Patient shares her story of living with COPD

Transcript

00:00Morning Mona, it's Holly.

00:09Get in touch with the respiratory clinic in Downpatrick, because they are super...

00:14Hello Mona, how are you feeling today?

00:16If I hadn't had them, I don't know what I would have done.

00:27Currently there's approximately between 40,000 to 50,000 patients diagnosed with COPD in

00:31Northern Ireland alone.

00:32This is a very debilitating condition that progressively gets worse over a number of

00:36years for these patients.

00:37So patients can experience shortness of breath, decreased exercise tolerance, not being able

00:41to do the things they might have been able to do last year or several months before that.

00:45They could have increased mucus production, they can have increased cough, they can also

00:50have wheeze and multiple chest infections.

00:55Once patients know they have the condition then, as a team we get involved then to educate

00:59these patients on how to self-manage and empower them with the tools that they can look after

01:03themselves within their own community and their own home environment.

01:06And then they meet the respiratory clinic and they come out then to see me every now

01:11and again.

01:12I only have to phone them and they're out.

01:15Brilliant.

01:16I think predominantly the biggest risk factor for COPD is smoking, and if anybody does smoke

01:22we really strongly advise them to get help and support with stopping.

01:25I think the most rewarding part is sometimes it can be the smallest change we make in a

01:28patient's management plan that can have the biggest impact for them, and then we build

01:34on that and we build from those foundations the toolkit for these patients to manage at

01:38home.

01:39I feel confident.

01:40I've got back up, and that means a lot.