Pulmonary Disease | Mount Sinai Today

What Do Patients with Respiratory Illness Need to Know About COVID-19?

Mar 19, 2020 | COVID-19, Pulmonary Disease, Your Health

COVID-19 is a concern for everyone. But patients with respiratory illnesses are among those at highest risk of contracting this virus—or developing a bad case of it. Louis R. DePalo, MD, Clinical Director of the Mount Sinai-National Jewish Respiratory Institute, shares information that respiratory patients and their loved ones need to know about COVID-19.

How can patients and caregivers protect themselves?

To protect yourself, you should follow the guidelines recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This includes thorough handwashing, social distancing, avoiding groups of more than 10 people, and trying not to touch your hands to your face.

If you or a loved one has a chronic lung disease, here are some additional things you can do to keep safe:

Screen any visitors or health aides who come into your home. Ask them if they are sick or if they have a fever. Check whether they’ve traveled to one of the COVID-19 hotspots. And ask if they’ve had contact with a COVID-19 patient. If someone answers yes to these questions, you may want to limit their access to your home.
Make sure that you have a robust supply of all the medications and durable equipment that you need.

What should I do if I have symptoms of COVID-19?

The symptoms to worry about are cough, fever, chest congestion, and sore throat. If you or a loved one has these symptoms, you should contact your health care provider. This does not mean to go immediately to the hospital. Instead, take an inventory of your symptoms and contact your doctor. Telemedicine can be a good way to start the conversation. Together, you and your doctor can decide if you need to be tested for COVID-19.

If I need to be tested, what should I do?

Once you and your doctor have decided that you should be tested, your doctor can help you determine where to go. This may be a hospital or a doctor’s office. You want to minimize your travel to the testing facility and wear a face mask, if you have one, to expose as few people as possible. And you should let the facility know you are coming.

Should I keep antibiotics and other medications in the house in case I develop COVID-19?

COVID-19 is a viral disease. It does not respond to antibiotics. You do not need to have antibiotics around to treat COVID-19. But if you or a loved one is susceptible to developing infections for other reasons, that may be a different story. If you are in quarantine and worry that you might not be able to get out to obtain a needed antibiotic, you should discuss this with your primary care doctor.

The same thing could be true for someone with asthma. If you worry about getting sick and not having enough steroids, talk with your doctor. However, do not use systemic corticosteroids to treat COVID-19. Your doctor can advise you on the best approach.

What do I do if I have a doctor’s appointment scheduled?

You should not assume you have to go in for a scheduled doctor’s appointment. Contact your health care provider to find out if you should keep your appointment. For instance, if you are going in for a diagnostic test, it may not be available because of strains on health care facilities. Your doctor will advise you what to do in this case.

If you have a routine medical appointment, there may be other ways to receive your care or consultation. Many health systems are moving toward telemedicine, to help patients and providers maintain social distance. Telemedicine means communicating remotely with your doctor by video conferencing, texting, or other means. For example, Mount Sinai offers a variety of telehealth services at Mount Sinai Now®.

If you need a critical therapeutic medical visit, it may be a different issue. You and your doctor should talk to weigh the pros and cons of a visit. If, for instance, you would be going in for a biological infusion, you want to weigh the risk of coming into contact with people against the risk of missing a medication that is considered therapeutic. Your doctor can advise you best.

Raising Awareness About Lung Health

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community, Pulmonary Disease

Natthaya Triphuridet, MD, left, a visiting physician from Thailand, joined Mount Sinai Lung Screening team member Tsering Lhamo, NP, at this year’s screening event.

An estimated 1,000 visitors stopped by a “Lungs for Life” event on Monday, November 12, in Guggenheim Pavilion hosted by the Mount Sinai Lung Screening team.

The event, held during Lung Cancer Awareness Month, featured faculty and staff who helped raise awareness about lung health and the benefits of low-dose lung screening for current and former smokers. Thirty participants signed up to schedule a lung screening.

The lung screening program, which was created to detect and diagnose early lung cancer when it is highly curable, is renowned internationally and has established collaborations with hospitals around the world to train clinicians from afar.

To learn more, go to mountsinai.org/lungscreening.

Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD)

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Health Tips, Pulmonary Disease, Your Health

Guest post co-written by Maria Padilla, MD, Professor of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine Divison at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Aditi Mathur, MD, Assistant Professor of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine Division at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“So, I have been told I have ILD” what does this mean? How do I live with it? What do I do next? (more…)

COPD- A Preventable and Treatable Disease

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Health Tips, Men's Health, Pulmonary Disease, Women's Health

Guest post by Sidney Braman, MD, Professor Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Division, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Braman has long standing expertise in managing diseases of the airways such as asthma and COPD.

Chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) is a progressive disease that affects about 11 million adults in the U.S., although many more have the disease and do not know it. It has become the third leading cause of death and results in chronic disability and a heavy financial and emotional burden on the patient and family alike. COPD is preventable, as the cause in up to 90% of individuals is cigarette smoking. Occupational irritants and passive smoke exposure are also thought to play a causative role. In the second half of the 20^th century the tobacco industry began advertising heavily to women. (more…)

What is Sleep Apnea?

Mar 17, 2014 | Health Tips, Pulmonary Disease, Vascular Health

Sleep apnea is a nighttime event during which a person will repeatedly stop and start breathing while asleep, causing the level of oxygen in the blood to drop, as well as waking the body and disturbing healthy sleep. Severity of the condition varies from mild to severe, depending on how many times and how low the oxygen level goes down.

(more…)

The Interrelationship of Breathing and Speaking

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Pulmonary Disease, Speech Pathology

In old movies of the 1930s, once-popular depictions reflecting the interaction of breathing and speaking involved either dramatic scenes of family straining to hear the last, soft, poignant words uttered haltingly by the film’s heroine, or a strong, confident hero leaping to his feet and enthusiastically and boldly calling his comrades to action. (more…)

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