The most common COPD symptoms seen in patients

COPD symptoms are signs which point to the presence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, an illness which obstructs the capacity of the lungs to take in fresh oxygen which is needed to replenish the blood with vital nutrients. COPD symptoms, especially in the severe and final stages of the disease,make it hard, or nearly impossible to breathe, and can lead to other, potentially fatal, issues such as heart failure. In short, COPD is a serious illness which it is vital to guard against, and to catch early in its progress, if long term damage is to be prevented. The biggest single preventative step one can take to ward off COPD symptoms is simply never to smoke, or to quit immediately if you are still smoking.

There are several steps which one can take to prevent the worsening of COPD symptoms, once the disease has been diagnosed. Early treatment of this disease is essential to preserving what you can of your long term lung function. An accurate and timely diagnosis of COPD symptoms, and any changes for the worse that may occur in them, can help to determine whether the treatment of this illness ought to begin at home, in your doctor’s office, or at the emergency room of your local hospital.

There are a common variety of noticeable warning signs for these COPD symptoms. These early symptoms, however, are unique to each person who suffers from this illness. However, they are common enough to be universally recognizable as indicating the presence of COPD, and can thus be listed for the benefit of those who believe they may be suffering from COPD symptoms.

Signs of the early onset of this disease include such COPD symptoms as an increase in the amount of sputum (mucus) that your body produces and, especially, a noticeable increase in the viscosity (stickiness and thickness) of this muucus. This can be accompanied by a frequently recurring cough, especially one that grows more wracking ( a “hacking” cough), as well as persistent wheezing, and shortness of breath. In some cases, one may notice blood in one’s mucus, or a change of the color of your mucus to a sickly yellow or greenish shade.

A general feeling of sickness, or poor health, accompanied by sluggishness, may prevail. One may dismiss these COPD symptoms as the general “slowing down” that occurs with the onset of middle age, but this may be a grave error. These feelings of slowness or sluggishness may be accompanied by dizziness or “wooziness”, and a sensation of becoming “scatterbrained” or absent minded.

There may be present a marked inability to remember details or whole events, indicating some impairment of one’s long or short term memory capacity. Confusion, forgetfullness, some impairment of vision ( a sudden increase in one’s near or farsightedness), and slurring of one’s speech may become noticeable to oneself and to others. These COPD symptoms may also be accompanied by an increase in sleepiness (spending longer hours in bed, or resting after exertion), or a sudden onset of its opposite, insomnia.