Living With COPD: It Means Never Taking Breath for Granted
Key takeaways:
After many years of working in a print shop and smoking, Mandy Bowers was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 1998.
She credits regular exercise to helping keep her physically and mentally strong.
For Mandy, COPD means never taking breath for granted. While the disease takes away life’s spontaneity, medication, therapy, and exercise help her live better with COPD.
Mandy Bowers was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 1998. After her diagnosis, she realized how much she took breathing for granted. Today, she manages her disease with medication, oxygen therapy, exercise, and a positive outlook.
She experienced shortness of breath after years of working in a print shop and inhaling strong fumes and was a longtime smoker — “a double whammy” she says.
Still, her diagnosis surprised her. Mandy and all of her siblings are smokers. However, she is the only person in her family living with COPD.
The 74-year-old Nashville resident credits the effective management of her COPD to a collaborative relationship with her longtime pulmonologist at Vanderbilt Medical Center. She also credits the support she’s found in being part of a 12-step recovery program for more than 3 decades.
“That has really helped me survive COPD because I had a lot of support through the crucial years,” she says about the recovery program.
Exercise keeps her lungs strong and her outlook positive
Mandy’s journey to managing life with COPD began with using an inhaler to treat her shortness of breath.
“Nobody really understands what it’s like not to be able to breathe unless you’re there,” she says.
The uncertainty of not being able to breathe can also cause many people living with COPD to have panic attacks. They live in fear of the next episode. This fear holds back their desire to go about their daily lives. Mandy says routine tasks most people take for granted — such as grocery shopping — can become frightening ordeals. The resulting isolation, she says, has made her aware that she must do all she can to fight off depression and feelings of loneliness.
Mandy began oxygen therapy in 2007 to help with her breathing 24/7. She also has a portable oxygen tank to take on the go. “It [oxygen] helps me to do anything,” she says.
Mandy also attributes her semi-active lifestyle to daily exercise. Exercise can help individuals living with COPD build strength and endurance, which improves their symptoms and lung function.
“You’ve got to keep moving, and that's the one thing that’s been the hardest thing for me to do because I don’t like exercise,” she says. “But I have to exercise every day.”
She has found exercise programs on Amazon Prime, YouTube, and Netflix — specifically tailored for individuals living with COPD — and yoga useful. Besides exercising on her own, she has also benefited from a specialized pulmonary rehabilitation program at a local health center.
Living with COPD means changing ‘everything’
Mandy made minimal lifestyle changes after her initial diagnosis. She still went out, danced, socialized, and lived life as usual. However, it’s during the disease’s early stages that individuals with COPD feel their disease can seem “hidden” to the general public, she says.
“A guy in one of my support groups was talking about how his wife didn't understand that he couldn't just walk down the grocery store aisle where the detergents are because of all of the competing scents and perfumes are overwhelming and can make it difficult to breathe,” she says.
Mandy can identify with his experience and recalls the first time she went into a Michaels craft store. The strong odors of many scented items — like candles — irritate her lungs, she says, which triggers her COPD symptoms. “It’s horrible. I mean, it will knock you down for 3 days.”
Mandy’s COPD has gradually worsened over the years and makes it more and more difficult to go out or complete tasks at home, such as cooking. Living with the disease means you are constantly aware of your breath, Mandy says.
“Nobody has a clue what it's like not to be able to breathe,” she says. “When you have COPD, you think about every breath you take.”
The fear of struggling for breath takes an emotional toll on Mandy and many other individuals who have COPD.
“You don’t do things that you used to before because you’re afraid,” she says. And there is not much spontaneity to living with COPD, because “everything you do has to be thought out.”
She has also had to learn how to ask for help from friends and family. Self-pity, anxiety, and depression can be prevalent in people living with COPD, she says.
“There is a lot of living in the moment and trying to have a good attitude, because depression can suck you right up if you allow it to,” she says. The anxiety related to COPD can be “a killer,” and the panic has to be managed, Mandy says. But a sense of humor helps greatly as does support from her family.
COPD is not one size fits all
Every person living with COPD experiences it differently. Certain medications work for some people and don’t work for others.
“COPD is not one size fits all,” Mandy says.
In addition to oxygen therapy, Mandy also takes a wide range of medications to manage her COPD. These medications include:
In 2009, Mandy underwent a bilateral lung reduction to remove diseased lung tissue. It aimed to improve her breathing ability, lung capacity, and overall quality of life. Unfortunately, the surgery led to the development of scar tissue. The scar tissue has prevented her from being a lung transplant candidate.
Now that Mandy is in the late stages of the disease — with less than 20 percent breathing capacity — she also needs help from a palliative care physician.
Despite these obstacles, Mandy keeps a positive outlook. And she stresses again that exercise has helped her stay strong physically and mentally: “It’s keeping me alive,” she says.
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