There is no cure, but you can treat the symptoms to improve your quality of life
Lifestyle changes
Healthy eating plan
Safe exercise plan
The most important thing you can do to slow the disease and improve your quality of life is to quit smoking
Medications
Bronchodilators- inhaler — relax the muscles around your airways.
Inhaled steroids- reduce airway inflammation.
Combination inhalers- combine bronchodilators and inhaled steroids.
Oral steroids-short term use.
Phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors- decreases airway inflammation and relaxes the airways.
Theophylline- help improve breathing and prevent exacerbations.
Antibiotics or antivirals- People with COPD have a higher risk of pneumonia and frequent lung infections, help treat acute exacerbations.
Vaccines-Flu and pneumonia lowers the chance of flare-ups.
Lung therapies
Oxygen therapy
Pulmonary rehabilitation- education, exercise training, nutrition advice and counseling.
Surgery (rarely used)
Lung volume reduction surgery- removes small wedges of damaged lung tissue from the upper lungs
Lung transplant-replace the damaged lung with a donor lung.
Bullectomy- remove bullae (large air spaces) from the lungs to help improve air flow.
Reference Healthline. (2017). COPD: Everything You Need to Know About Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Retrieved from http://www.healthline.com/health/copd Management and Treatment of COPD. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.animatedcopdpatient.com/en/s301-management-and-treatment-of-copd-slide-show.phtml Mayo Clinic Staff (2016). COPD: Treatments. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/copd/diagnosis-treatment/treatment/txc-20204923 WebMD. (2015). COPD: Treatments. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/lung/copd/tc/chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease-copd-treatment-overview#2