When you develop COPD it takes on a life of its own
within your body. At this point in time
it is your option to accept these changes and adapt to
them. This is necessary so that you may
get on with your life and maintain as much quality and
quantity as possible. However, if you refuse to adapt
to the illness you will not win.
It is a chronic disease and you will not
change that fact by denial or ignoring it. There are
things that are required to cohabitate with
this illness within your mind and body. Below are
several major points in sequence.
1. Accept the diagnosis and establish a will to
survive. Convince yourself that it is a change
in lifestyle, not a death sentence.
2. Educate yourself on the illness and what you have
to do as an individual to adapt.
3. Seek support from your family friends and others
with this illness that are surviving like
yourself. Acknowledge from the start that you will
lose friends and even family members.
They don’t know what you are going through and don’t
want to accept the new you. It
makes them face their own mortality. Don’t be hurt or
offended when they drop out of your
circle.
4. Develop the will to exercise in order to stabilize
your oxygen levels and develop
endurance and stamina. All exercise programs should be
adapted to the individual and
discussed with your medical support.
5. Find a medical support team that is willing to work
with you, not for or against you. It
has to be a joint partnership with give and take to
work. If your DRs don’t want to discuss
your ideas then you have the option to find one that
will, in most cases. Remember, you pay
their salary and they are not gods.
6. Diet is also important. There are things you don’t
do and don’t eat when you have this
illness. Never assume you need to go on a standard
diet and lose weight or gain stamina.
With all the medications you will be taking it is a
good idea to check with your DR and get a
referral to a nutritionist and possibly a
pharmacologist. They are the experts and can set a
general dietetic guideline for your general condition
and tell you what medications affect
what diet.
These are just a few things to give you a starting
place. Also a good base line to establish an
understanding of this disease.