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Health24.com | 6 top tips to maintain great kidney health and help curb incontinence
It is not common knowledge that the kidneys have a large effect on the function of the bladder, but they do. Kidneys are the beginning of the urinary tract system and act as the regulator for water, toxins, and minerals in our bodies.
If these functions are hindered, then the body cannot maintain the balance necessary for a healthy person. As kidney function decreases, the levels of urea and creatinine in the blood increase.
These are six ways you can improve Kidney Health:
Monitor your blood pressure
High blood pressure is the most common cause of kidney disease. Normal high blood pressure is 120/80, anything over 140/90 is concerning and you should speak to your doctor about ways to lower your blood pressure. Continue to monitor your blood pressure, especially if it is a common disease in your family.
Stop smoking
There are no health benefits to smoking, in fact it increases the risk of kidney cancer by fifty percent. Smoking slows down the blood flow to the kidneys and if there is not sufficient blood flow, the function of the kidneys is impaired.
Medications
If you suffer from chronic pain, you most likely are using medications to manage that pain on a regular basis. Certain medications for pain such as ibuprofen used over extended periods of time can be damaging to the kidneys. Consult your physician about ways you can manage your pain without putting your kidneys at risk.
Reduce sugar and salt intake
If you have diabetes you know that you need to monitor your blood sugar levels. But did you know that nearly half of the people who have diabetes suffer from kidney damage later. Alongside getting your blood sugar level tested regularly, you also need to have your kidney function tested.
For those who are not diabetic you need to focus on having a balanced diet and need to get your blood sugar levels tested regularly so you can manage your sugar intake better.
Be aware of your salt intake as well. The recommended daily allowance is below 5grams per day. It is easier to monitor how much salt you are taking in by making your own food. Try to eat less ready-made meals and rather cook your meals to ensure you are not eating too much salt.
Water
Consuming the recommended daily allowance of 2 litres of water, assists the body in flushing out sodium, urea and toxins from the body. This prevents the risk of chronic kidney disease.
Get Active
Making time to exercise has a multitude of benefits, one of them being that it can lower your blood pressure. Maintaining a normal blood pressure reading can prevent chronic kidney disease. Taking a brisk walk or a jog a few times a week is a great way to start being active if you haven’t really been active for a long time.
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Health24.com | Could a blood test help spot severe depression?
People with severe depression may have particularly low blood levels of an amino acid involved in brain function, a new study suggests.
The substance, called acetyl-L-carnitine (LAC), is naturally produced in the body. It aids in metabolism, and animal research suggests it prevents “excessive firing” of cells in certain parts of the brain.
Mixed results
LAC is also sold as a dietary supplement. It’s marketed for conditions ranging from age-related memory loss to diabetic nerve damage.
A number of trials have tested the supplement against depression, too, but with mixed results, said Dr Natalie Rasgon, co-senior researcher on the new study.
The study was published online July 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
She and the research team came at it from a different angle. They looked at whether people with depression were, in fact, relatively deficient in LAC.
So they measured blood levels of the amino acid in 28 patients with moderate depression and in 43 with severe cases. Then they compared them with 45 adults who were demographically similar but depression-free.
Not a panacea
Overall, the researchers found, people with depression did have lower LAC levels. And levels were especially low in people with severe depression. The same was true of people who’d been resistant to treatment, and those whose depression arose early in life.
“We are not saying this is the cause of their depression,” stressed Rasgon, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine in California. “This is a correlation.
“We don’t want people running out to buy this supplement, thinking this is a panacea and the solution to their problem,” Rasgon said.
Instead, she explained, low LAC levels in the blood could serve as a “marker” of more severe, difficult-to-treat depression. If that turns out to be the case, doctors could potentially use LAC levels in diagnosing depression.
Dr Brian Brennan is a psychiatrist at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. Previously, he led a small trial that tested LAC for easing bipolar depression symptoms. It found the supplement was no better than placebo (inactive) capsules.
Mixed evidence
What’s “exciting” about the new findings, Brennan said, is they suggest LAC could help identify people with a more severe subtype of depression.
“In psychiatry, we lack substances that can serve as diagnostic markers,” he explained.
Brennan, who was not involved in the study, also stressed it’s not proof LAC supplements will help the severely depressed.
