Smoking harms nearly every organ in your body, with tobacco damaging your blood vessels. The chemicals in cigarettes can cause headaches, gum disease, and even affect your reproductive system preventing pregnancy.
Find a good reason to stop smoking. This will keep you motivated. Consider going to counseling for extra support.
You can complete lung function tests, also known as pulmonary function tests (PFTs). These are a collection of tests that test the function of your lungs to see if they are working properly. The main test is known as spirometry, which measures how much air a person breathes out and how fast.
There can be many symptoms such as shortness of breath, coughing blood, chest pain, weight loss, and fatigue. Infections can occur in the form of bronchitis and pneumonia within the lungs.
Some common lung diseases include asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, pneumonia, and COVID-19. Not all of these can be cured, but they can be treated.
Asthma is a lung disease that prevents air flow in and out of lungs. Your airways become more narrow, they swell, and produce extra mucus making it harder to breathe. Unfortunately, asthma is chronic but the symptoms can be treated.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung disease that obstructs breathing and gets worse over time. Typical symptoms include:
COPD is a disease with no cure. It is vital to get diagnosed early and seek treatment or lifestyle changes.
While most lung diseases cannot be cured, they can be treated. This can lead to restored lung health. If you are a smoker, you can restore your lung health a little bit if you stop smoking.
Typical treatments for lung cancer can include:
The treatment chosen depends on the type and stage of lung cancer, the patient's health, and what they prefer. Patients should talk to their doctor or healthcare team to decide what's best for them.