breathing as you will not be able to exhale properly. Emphysema is a slow progressive degenerating disease which seems harmless in the beginning but with time can turn fatal.
The most common causative factor is smoking.
The damage to the lung tissues begins when the smoke of tobacco destroys the cilia or the microscopic hair that lines the bronchial tubes in the air passages. The main function of the hair is to sweep the irritants and allergens out of the air passages but tobacco smoke interferes with the sweeping action and smoke irritants remain in the lungs causing inflammation of the walls of the air sacs, making them lose elasticity and giving you breathing problems.
Anita Choudhary has been freelancing and writing for over 4 years and can be contacted at mailto:anita22_ch@yahoo.co.in anita22_ch@yahoo.co.in for any kind of writing assignments.
Tags: Hair, smoking