“The current evidence is mixed,” he noted. “It’s possible this could be a target for treatment, but that’s a long way off.”
The most commonly used antidepressants are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). These act on serotonin, a “chemical messenger” in the brain. But the drugs are not effective for everyone with depression.
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Health24.com | Hydration: how much is too much?
Staying hydrated is a mantra not only when exercising, but throughout the day for optimal health.
Yet it’s possible to get too much of a good thing.
In recent years, a number of athletes have died from a condition called exercise-associated hyponatremia, or EAH, which results from overwhelming the kidneys with excess fluid and upsetting the body’s natural balance of sodium.
Balance fluid intake
One high school football player died after consuming four gallons of liquids during a practice session.
EAH has happened to athletes during endurance events like triathlons, but it can occur with any type of activity, even yoga.
That’s why it’s important to balance fluid intake with individual needs. According to an EAH conference report, smaller people and those who exercise at a slower pace tend to drink more than they lose through sweat.
The American College of Sports Medicine has hydration guidelines for before, during and after exercise, and suggests weighing yourself before and after to see if you’re losing weight and truly need to replace fluids.
When extra liquids are in order, knowing quantity limits can help keep you safe.
It’s also important to know EAH symptoms. In mild cases you might feel nauseous, lightheaded or dizzy or notice swelling. In severe cases, you might vomit, get a headache, feel confused, or experience a seizure.
Yes, you want to avoid dehydration when you’re sweating, but pacing yourself and drinking slowly over the course of each day – not high volumes in a short time span – are key.
An easy way to know when to drink? According to the latest guidelines, only when you’re thirsty.
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How a NASA scientist looks in the depths of the great red spot to find water on Jupiter
For centuries, scientists have worked to understand the makeup of Jupiter. It’s no wonder: this mysterious planet is the biggest one in our solar system by far, and chemically, the closest relative to the Sun. Understanding Jupiter is a key to learning more about how our solar system formed, and even about how other solar systems develop.
But one critical question has bedeviled astronomers for generations: Is there water deep in Jupiter’s atmosphere, and if so, how much?
Gordon L. Bjoraker, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, reported in a recent paper in the Astronomical Journal that he and his team have brought the Jovian research community closer to the answer.
By looking from ground-based telescopes at wavelengths sensitive to thermal radiation leaking from the depths of Jupiter’s persistent storm, the Great Red Spot, they detected the chemical signatures of water above the planet’s deepest clouds. The pressure of the water, the researchers concluded, combined with their measurements of another oxygen-bearing gas, carbon monoxide, imply that Jupiter has 2 to 9 times more oxygen than the sun. This finding supports theoretical and computer-simulation models that have predicted abundant water (H2O) on Jupiter made of oxygen (O) tied up with molecular hydrogen (H2).
The revelation was stirring given that the team’s experiment could have easily failed. The Great Red Spot is full of dense clouds, which makes it hard for electromagnetic energy to escape and teach astronomers anything about the chemistry within.
“It turns out they’re not so thick that they block our ability to see deeply,” said Bjoraker. “That’s been a pleasant surprise.”
New spectroscopic technology and sheer curiosity gave the team a boost in peering deep inside Jupiter, which has an atmosphere thousands of miles deep, Bjoraker said: “We thought, well, let’s just see what’s out there.”
The data Bjoraker and his team collected will supplement the information NASA’s Juno spacecraft is gathering as it circles the planet from north to south once every 53 days.
Among other things, Juno is looking for water with its own infrared spectrometer and with a microwave radiometer that can probe deeper than anyone has seen — to 100 bars, or 100 times the atmospheric pressure at Earth’s surface. (Altitude on Jupiter is measured in bars, which represent atmospheric pressure, since the planet does not have a surface, like Earth, from which to measure elevation.)
If Juno returns similar water findings, thereby backing Bjoraker’s ground-based technique, it could open a new window into solving the water problem, said Goddard’s Amy Simon, a planetary atmospheres expert.
“If it works, then maybe we can apply it elsewhere, like Saturn, Uranus or Neptune, where we don’t have a Juno,” she said.
Juno is the latest spacecraft tasked with finding water, likely in gas form, on this giant gaseous planet.
