COPD Health Center

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Good nutrition is important to keep up your strength and health. Problems with muscle weakness and weight loss are common in people with severe COPD. People with COPD who are very underweight, especially those with emphysema, are at higher risk of early death than are people with COPD who have a normal weight.³

COPD: Keeping Your Diet Healthy

COPD: Avoiding Weight Loss

Seek education and support

Treating more than the disease and its symptoms is very important. You also need:

• Education. Educating yourself and your family about COPD and your treatment program helps you and your family cope with your lung disease.
• Counseling and support. Shortness of breath may reduce your activity level and make you feel socially isolated because you cannot enjoy activities with your family and friends. You should be able to lead a full life and be sexually active. Counseling and support groups can help you learn to live with COPD.
• A support network of family, friends, and health professionals. Learning that you have a disease that may shorten your life can trigger depression or grieving. Anxiety can make your symptoms worse and can trigger flare-ups or make them last longer. Support from family and friends can reduce anxiety and stress and make it easier to live with COPD.
• Your treatment plan. Following a treatment plan will make you feel better and less likely to become depressed. A self-reward system, such as a night out to eat after staying on your medicine and exercise schedule for a week, can help keep you motivated.

Palliative care

If your disease gets worse, you may want to think about palliative care. Palliative (say "PAL-ee-uh-tiv") care is a kind of care for people who have illnesses that do not go away and often get worse over time. It is different from treating your illness.

Palliative care may help you to:

• Focus on improving your quality of life-not just in your body but also in your mind and spirit.
• Manage symptoms or side effects from treatment.
• Cope with your feelings about living with a long-term disease.
• Make future plans around your medical care.

Palliative care may also help your family better understand your disease and how to support you.

If you are interested in palliative care, talk to your doctor. He or she may be able to manage your care or refer you to a doctor who specializes in this type of care.