A COPD trigger is anything that can worsen your COPD symptoms. From pets to poultry, find out some of the more common COPD triggers and how to avoid them.
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board
COPD treatment guidelines are set forth by the Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) and optimized for every stage of the disease. Does your treatment comply with the standard of care?
After the overwhelming response to my recent e-cigarette blog post, I thought it best to clarify things with an article reviewing the pros and cons of their use. So without any further adieu, here is the article:
The Pros and Cons of E-Cigarettes
Don't forget to answer the attached User Answer question:
What Made You Decide To Try the E-Cigarette?
![[Social Submit this]](http://www.socialsubmit.com/images/socialsubmit.png "[Social Submit this]")
Sign up for my free newsletter!
Follow me on Twitter or Facebook
If you are a healthy person and puff on an e-cigarette for just five minutes, your lungs will undergo acute physiological changes. Now, imagine if you have COPD and use them regularly to help you quit smoking cigarettes?
As reported recently in Reuters Health, a new study finds that the electronic cigarette, which is marketed as a safer alternative to smoking tobacco, produces immediate changes in a person's airways. Although there are no studies showing what the long-term health effects of the e-cigarette are, scientists and the FDA are saying that there are far too many unanswered questions about the safety of this product.
According to lead researcher Constantine I. Vardavas of the Center for Global Tobacco Control at the Harvard School of Public Health "This is the first evidence that just one (e-cigarette) use can have acute physiologic effects."
During the study, researchers asked two groups (30 in an experimental group and 10 in a control group) of healthy smokers (smokers not diagnosed with lung disease, acute illness, etc) to puff on an e-cigarette ad lib for 5 minutes to determine the effects on their airways. After five minutes, participants were given several types of breathing tests.
Study results concluded that "using an e-cigarette for 5 minutes was found to cause an increase in impedance, peripheral airway flow resistance and oxidative stress among healthy smokers". However, the authors stated that "while the differences within our study are of statistical significance, the clinical changes may be too small to be of major clinical importance. " Additionally, authors noted that the clinical impact of using the e-cigarette may be greater in the average consumer who is likely to use the product many times during the day and not just for five minutes as which occurred during the study. Further research is needed to determine whether the short-term effects of the e-cigarette could translate into long-term health risks.
But, there are always two sides to every story, and the e-cigarette is no exception. Ray Story, CEO of the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association says "we already know e-cigarettes are much safer than the conventional cigarette because you're not burning it, and you don't have the five or six thousand ingredients in cigarettes, which are mostly dangerous chemicals." According to Story, e-cigs contain only nicotine, water, propylene glycol, glycerol and flavoring. He further states "these ingredients are all FDA-approved."
In fact, on its website, the FDA states that "e-cigarettes may contain ingredients that are known to be toxic to humans, and may contain other ingredients that may not be safe." In 2010, the FDA tried to the stop the sale of e-cigs and failed. They even tried to regulate e-cigs as drugs. One thing is certain -- it's clear that the FDA and the e-cigarette industry have a relationship that is strained, at best.
Visit Reuters Health for more information about this study.
Do you smoke e-cigarettes? Have they helped you quit smoking? Do you think the FDA has its own agenda in this story? Or, do you think they have a right to step in? Leave your comments and be sure to take the poll.
Sign up for my free newsletter!
Follow me on Twitter or Facebook
In the largest study ever conducted about the effects of marijuana on the lungs, researchers found that periodic pot smoking is not harmful to lung capacity.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that even those who smoked a joint a day for seven years, or once a week for 20 years had no decline in lung capacity.
The debate about the harmful effects of marijuana to the lungs has been going on for years. In fact, people with COPD who smoke pot have written to me expressing their concerns about previous studies. Study results have been contradictory at best -- some suggesting no harmful effects on the lungs, some suggesting adverse effects, and even others suggesting that it actually improved lung function.
Researchers conducting the new study knew the harmful effects of tobacco smoking on the lungs, but, wanted to clear the air once and for all about whether or not marijuana produced similar, deleterious effects.
The study took multiple lung function measurements in over 5,100 pot-smoking men and women during a 20-year study period. What they found surprised even them -- that some people who smoke pot may actually see a slight improvement in lung function.
Dr. Donald Tashkin, professor of medicine at UCLA has studied the relationship between smoking marijuana and lung function for over 3 decades. He believes the study confirms what other research has also concluded:
"This is a well-done study involving more subjects than in the past. The public should take away it's a confirmatory study, but larger and longer than previous studies demonstrating, once again, that smoking marijuana does not impair lung function, unlike tobacco."
Researchers warn, however, that this is not a green light for lighting up. Dr. Taskin states:
"We're only talking about one end point. We're not looking at lung cancer, chronic bronchitis symptoms. We are not looking at other effects, behavioral effects. We are looking at lung function."
How do you feel about these results? Do you think people will smoke more pot as a result of this study? Will study results give people the wrong message? What about other adverse effects of smoking pot? Share your comments below.
For those of you with COPD who are having difficulties paying for your Advair Diskus 250/50, I found an interesting offer from Advair's manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, for a $10 off coupon or a free, 30 day trial offer if you register for GSK's Breathe Easier Program. To find out more about this and other offers, visit Advair Coupons. This offer is intended for US residents only.
For more information about saving money on your prescriptions, read:
Sign up for my free newsletter!
Follow me on Twitter or Facebook