Water is a significant and abundant molecule in our solar system. It spawned life on Earth and now lubricates many of its most essential processes, including weather. It’s a critical factor in Jupiter’s turbulent weather, too, and in determining whether the planet has a core made of rock and ice.
Jupiter is thought to be the first planet to have formed by siphoning the elements left over from the formation of the Sun as our star coalesced from an amorphous nebula into the fiery ball of gases we see today. A widely accepted theory until several decades ago was that Jupiter was identical in composition to the Sun; a ball of hydrogen with a hint of helium — all gas, no core.
But evidence is mounting that Jupiter has a core, possibly 10 times Earth’s mass. Spacecraft that previously visited the planet found chemical evidence that it formed a core of rock and water ice before it mixed with gases from the solar nebula to make its atmosphere. The way Jupiter’s gravity tugs on Juno also supports this theory. There’s even lightning and thunder on the planet, phenomena fueled by moisture.
“The moons that orbit Jupiter are mostly water ice, so the whole neighborhood has plenty of water,” said Bjoraker. “Why wouldn’t the planet — which is this huge gravity well, where everything falls into it — be water rich, too?”
The water question has stumped planetary scientists; virtually every time evidence of H2O materializes, something happens to put them off the scent. A favorite example among Jupiter experts is NASA’s Galileo spacecraft, which dropped a probe into the atmosphere in 1995 that wound up in an unusually dry region. “It’s like sending a probe to Earth, landing in the Mojave Desert, and concluding the Earth is dry,” pointed out Bjoraker.
In their search for water, Bjoraker and his team used radiation data collected from the summit of Maunakea in Hawaii in 2017. They relied on the most sensitive infrared telescope on Earth at the W.M. Keck Observatory, and also on a new instrument that can detect a wider range of gases at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility.
The idea was to analyze the light energy emitted through Jupiter’s clouds in order to identify the altitudes of its cloud layers. This would help the scientists determine temperature and other conditions that influence the types of gases that can survive in those regions.
Planetary atmosphere experts expect that there are three cloud layers on Jupiter: a lower layer made of water ice and liquid water, a middle one made of ammonia and sulfur, and an upper layer made of ammonia.
To confirm this through ground-based observations, Bjoraker’s team looked at wavelengths in the infrared range of light where most gases don’t absorb heat, allowing chemical signatures to leak out. Specifically, they analyzed the absorption patterns of a form of methane gas. Because Jupiter is too warm for methane to freeze, its abundance should not change from one place to another on the planet.
“If you see that the strength of methane lines vary from inside to outside of the Great Red Spot, it’s not because there’s more methane here than there,” said Bjoraker, “it’s because there are thicker, deep clouds that are blocking the radiation in the Great Red Spot.”
Bjoraker’s team found evidence for the three cloud layers in the Great Red Spot, supporting earlier models. The deepest cloud layer is at 5 bars, the team concluded, right where the temperature reaches the freezing point for water, said Bjoraker, “so I say that we very likely found a water cloud.” The location of the water cloud, plus the amount of carbon monoxide that the researchers identified on Jupiter, confirms that Jupiter is rich in oxygen and, thus, water.
Bjoraker’s technique now needs to be tested on other parts of Jupiter to get a full picture of global water abundance, and his data squared with Juno’s findings.
“Jupiter’s water abundance will tell us a lot about how the giant planet formed, but only if we can figure out how much water there is in the entire planet,” said Steven M. Levin, a Juno project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
‘Archived’ heat has reached deep into the Arctic interior, researchers say
Arctic sea ice isn’t just threatened by the melting of ice around its edges, a new study has found: Warmer water that originated hundreds of miles away has penetrated deep into the interior of the Arctic.
That “archived” heat, currently trapped below the surface, has the potential to melt the region’s entire sea-ice pack if it reaches the surface, researchers say.
The study appears online Aug. 29 in the journal Science Advances.
“We document a striking ocean warming in one of the main basins of the interior Arctic Ocean, the Canadian Basin,” said lead author Mary-Louise Timmermans, a professor of geology and geophysics at Yale University.
The upper ocean in the Canadian Basin has seen a two-fold increase in heat content over the past 30 years, the researchers said. They traced the source to waters hundreds of miles to the south, where reduced sea ice has left the surface ocean more exposed to summer solar warming. In turn, Arctic winds are driving the warmer water north, but below the surface waters.
