ask: Just diagnosed with emphysema - wondering if an air purifier would be worth getting

Hi Diannelynn-

I'm sorry to hear of your diagnosis. COPD and emphysema are chronic lung conditions, as you know. It definitely helps symptoms if you can keep from irritating your airways, so in that sense an air purifier or air cleaner might be helpful. However, some air purifies clean the air by making ozone, and for some people, that is irritating to the airway. So I would suggest that you ask your pulmonologist about this.

If you find a cleaner that takes particulates out of the air and you are scrupulous with keeping the filters clean, it may help a bit. If you are a person who will sort of "set it and forget it" you could do yourself more harm than good by allowing junk to accumulate in the filters and blow back out at you.

So talk to your pulmonologist about whether it seems a good idea, and if so, what type of purifier he/she would recommend. If you do not understand any of the instructions you get, be sure to make the doctor repeat them. The key to living a good life with emphysema is to be compliant with your medication regimen, diet, and any other instructions you get from your pulmonologist.

We have a resource page here: http://www.empowher.com/condition/emphysema and the National Institues of Health has good information as well: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/emphysema.html

Good luck to you.