Hello All!
I hope you are having a good week so far! I don’t know how this keeps happening, but time sure does seem to fly by these days. Is that the way it is for you, too?
The check-in for this week is following up on our exacerbations conversations. I saw where some of you posted your “Have You Ever” scores and I must say, I was impressed with your numbers! Staying vigilant and having a plan are the most important weapons against experiencing an exacerbation.
Just a note to remind you that the term “exacerbation” means a worsening or change in symptoms. These changes might be in your cough, or mucus you cough up, or feeling like you are having to work harder to breathe – or you may notice symptoms that other people mentioned like fatigue, muscle and joint pain, or need to use your rescue inhaler more often. I don’t want people to get the impression that an exacerbation always means you will need to visit the ER or have a hospital stay. If you are vigilant, you and your doctor can have a plan in place to stop a mild exacerbation in its tracks – before the ER is needed.
It is important to minimize both the frequency and the severity of exacerbations, not just because we want you to keep from getting sick, but because each time you have an exacerbation, a little more damage is done to the lungs and they never *quite* get back to where they were before your flare-up. That is why we encourage you to be alert, have a plan, and communicate with your healthcare team about changes to your symptoms. See the graph below. Notice how every time there is a dip, it doesn’t quite make it back to where it was before? That is how damage from exacerbations impacts lung health. Let’s work together to learn more about exacerbations, what your triggers are, and put a plan in place for when you feel a flare-up coming on.
On that note, earlier this month we had a wonderful presentation by Dr. Brooks Kuhn of UC Davis. He spoke to us about “Breaking the Cycle of Severe Exacerbations.” I thought it was a great webinar and wanted to share it here in case anyone missed the live broadcast. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/EApY1Cuapcg
Was there anything in particular that you picked up from Dr. Kuhn’s presentation? Anything that resonated with you? I’d love to hear what you thought about it. Drop me a note below.