Home management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (II)

  Continuing with the home management of COPD, the aim is to be able to delay the decline of lung function, improve the patient’s quality of life, reduce the disability rate, and reduce the number of acute exacerbations and hospital readmissions.  Third, home oxygen therapy.  Some patients during hospitalization, doctors will give the post-discharge advice, “go home and buy an oxygen machine to breathe oxygen at home”. Not every patient needs home oxygen therapy. There is an indication for home oxygen therapy, i.e. patients with oxygen saturation below 88%, or with respiratory failure or pulmonary hypertension. How to do home oxygen therapy, generally choose nasal catheter oxygen, oxygen flow 1-2L/min, oxygen concentration 25-29%, different medical equipment manufacturers, oxygen machine parameters set differently, you can consult the after-sales service. The use of mask oxygen is generally not recommended at home, if you have special needs, you should consult your doctor. The time is generally 15 hours or more, such as sleep time, TV watching, newspaper reading time, after activities. The purpose of oxygen inhalation is to reduce the burden of heart and lungs, increase the oxygen supply of the body, reduce the development of pulmonary hypertension and slow down the disease process.  The most important medication for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is nebulized inhalation medication, expectorant medication and asthma medication, etc. Nebulized inhalation medication is one of the most important medications, usually long-acting bronchodilators and glucocorticoids, the specific use and dosage reduction should be recommended by outpatient doctors after evaluation. Expectorants such as Fulvestrant, Gineton, Mucosolvan and Glycyrrhizae, etc. In addition to expectorant effect, Fulvestrant also has the effect of antioxidant and reducing the re-exacerbation of COPD, which can be used by patients with daily sputum and difficult sputum discharge. Small doses of phenylephrine have bronchodilating and anti-inflammatory effects. Aminophylline has more cardiac side effects, so it is necessary to follow the doctor’s prescription and the arrangement of the outpatient physician. Some patients also take oral glucocorticoids, gastric mucosal protectants, diuretics and other drugs, and should follow the doctor’s arrangement and need to adjust the drugs by regular outpatient visits. Some elderly people also need to take oral vitamin D and calcium, statin lipid-lowering drugs.  In addition, some elderly patients who have been sick for a long time will choose their own medication according to their condition. If their condition does not improve in 2-3 days, it is recommended to seek medical consultation. The choice of antibacterial drugs should follow the physician’s arrangement. For elderly patients, it is important to establish a long-term relationship with a doctor who is familiar with your condition and can give more accurate medical advice and guidance on home management.  V. Use of non-invasive ventilator The dyspnea of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease will be aggravated by the decline of lung function and fatigue of respiratory muscles, which will lead to increased breathlessness and respiratory failure. There is no evidence that home use of a non-invasive ventilator in these patients can prolong life, but it can improve quality of life and reduce the number of acute episodes and the number and degree of respiratory failure. The use of a home noninvasive ventilator should be done in consultation with your physician to select the appropriate ventilator and the appropriate mode parameter settings to increase comfort and ventilation. Home ventilators require simple training to master, and daily use should be monitored for changes in tidal volume, oxygen saturation, heart rate and other indicators. Changes in medical conditions or discomfort, you need to consult your physician to adjust the appropriate parameters, not a mode and parameters with the end.  After that, I will talk about the primary prevention of COPD, and the focus is on smoking cessation.  The reason for putting it last is that we all know the importance of quitting smoking, but the smoking rate of the population is still very high. In general, patients with mild disease are not very willing to quit smoking, or they want to quit but it is difficult, so they just forget about it. Serious patients quit but their lung function has declined significantly.  In the outpatient clinic, we often meet patients or their families who complain, whine, or don’t give up. This is a separate issue that needs to be discussed. Many hospitals have set up smoking cessation clinics, so you can go to them for consultation.  Air pollution is divided into indoor air pollution and outdoor air pollution.  Indoor air pollution includes decoration, furniture and other pollution, coal burning, oil smoke pollution and cigarette smoke. This attention can actually be reduced or avoided.  Outdoor air pollution, such as our hazy days, actually has a great impact on respiratory diseases, not only COPD patients are prone to acute exacerbation in hazy days, the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections in the general population will also increase significantly, and the number of outpatient visits will increase significantly. Recommendations for our patients during special weather are: go out less, reduce outdoor activities, and always wear a mask when you must go out to reduce haze inhalation. Drinking more water and eating fibrous foods may help.