“This means the effects of sea-ice loss are not limited to the ice-free regions themselves, but also lead to increased heat accumulation in the interior of the Arctic Ocean that can have climate effects well beyond the summer season,” Timmermans said. “Presently this heat is trapped below the surface layer. Should it be mixed up to the surface, there is enough heat to entirely melt the sea-ice pack that covers this region for most of the year.”
The co-authors of the study are John Toole and Richard Krishfield of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
The National Science Foundation Division of Polar Programs provided support for the research.
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Materials provided by Yale University. Original written by Jim Shelton. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Sicilian amber in Western Europe pre-dates arrival of Baltic amber by at least 2,000 years
Amber and other unusual materials such as jade, obsidian and rock crystal have attracted interest as raw materials for the manufacture of decorative items since Late Prehistory and, indeed, amber retains a high value in present-day jewellery.
‘Baltic’ amber from Scandinavia is often cited as a key material circulating in prehistoric Europe, but in a new study published today in PLOS ONE researchers have found that amber from Sicily was travelling around the Western Mediterranean as early as the 4th Millennium BC — at least 2,000 years before the arrival of any Baltic amber in Iberia.
According to lead author Dr Mercedes Murillo-Barroso of the Universidad de Granada, “The new evidence presented in this study has allowed the most comprehensive review to date on the provision and exchange of amber in the Prehistory of Iberia. Thanks to this new work, we now have evidence of the arrival of Sicilian amber in Iberia from at least the 4th Millennium BC.”
“Interestingly, the first amber objects recovered in Sicily and identified as being made from the local amber there (known as simetite) also date from the 4th Millennium BC, however, there is no other evidence indicating direct contact between Sicily and Iberia at this time.”
“Instead, what we do know about are the links between the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa. It is plausible that Sicilian amber reached Iberia through exchanges with North Africa. This amber appears at southern Iberian sites and its distribution is similar to that of ivory objects, suggesting that both materials reached the Iberian Peninsula following the same or similar channels.”
Senior author Professor Marcos Martinón-Torres, of the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge adds, “It is only from the Late Bronze Age that we see Baltic amber at a large number of Iberian sites and it is likely that it arrived via the Mediterranean, rather than through direct trade with Scandinavia.”
“What’s peculiar is that this amber appears as associated with iron, silver and ceramics pointing to Mediterranean connections. This suggests that amber from the North may have moved South across Central Europe before being shipped to the West by Mediterranean sailors, challenging previous suggestions of direct trade between Scandinavia and Iberia.”
Murillo-Barroso concludes, “In this study, we’ve been able to overcome traditional challenges in attempts at assigning corroded amber to a geological source. These new analytical techniques can be used a reference to identify Sicilian amber, even from highly deteriorated archaeological samples.”
“There are still unresolved issues to be investigated in the future — namely exploring the presence of amber in North African contexts from the same time period and further researching the networks involved in the introduction and spread of Baltic amber in Iberia and the extent to which metals or other Iberian commodities were provided in return.”
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Materials provided by University of Cambridge. The original story is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Health24.com | Too much screen time may pile on the kgs
Kids are spending more time than ever in front of screens, making it more likely they’ll become overweight or obese, a new review claims. The average 8- to 18-year-old spends more than seven hours a day fixated on a screen, whether it’s a computer, smartphone, tablet, video game or TV, the latest evidence shows.
Two hours a day max
Teenagers who exceed two hours daily of recreational screen time are nearly twice as likely to be overweight or obese, the review showed. Excess weight increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes and other health problems.
“Total media use increased by about 20% from 1999 to 2009, with most of that jump happening since 2004, and driven mainly by increases in computer use,” said study lead author Tracie Barnett. She’s a researcher at the INRS-Institut Armand Frappier and Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center in Montreal.
This and other evidence supports the American Heart Association’s longstanding recommendation that children and teens get no more than two hours a day of recreational screen time, Barnett and her colleagues concluded.
‘Square eyes’
“The more time you spent on these screen-based devices, the greater the odds of being overweight or obese,” Barnett said.
The percentage of obese kids in the United States has more than tripled since the 1970s to include nearly one in five school-age children, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But the TV is no longer the main creator of childhood couch potatoes.
