A leading expert answers your questions about how to live to your fullest with COPD. Significant lung damage from smoking, exposure in some jobs, or even diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis can lead to COPD. Having chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can leave you feeling short of breath, sometimes reluctant to go shopping or for a walk because you are afraid of more difficulties. You may have wheezing, tightness in the chest, or frequent coughing. Although you see a doctor for your COPD, you often have questions and need answers. In this concise and practical guide, leading medical expert Donald A. Mahler answers some of the most pressing questions that he has been asked over 30 years of seeing patients with COPD, including * Why am I short of breath? * What medications can treat my COPD? * Can surgery improve COPD? * What are flare-ups-and how can I prevent them? * How can I stop smoking? * What should I do if my breathing isn't getting better? * Can exercise help? If so, which exercises are the most beneficial? * What's the best way to prevent lung infections? * How does COVID-19 affect COPD? * How can I travel with oxygen? * Can I be sexually active with COPD? and much more. Each chapter includes a patient vignette and key points. Tables and boxes offering helpful tips are included throughout. Providing up-to-date, evidence-based content that covers more than just medications, COPD gives you the tools you need to keep active-and thrive.

Inhaled therapies form the cornerstone for treatment of patients with asthma and COPD. Evolving technology has resulted in availability of a wide range of devices for delivery of inhaled drugs. The four different delivery systems -- pressurized metered-dose inhalers, slow mist inhalers, dry powder inhalers, and nebulizers -- are unique in design and require distinct inhalational instructions for correct use. This book provides current information about inhalation devices, including their advantages and disadvantages, with guidance for optimal techniques of use. The book emphasizes appropriate selection of inhalation devices based on patient and health care professional factors as well as device attributes that allow selection of the right medication in the right inhalation device at the right time for the right patient. Key Features: • Addresses the objective of precision medicine – the right medication in the right inhaler device at the right time. • Inputs by international thought leaders who have published widely on inhaled medications and/or inhaled delivery systems for clinicians, trainees and respiratory therapists. • Discusses the development of audio-based systems and smart inhalers for patient monitoring.

Inhaled therapies form the cornerstone for treatment of patients with asthma and COPD. Evolving technology has resulted in availability of a wide range of devices for delivery of inhaled drugs. The four different delivery systems -- pressurized metered-dose inhalers, slow mist inhalers, dry powder inhalers, and nebulizers -- are unique in design and require distinct inhalational instructions for correct use. This book provides current information about inhalation devices, including their advantages and disadvantages, with guidance for optimal techniques of use. The book emphasizes appropriate selection of inhalation devices based on patient and health care professional factors as well as device attributes that allow selection of the right medication in the right inhalation device at the right time for the right patient. Key Features: • Addresses the objective of precision medicine – the right medication in the right inhaler device at the right time. • Inputs by international thought leaders who have published widely on inhaled medications and/or inhaled delivery systems for clinicians, trainees and respiratory therapists. • Discusses the development of audio-based systems and smart inhalers for patient monitoring.

A leading expert answers your questions about how to live to your fullest with COPD. Significant lung damage from smoking, exposure in some jobs, or even diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis can lead to COPD. Having chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can leave you feeling short of breath, sometimes reluctant to go shopping or for a walk because you are afraid of more difficulties. You may have wheezing, tightness in the chest, or frequent coughing. Although you see a doctor for your COPD, you often have questions and need answers. In this concise and practical guide, leading medical expert Donald A. Mahler answers some of the most pressing questions that he has been asked over 30 years of seeing patients with COPD, including * Why am I short of breath? * What medications can treat my COPD? * Can surgery improve COPD? * What are flare-ups-and how can I prevent them? * How can I stop smoking? * What should I do if my breathing isn't getting better? * Can exercise help? If so, which exercises are the most beneficial? * What's the best way to prevent lung infections? * How does COVID-19 affect COPD? * How can I travel with oxygen? * Can I be sexually active with COPD? and much more. Each chapter includes a patient vignette and key points. Tables and boxes offering helpful tips are included throughout. Providing up-to-date, evidence-based content that covers more than just medications, COPD gives you the tools you need to keep active-and thrive.

With the high prevalence of chronic pulmonary diseases, including asthma, COPD, and interstitial lung disease, physicians need to recognize the cause of dyspnea and know how to treat it so that patients can cope effectively with this distressing symptom. Detailing recent developments and treatment methods, this revised and updated third edition of Dyspnea: Mechanisms, Measurement, and Management includes new chapters on gender-based differences in dyspnea and explores guidelines for treating the condition in challenging special populations, including in the aged, in pregnancy and obesity, and in palliative care settings. With three sections spanning the mechanisms of dyspnea, measurement and assessment strategies, and management techniques, this book provides pulmonologists and other healthcare professionals the vital information needed to understand this complex symptom.

Most people don't think about breathing; it is an automatic, unconscious act. However, the majority of those with asthma (26 million Americans); chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD (24 million Americans); or interstitial lung disease (1-2 million Americans) are aware of their shortness of breath because it interferes with work or other daily activities. As a result, these individuals seek medical attention for diagnosis and treatment. Breathe Easy, written by a pulmonologist, explains what constitutes normal breathing, what causes someone to feel short of breath, and what can be done to improve one's breathing. In chapters on asthma, COPD, and interstitial lung disease, Dr. Donald A. Mahler addresses the origins and treatments of these conditions, and offers advice for both standard and alternative therapies to breathe easy. Other chapters describe how we breathe, how to understand respiratory difficulties like chronic shortness of breath, the correct use of inhalers, the effects of aging on the brain and body, and the benefits of exercise. His final chapter provides valuable advice about traveling with oxygen. Illustrated with over fifty enlightening medical graphics, Breathe Easy offers a complete and compact guide for the millions of Americans who are limited by their breathing.