A Breathtaking Study on COPD
“WE’RE DEVELOPING WAYS FOR PEOPLE TO SUCCESSFULLY DO THIS REHABILITATION AT HOME AND CONTINUE IT IN THEIR EVERYDAY LIVES.” Dr. David Coultas
J
ust picture it. You’re trying blow up a bal-
To overcome these barriers, Dr. Coultas and his team are teaching people how to manage their COPD
your lungs are like that balloon. No matter
with a three-pronged program of regular physical
how hard you inhale, they won’t expand, and you
activity, education, and counseling. “We’re develop-
can’t catch your breath.
ing ways for people to successfully do rehabilitation
You feel like you’re suffocating, all the time. That’s what life is like for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the third leading cause of death in the United States.
at home and to continue doing it in their everyday lives, after the study ends,” he says. Anne and Sherry are two of the 300 people with COPD who have participated in the study. They
Anne Simulcik, 74, and Sherry Lambert, 56,
have studied and completed workbooks about how
know this feeling all too well. Anne was diagnosed
to manage COPD, exercised regularly, and answered
with COPD following a serious battle with breast
phone surveys. A health counselor provided advice
cancer in 1988. She had to use a cane and couldn’t
and support by phone and continues to follow up
walk short distances without gasping for breath.
with them. “It was a like a class, except I did it at
Walking to her mailbox was an ordeal, and she felt
home,” Sherry says.
her independence slipping away with every breath.
Teaching people with COPD the importance of
Sherry learned of her COPD during a visit to her car-
regular physical activity and convincing them to
diologist six years ago. Since then, her condition had
keep it up is important. They need at least 30 min-
worsened so that she needed to be on supplemental oxygen all the time. She also struggled with bouts of depression because of her illness.
“People with COPD who avoid physical activity lose more lung capacity, making breathing even
David Coultas, MD, a lung disease specialist at
-
UT Health Northeast, wants to improve the lives and
tivity and their lung capacity dwindles even more.
health of people like Anne and Sherry. In 2009, he
Their shortness of breath gets worse and worse,” Dr. Coultas adds.
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to determine if showing people with COPD how to do pulmonary
didn’t give up. “Now, I actually walk without my
rehabilitation in their own home will improve their
cane and don’t have to stop every few minutes. I can
health and quality of life.
take my dogs for walks and go up a very steep in-
Pulmonary rehabilitation – in which COPD pa-
cline to get to our truck. That was my goal, to do that
tients learn how to manage their own illness and do
without stopping and gasping,” she says proudly. For
regular physical activity such as walking – can really
her part, Sherry has learned how to keep her lungs as
help people with COPD. Yet less than 2 percent of
healthy as possible. “I loved the whole experience.
them use pulmonary rehabilitation services, because
These days, my husband and I really enjoy walking together, even though he still gets tired of waiting for
for eight to 12 weeks. Many people with COPD are X-Ray of Healthy Lungs
70 years of age or older or live in rural areas tens
Despite the severity of her disease, Anne has
or hundreds of miles from these services, making it
gained a measure of control over it. “I am more self-
hard for them to participate. X-Ray of Lungs with COPD
me sometimes,” she says, laughing.