November is COPD Awareness Month. COPD is a serious lung disease that makes it hard for people to breathe due to lung damage. COPD is almost always caused by smoking. There is no treatment to reverse lung damage that has already occurred, but there are ways to manage COPD symptoms. Fortunately, the Healthwise Knowledgebase is full of information to help your members and patients learn how to improve their quality of life while living with the disease.
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Keep your website content fresh and engaging with Healthwise E-links. The copy promotes timely health themes by highlighting topics in the Healthwise® Knowledgebase. Use the copy below on your website homepage or condition-specific pages, and create links to the related Healthwise Knowledgebase topics. You can also place the copy in emails, newsletters, or any other consumer outreach programs. Because of license restrictions, the images seen in Healthwise E-links are for Healthwise use only.
Making sense of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
COPD is a serious lung disease that makes it hard to breathe. It’s almost always caused by smoking. Because damage to the lungs usually takes many years to start causing symptoms, COPD is most common in people over 60. Even though damage to your lungs can’t heal or be repaired, there are many things you can do to prevent more damage and to feel better. Quitting smoking, avoiding bad air, and getting an annual flu vaccine are all important ways to manage your COPD. To help you understand COPD, here’s a resource full of information on symptoms, treatment, prevention, and more. [Create a hyperlink to the COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) Topic Overview on your website. DOCHWID=hw32559]
Knowing how well your lungs work
If you have COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), or think you might have COPD, your doctor may want to do a lung function test to check how well your lungs are working. The most common lung function test is called spirometry. This test can measure many different things about how you breathe, like how much air you can breathe in and out forcefully in 1 second. The results of spirometry can help your doctor diagnose COPD and understand how serious it is. No single test can tell you everything about how your lungs work, so your doctor may use more than one type of test. Use this guide to help you understand the different types of lung function tests, how to prepare, and how the tests are done. [Create a hyperlink to the Lung Function Tests Topic Overview on your website. DOCHWID=hw5022]
Breathing easier by quitting smoking
COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is caused by damage to the lungs over a long period of time, usually from smoking. Damage to your lungs can’t be undone, but there are ways to prevent more damage and breathe easier. If you currently smoke, one step you can take is to stop smoking. Quitting smoking will help slow down the disease and improve your quality of life. Quitting is hard. But you don’t have to do it alone. Here’s a resource with information and tools to help you plan your strategy for quitting smoking and staying smoke-free. [Create a hyperlink to the Quitting Smoking Topic Overview on your website. DOCHWID=qtsmk]
Clearing your lungs
When you have COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), you may experience shortness of breath, a long-lasting cough, and mucus in your lungs. Clearing the mucus from your lungs may help you feel better and may also prevent lung infections. There are three different things you can try to help clear the mucus in your lungs. Controlled coughing will loosen mucus and help it move through your airways. Postural drainage will help drain mucus by lying down in different positions. Chest percussion will loosen the mucus through light taps on your chest and back. This helpful guide will walk you through, step by step, each of the three ways to clear your lungs. [Create a hyperlink to the COPD: Clearing Your Lungs Actionset on your website. DOCHWID=za1357]
Living better with COPD
When you have COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), air does not easily flow into and out of your lungs. Almost always caused by smoking, COPD makes it hard for you to breathe. As COPD gets worse, you may have shortness of breath even while doing simple chores or activities. It also gets harder to exercise because your lungs require more energy to breathe. Living with COPD can be stressful and scary, but it is possible to breathe easier and improve your quality of life. Here’s a resource with valuable information to help you understand COPD and take actions to breathe easier, and live better. [Create a hyperlink to the COPD Learning Center on your website. DOCHWID=center1009]
Teasers for Your Social Media Networks
- Make sense of COPD with this helpful resource on symptoms, treatment, prevention, and more. [Insert a shortened URL to the COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) Topic Overview on your website. DOCHWID=hw32559]
- Get the skinny on lung function tests and how they check to see how your lungs work. [Insert a shortened URL to the Lung Function Tests Topic Overview on your website. DOCHWID=hw5022]
- Quitting smoking is the best step you can take to live better with COPD. Learn how you can make a plan to quit. [Insert a shortened URL to the Quitting
- Smoking Topic Overview on your website. DOCHWID=qtsmk]
- Have COPD? Try these three things to clear your lungs. [Insert a shortened URL to the COPD: Clearing Your Lungs Actionset on your website. DOCHWID=za1357]
- Here’s everything you need to know about living with COPD. [Insert a shortened URL to the COPD Learning Center on your website. DOCHWID=center1009]
