Treating Emphysema Naturally

Emphysema or COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) is a name for the scarring of lung tissue caused by smoking, being around smokers, or by repeated exposure to other airborne chemicals like spray paint.  To understand this damage, it helps to know a little about the anatomy of the lung.

While we might think of the lungs as two big bags of air that we inflate and deflate as we breath, this is not the case.  The lungs are a network of tubes that carry the air into finer and finer tubes until the tiniest tubes reach little balloons (alveoli) of tissue—thousands of them.  Each of these balloons has a covering that is just one cell thick, and is surrounded by tiny blood vessels with walls that are also one cell thick.

When we take a breath, oxygen passes through the network of tubes, inflates each delicate balloon and the oxygen passes through the wall of the balloon into the blood vessels.  Then carbon dioxide passes out of the blood vessel into the balloon so that, as we breathe out, the carbon dioxide leaves our body.

Someone with emphysema has many broken and hardened balloons that don’t inflate and some of their blood vessels have withered.  In those diseased areas of the lungs, no oxygen can enter the blood and no carbon dioxide can be removed.  

There is no cure.  Emphysema is a permanent scar on the inside of the lung.  All we can do is:

• Prevent further damage
• Maximize the health of the body in general
• Optimize the oxygen transfer in the remaining unscarred lung tissue

Preventing Further Damage

As much as possible, breath only clean air, keep far away from cigarettes and second-hand smoke, and avoid dust, sprays, candles, cooking odors, automobile exhaust, perfumes or anything else that could get stuck in the tiny balloons.  Use air cleaners and vacuum cleaners with HEPA filters which trap smaller particles.  Change your air-conditioning and heating filters frequently.

Maximizing the Health of the Body

There’s much more that can be said about maximizing health than will fit in this article—diet, exercise and rest are all critical for a person with limited lung capacity.  

Here’s a few helpful suggestions that might not be so obvious.  Avoid cold, dry air.  In the winter, scarves are helpful and breathe through the nose.  You want the air to be as warm and moist as possible when it reaches the lungs.  Lose weight.  People who are overweight require more oxygen than slender folks doing the same activities.  Avoid sugars and alcohol.  Avoid processed food that are high in carbohydrates because these foods produce more carbon dioxide in the body and the emphysema will slow down the rate that the body gets rid of carbon dioxide.

Optimizing Oxygen Transfer

• Learn to breathe correctly.  Most people use the wrong muscles and breathe in a shallow, ineffective manner.  A person with emphysema needs every advantage to compensate for the reduced lung capacity.
• Get at least 6000 ORAC units of antioxidants per day.  This is about twice the minimum required for healthy people.  Five or six prunes will give you 6000 units.
• Drink eight to ten glasses of water per day.  This will keep your mucus thin and easier to cough up.  Coffee and alcohol don’t county.
• Eat a variety of vegetables and fruits each day.
• Talk to your doctor about taking 600 to 1200mg of N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC). This is both an antioxidant and an expectorant which will help to keep the lungs clear.
• Talk to your doctor about taking 50mg of Coenzyme Q-10 (COQ-10) which can improve the use of oxygen at the cellular level.
• Take 800 mg of Magnesium daily for an antihistamine effect that clears air passages.
• Some people find that large amounts of vitamin C, up to 5000mg per day are helpful during bouts of bronchitis.  See what you doctor recommends—not everyone is in favor of vitamin C.
• Other herbs to ask your doctor about are cordyceps, fenugreek, Ginkgo Biloba, Siberian Ginseng, Thyme, slippery elm and alfalfa.  Any of these may help keep the airways clear and provide some of the daily water requirements.
• Don’t take cough suppressants; they will trap mucus in the lungs.  What you need is an expectorant like the herb teas above, not a suppressant.
• Learn about allergies that may be slight but have a negative effect on the lungs.  Investigate dust and animal dander; and food allergies such as corn, dairy products, wheat, eggs, citrus, corn, and peanut butter.
• Install an air purifier in your home and office.  Make sure it has a HEPA filter.  Your vacuum cleaner should also have a HEPA filter.
• Take regular and moderate exercise like walking.  Remember that the person with emphysema doesn’t take in oxygen efficiently or get rid of carbon dioxide as well as a healthy person, so don’t overdo.  The capacity for exercise can increase over time.
• The body will need less oxygen if it has less fat.  Reducing fat cells will free up oxygen for all those other cells that make life enjoyable.