By the doc

Blue bloaters and pink puffers? No, they’re not cartoon baddies

Gone are the days when medical students were taught about blue bloaters and pink puffers.

They sound like baddies in a Beatles cartoon, but were actually ways used by doctors to describe two types of lung problem.

Blue bloaters were to do with symptoms related to chronic bronchitis, while pink puffers helped identify symptoms of emphysema.

But because the two conditions of chronic bronchitis and emphysema tend to occur together, they have now been brought under the banner of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD for short.

This is usually caused by smoking. Air pollution and genetic factors may sometimes be behind it, but in the overwhelming majority of cases, it’s down to being a smoker.

The first symptom to develop is a cough, which comes and goes at first but over time becomes more persistent.

It’s quite similar to a smoker’s cough, but then becomes linked to difficulty breathing.

At first this is only on exertion, but with continued smoking, breathlessness can occur even when sitting down.

The damaged lungs tend to make more sputum, and the patient tends to experience more chest infections.

Flare-ups in the chest are called exacerbations, and these become quite common in the winter months.

Exacerbations can be treated with antibiotics and steroid tablets, but many patients need to be admitted to hospital for further treatment.

Giving up smoking is the best treatment for COPD, which is a point that can’t really be overstated.

If someone continues to smoke, their symptoms will increase and their general quality of life is likely to deteriorate.

Various inhalers can help symptoms between exacerbations, while mucolytic medicines can ease sputum.

Regular exercise and annual flu jabs are important, but there is no treatment which can reverse the damage to the airways.

Which is why stopping smoking is so vital, at any stage of the disease.

These days there’s plenty of help, from support groups, nicotine replacement therapy and other medications available from the NHS.

Even switching to vaping – something we’re not entirely sure is safe – is in all likelihood much better for you than smoking.