Life Tethered to a Concentrator - a Column by Caroline Gainer

Here’s a fun way to do breathing exercises as a COPD patient

For those of us with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the objective of most of our treatments is to improve breathing. Some medications act to open our airways. These are called bronchodilators. We have other medicines and devices to clear the airways of mucus. And we…

How humming and nasal irrigation have helped me avoid infection

Usually, by this point in the spring, I’ve had at least one upper respiratory infection — a common complication of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). My last one was particularly problematic and led to double pneumonia. I was in the hospital for eight days and required noninvasive ventilation for…

My journey with long-term supplemental oxygen due to COPD

While the name of this column is “Life Tethered to a Concentrator,” so far, I haven’t yet discussed my journey with long-term supplemental oxygen. Today, I’d like to take you along on that journey. I was in denial — one of the five stages of grief —…

Why mornings became difficult after my COPD diagnosis

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is cruel in that it can cause some of our good habits to be replaced with bad ones. For instance, my mornings used to be very productive, but after COPD turned my life upside down, mornings became a struggle, and I no longer looked…

4 reasons I benefited from changing up my exercise routine with COPD

When I was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 2013, my first emotion was relief. I had a diagnosis; the feeling that I was slowly deteriorating was not just in my head. I did what I always do and began researching. While studying the disease, I…