Lung Disease

One of the most distressing symptoms that anyone can experience is short-ness of breath—dyspnea. Patients describe themselves as 'not getting enough air.' This triggers a series of physiological and behavioral reactions that include increased heart rate, blood pressure and hormonal secretions ac-companied by a feeling of general panic. Shortness of breath is a common symptom of many respiratory illnesses.

Just as the gut separates and absorbs food from the outside world into the body, the lungs are a passage for the exchange of used air and fresh air. But there's a crucial difference between food and oxygen—we can't store oxygen. We must meet a second-by-second demand for the life-giving element or die within minutes. The body responds immediately to any interference with this exchange.

Over 3o million Americans are affected by chronic lung disease. Dozens of illnesses can affect the respiratory system. The study of pulmonary (lung-related) medicine is vast and complicated. It deals with congenital prob-lems like cystic fibrosis, acquired diseases like bronchitis and self-inflicted problems like smoking. The importance of GS H in the respiratory system cannot be overstated. We can't address every known respiratory problem but we will discuss a large number of common and not-so-common ail-ments, including:

As you will see in the following pages, inflammation of the lung is common to most pulmonary diseases, whether the disorder is acute—like toxic exposure—or chronic—like cystic fibrosis. The processes of infection in asthma, bronchitis or pneumonia all lead to inflammation.

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