Traditional television viewing has decreased over the past 10 years, while time spent with other screen-based devices has surged, the researchers found.
“Although kids seem to be spending less time watching television, they’re still viewing TV content. They’re just doing it on these new devices,” Barnett explained. “It means they are still sedentary with these other types of screen-based recreational devices.”
Kids are being exposed to screens at an incredibly young age, the researchers discovered. One recent study found that average daily television time among children under two ranged from a half-hour to more than three hours.
“That’s shocking to me,” said Dr Martha Gulati, cardiology division chief for the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix. “I don’t know if the screen had become their babysitter, but I don’t think that is what children are really meant to interact with.”
Couch potatoes
Further, there’s still a link between time spent on a screen and the likelihood of excess weight.
The percentage of kids who spend more than two hours a day with a screen has increased by about a third in recent years, Barnett said – from about 16.4% in 2003 to 21.7% in 2007.
It makes sense that screen time will be sedentary, said Gulati, who is editor-in-chief of CardioSmart.org, the American College of Cardiology’s patient information website.
“If they’re texting their friends, most of the time they’re sitting down to text. If they’re on Instagram or Snapchat or whatever, they’re usually sitting,” she said.
But Barnett and Gulati both admit that limiting screen time to two hours will be tough for most parents.
“Two hours is a great goal,” Gulati said. “I don’t think people should be sitting for so much of their time, either children or adults. Realistically, I think that’s going to be a very hard goal for parents to hold their children to.”
Limiting screen time
Barnett suggested that parents who want to limit their kids’ screen time might do better to focus on other things that the children could be doing.
“Getting face-to-face time, getting time outdoors, making sure there are pursuits that are free of devices – I think that will necessarily reduce and control screen time,” Barnett said.
Gulati added that parents can also help by setting a good example and limiting their own use of screen devices. The review was published online in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.
The heart association recommends banning screen devices from the dinner table and from bedrooms. Other possible ideas include:
- Setting aside time for physical activity as a family, preferably on a daily basis.
- Planning TV watching in advance, picking select shows you want to watch and avoiding channel-surfing.
- Avoiding use of TV or devices as a reward or a punishment for good or bad behaviour.
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Health24.com | 7 things nobody ever tells you about lactose intolerance
As a child, you guzzled litres of milk, but now, a number of years later, you start noticing that dairy doesn’t always agree with you.
For some, however, it’s a lot more than a vague, unpleasant feeling and many people experience symptoms like bloating, stomach cramping and diarrhoea – all signs of lactose intolerance.
This is probably the sum total of your knowledge about lactose intolerance. But, to increase your awareness of the problem, here are seven things you may not know about this common digestive ailment:
1. You could be heading towards lactose intolerance
If you love ice-cream, the following news might be upsetting: Research shows that about 75% of the world’s population lose the ability to break down lactose at some point, which means that many people naturally become lactose intolerant over time. The prevalence of lactose intolerance in South Africa is estimated at 11.03%.
2. Some ethnicities are more likely to develop it than others
Lactose intolerance is most prevalent among people of East Asian ancestry, affecting more than 90% of adults in some communities, according to the NIH.
The condition is also common in people who are of Jewish, Arab, West African, Greek and Italian descent. On the other hand, people with ancestors from Northern Europe, who consume mostly unfermented milk, have only a 5% rate of lactose intolerance.
3. Lactose intolerance affects everyone differently
People with lactose intolerance have diverse reactions to consuming the offending dairy products. Tiny amounts of lactose may cause intense symptoms such as abdominal cramps and diarrhoea in some, while other might only experience gas.
It’s not entirely clear why symptoms vary so much from person to person – it might, however, have something to do with individuals’ gut bacteria.
4. Certain types of cheese and yogurt may not trigger the disorder
In many cases, being lactose intolerant doesn’t mean you have to say goodbye to the goodness that is dairy. While some people cannot digest much of it, others have no trouble digesting yoghurt, which contains fermented milk, or cheeses such as Parmesan or cheddar. Those cheeses are aged and contain only trace amounts of lactose, making it easier to digest for those with an intolerance.
Here is an easy way to tell which cheeses have low lactose levels: Check the nutrition label. Since lactose is the sugar found in milk, the fewer grams of sugar on the label, the higher your chances of being to digest the product.
