Over 25,000 people in Edmonton suffer from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and a new report, published by COPD Canada and The Family Physicians Airway Group, shows that half of patients wait to seek medical help.
COPD, also known as chronic bronchitis or emphysema, is an inflammatory disease of the lung, primarily caused by smoking. Serious flare-ups of the symptoms of the disease, severe coughing or shortness of breath, are know as lung attacks.
Dr. Mohit Bhutani is a Respirologist at the University of Alberta and says lung attacks are a lot more serious than most patients think.
“Just as a heart attack is a very serious condition for the heart, a lung attack is just as serious of a condition for the lungs. And we find that patients who do have lung attacks have a higher chance of dying from the disease,” says Bhutani adding, “A lot of patients don’t know they can die if these attacks persist.”
Vickey Peddie has COPD and is a patient of Dr. Bhutani. She says she knows all too well what it’s like to have a lung attack.
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“Your lungs just literally tighten up to the point where you’re gasping for air and it feels like you’re breathing through a straw. It’s very scary and panicky.”
Peddie says she takes three medications every day to help with her symptoms, sometimes a fourth when it’s an emergency. She has been seeing a certified respiratory educator to learn techniques to help prevent the attacks.
“It was quite a process over the last couple years and they’ve taught me well and helped me through my bad days.”
Peddie says many of her friends have COPD and worries they don’t take it seriously enough.
“If they don’t go and look after it they’re going to end up on oxygen or in a wheelchair much sooner than they should.”
A smoker since the age of 15, Peddie has one simple message.
“Go do it and quit smoking, and that would have been from the most adamant smoker you ever met in your life (a few) years ago.”
Like most diseases, Bhutani says early detection is key and patients need to talk to their doctors.
“We need patients at risk, primarily smokers who have chronic respiratory symptoms to discuss with their doctors whether or not they should go for a lung function test, which is the way we diagnose the disease,” says Bhutani.
He says the number one cause for hospitalization in Edmonton is lung attacks and patients usually stay in hospital ten to 14 days.
With files from Su-Ling Goh.
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