![]() ![]() When mild, this can often be corrected with supplemental oxygen therapy and other COPD medications, however, it can be caused by improperly-dosed oxygen therapy, as well.īecause of this, the main symptoms of hypercapnea overlap with the symptoms caused by hypoxemia, which happens when your blood oxygen saturation gets too low. The result is low blood oxygen levels (hypoxemia) and high blood carbon dioxide levels (hypercapnea) that make it more and more difficult to breathe. That causes this blood flow strategy in the lungs to break down less blood flows to the parts of the lungs that function efficiently, and more blood flows through damaged alveoli that are less capable (or completely incapable) of exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide efficiently. ![]() ![]() However, this ventilation-perfusion ratio can get thrown off, usually because of high-flow oxygen therapy, COPD exacerbations, or other COPD symptoms. At the same time, they increase blood flow to the most healthy alveoli so they can absorb as much oxygen (and release as much carbon dioxide) as possible. Usually, your lungs constrict your blood vessels in such a way that they decrease the amount of blood that flows to poorly functioning air sacs that have been damaged by COPD. This happens when your body gets confused about which parts of your lungs to prioritize, which reduces the efficiency of gas exchange in your lungs. As that excess CO2 builds up in your blood, it causes an imbalance between your blood oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, which can cause serious symptoms and oxygen deprivation.Ĭo2 retention also happens through a phenomenon known as ventilation-perfusion mismatch. Over time, as your COPD progresses and your lung function declines, you may retain more and more carbon dioxide as you breathe. When you have COPD, there are fewer healthy alveoli and fewer places for this exchange to happen, which makes it difficult to get enough oxygen into your blood and also difficult to get enough CO2 out of your blood and into your lungs. This leaves excess CO2 trapped in your lungs after you exhale, which takes up space that is needed to hold oxygen-rich air when you breathe in.ĬOPD also damages and destroys your air sacs, or alveoli, which is where oxygen and carbon dioxide is passed between your blood and the air in your lungs. It does this in two ways: by destroying the tiny air sacs in your lungs, and by preventing you from pushing all of the air out of your lungs when you exhale.ĬOPD can make it difficult to breathe out because of airway narrowing, blockage, and other changes in the lungs. COPD can disrupt the process described above by preventing you from getting rid of enough carbon dioxide when you breathe. ![]()
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