5. The symptoms waste no time
The symptoms of lactose intolerance usually occur within 30 minutes to two hours after consuming milk-based products. The more milk products you ingest, the worse you will feel.
6. Babies can be lactose intolerant
There have been cases of babies being born lactose intolerant. This happens when the baby has a mutation of the LCT gene, which normally delivers instructions for making that key enzyme. This results in the baby’s small intestine producing little to no lactase, making dairy “complicated”.
According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease, children can inherit genes that cause congenital lactose intolerance from their parents. However, it’s extremely rare for babies to have this condition.
7. You might be able to build up your tolerance
While it does sound like an unpleasant experiment for anyone with lactose intolerance, studies argue that consuming small amounts of milk on a full stomach two to three times a day can help to recondition your digestive system to break down dairy without discomfort.
However, if your small intestine does not make enough lactase, it will not suddenly start to do so. You should experiment and find out what works best for you instead of cutting dairy out completely.
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Health24.com | When should you see a pulmonologist for a cough?
Pulmonologists diagnose and treat different conditions of the respiratory system. This may include a troublesome cough, whether it’s acute (lasting less than three weeks) or chronic (longer than three weeks).
While coughing is a vital function of the body, expelling dust or dirt particles from the airways, it can, however, really compromise your quality of life, especially if it occurs at night and you struggle to sleep. This kind of chronic cough may need to be addressed by a pulmonologist.
Coughing can indicate a number of health problems; it is therefore important that the type of cough be established and its cause be determined before any treatment is undertaken.
While your general practitioner (GP) can diagnose underlying causes such as asthma, allergies, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or allergies, there are situations where you might need the help of a pulmonologist.
In the following cases, a pulmonologist will examine your lungs and respiratory system to determine the exact cause of your cough:
1. When your chronic cough doesn’t respond to treatment by your GP
If your cough has been going on for longer than three weeks, it’s classified as chronic. Even if your doctor has already diagnosed you with an underlying condition such as asthma or COPD, it might be a good idea to consult a pulmonologist if your first line of treatment is not working.
It is especially important to determine the cause of the cough if the cough persists after you’ve had a respiratory infection such as bronchitis. A pulmonologist can rule out any serious respiratory conditions such as lung cancer or can provide you with a different treatment or combination of treatments if your current treatment is not working.
2. When you experience unintentional weight loss and fever
Weight loss and fever together with a chronic cough can be a cause for concern, especially if the fever lasts longer than a week. These symptoms could be a sign of tuberculosis or lung cancer. It could also signify a bacterial infection or even HIV.
3. When you cough up blood
When your chronic cough is suddenly accompanied by blood (haemoptysis), it could be a serious underlying medical condition that needs urgent attention. Coughing up blood can be a symptom of bronchitis, tuberculosis, pulmonary embolism, or even physical trauma to the lung. The blood could potentially come from outside the airway and originate in the stomach or the nose, but whatever the cause, it is reason for concern. A pulmonologist will be able to establish the exact cause of the bleeding.
4. When you have difficulty breathing
Any respiratory distress or a wheezing sound when coughing is cause for concern as this could be a sign of COPD, involving obstruction of the airways. You should also have your cough examined by a specialist if you have a tight chest.
If you already suffer from COPD or asthma and experience a flare-up of breathing difficulties, a pulmonologist will test your lung function and take a chest X-ray to determine why you are not responding to treatment.
5. When you are at risk of lung disease such as tuberculosis or COPD
If you have any reason to be concerned about lung disease, you might want to have a chronic cough examined by a specialist. If you have been recently exposed to someone with tuberculosis, you might have been infected. If you have been a smoker for many years, you could also be at risk for lung diseases such as COPD (especially emphysema, which is linked to tobacco smoke).
Some occupations such as in the mining and construction industries also pose a high risk for the contraction of COPD, as the dust and exposure to gases can lead to this condition. If you suffer from chronic coughing and work in one of these industries, a further examination to rule out COPD is vital.
When will my GP refer me to a pulmonologist?
If your doctor has cause for concern and wants more sophisticated testing of your lungs and respiratory system, they may refer you to a pulmonologist. Actually, if you feel the need for a second opinion, you might not have to wait for your general practitioner to refer you to a pulmonologist, depending on the specifications of your medical aid.
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