Who Are we?
We are the invisible people that walk among you.
We are people of all ages, all economic ranges,
your neighbors, your friends. Mostly you don't
notice us because "sick lungs don't show".
The American Lung Association estimates that
there are 35 million COPD sufferers in the USA.
About 126,128 adults ages 25 and older died of COPD in 2003. That was the latest
figure I could find, I would guess that more recent figures are probably not any
better.
What is COPD ?
I have made an effort to find some of the most
sensible answers I could find and this is the
most straight forward answer I could come up with
It is the site of the National Institute of Health and they have actually done a
pretty good job of explaining it. So check it our if you are new to COPD and
follow some of their links.
How do we deal with it?
That is precisely the reason for meeting here. No two people deal with an
incurable illness in exactly the same way and that is why we meet to exchange
ideas of how to deal with this disease and to gain a better understanding of how
it affects us.
The treatment of COPD is for the most part still in its infancy. Most of the
drugs prescribed for COPD where actually approved for Asthma and while they can
be helpful as supportive treatment they are only of limited use to us.
So many of us have started exploring Alternative remedies, not that we believe
they can cure COPD any more than the mainstream medications. We are just
noticing that many of them can be useful as supportive measures and they are
often tolerated better than traditional medications.