Emphysema Symptoms and Signs

People with emphysema, the lung tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lung are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD (pulmonary refers to the lungs). Emphysema is called an obstructive lung disease because the destruction of lung tissue around smaller airways, called alveoli, makes these airways unable to hold their functional shape upon exhalation.

Emphysema usually attack people at age 50 or more, its main symptom is shortness of breath (dyspnea). Other signs and symptoms of emphysema include:

• Shortness of breath (dyspnea)
  The most common of Emphysema symptoms that often shows.
• Cough
  Cough is uncommon emphysema symptoms. When it does occur, it's usually nonproductive, which means that you won't bring up much phlegm when you cough. If you have a chronic productive cough, you may have chronic bronchitis rather than emphysema.
• Asthma
  Emphysema may also cause asthma like symptoms. In time, you may have trouble breathing even when lying down, and it may be especially hard to breathe during and after respiratory infections, such as colds or the flu.
• Cyanosis
• Edema
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Weight loss and loss of appetite
  It's a vicious cycle. Emphysema can make eating more difficult, and the act of eating can rob you of your breath. The result is that you simply may not feel like eating much of the time. Also, when you eat, your stomach expands and pushes up the diaphragm, which compresses the lungs and makes it harder to breathe.

Main Article: Emphysema