With around 65 million patients worldwide, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is anything but uncommon. In fact, it’s one of the most prevalent lung conditions in the world behind asthma. However, despite these statistics, COPD is labeled an “invisible illness.” Many people suffer with this condition in silence, and society as a whole tends to stigmatize it by misunderstanding what its causes are and what life is like with this condition.

For people with COPD, life is often filled with uncertainty: uncertainty about health, uncertainty about the future, and uncertainty about how bad your symptoms will be on a given day. That's why it's especially important for people with COPD have a safe, familiar place to retreat to when they need to get away from the stresses and inconveniences of the outside world.

If you are ill with a chronic lung disease, you have likely experienced hypoxemia or hypoxia or both, these conditions limit the amount of oxygen your body is able to generate and so it greatly impacts your health. Breathlessness, fatigue, and insomnia are three of the prime symptoms associated with hypoxemia and hypoxia but all of the symptoms can be mitigated and managed with the help of supplemental oxygen therapy.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the diseases with the greatest financial burdens worldwide and within the United States. Studies have shown that the average annual COPD-related expenditure is around $4,147. And while 51% of these costs are covered by Medicare according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that still leaves roughly $2,000 a year that COPD patients need to spend out-of-pocket. Combine this with the cost of aging and limited retirement funds and it’s not hard to see why COPD is such a major financial burden for so many people.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a debilitating lung condition that affects around 16 million people in the United States. While there are many symptoms of COPD, shortness of breath, chest pain, and chronic fatigue are among the most crippling. In the early stages of COPD, these symptoms are mild and sometimes even go unnoticed by the patient. However, as time goes by, these symptoms become progressively worse and become even more of a burden for the victim.

From managing short- and long-term goals to exercising, eating right, and making it to doctor’s appointments, living with COPD is not easy by any means. Whether you are still working or you’ve already retired, being diagnosed with COPD means taking on a whole new set of responsibilities — some of which can be overwhelming at times.

It is a lifelong challenge to live with a respiratory disease, whether it is COPD, pulmonary fibrosis, sleep apnea, or any other chronic illness that makes even the most simple activities harder than it once was.

According to Philip Tierno, director of clinical microbiology at NYU, humans come into contact with around 60,000 germs every day. However, only about one to two percent of these are potentially harmful. Our body also has innate and adaptive immunity which helps to protect us from these dangerous bacteria. Innate immunity is the defense system that’s in place when we’re born, and adaptive immunity is our body’s defense which develops over time as we’re exposed to more and more bacteria.

Supplemental oxygen therapy or long term oxygen therapy (LTOT), is an at home therapy process 1.5 million Americans utilize everyday in order to improve their quantity and quality of living with chronic lung diseases.