Examining the three Major Symptoms Through Which the Lung Disease Known as Emphysema Manifests

There are many lung diseases nowadays, and emphysema is simply one of them. It is a well established that if the lung is to perform its functions properly, the tissue that make it up have to maintain a certain physical shape. The interchange of gases as well as the oxygenation of blood takes place in the lungs. 
What happens in people with the condition we are making reference to here is that the lung tissue gets destroyed, subsequently losing its ideal physical shape and hence its ability to perform its functions properly. This leads to manifestation of several symptoms that we will be looking at shortly. What is worth noting at this very early point is the fact that the symptoms we are just about to look at don't normally kick in all at once. Rather, they tend to come about progressively: such that a patient starts with one of these symptoms, before advancing to the next one and then to the next one after that. 
A person with emphysema will first show signs of breathlessness. This is one of the first symptoms of this lung disease. This tends to come about progressively, which is understandable, given the fact that the disease we are looking at is one that is caused by destruction of lung tissue - and that normally takes place over time. At first, it would take a major exertion before breathlessness sets in so it wouldn't be associated immediately with the disease. As the lung tissue continues towards its degradation, any exertion won't even be required for the patient to experience bouts of breathlessness. If no intervention is done, a point can eventually come where the patient is breathless even when sitting or sleeping (when at rest). You can probably dismiss the early stages of the symptom as something that is just normal. But as it progresses, a point comes when it becomes truly distressing ' and this is the point at which most of the patients tend to turn up for treatment.
Chest expansion could also take place. This is yet another symptom of emphysema. This is naturally caused by the disease's tendency to make it difficult for the person to breathe freely. The patient could not breathe properly. Therefore, he has no choice but to expand his chest in order to compensate. You can try to confirm if this symptom is really what you are experiencing. All you have to do is measure the antero-posterior diameter of your chest.
Emphysema also has another very obvious symptom: the skin of the patient would start adapting a bluish hue. Blood oxygenation is extremely deficient, thereby resulting to this sort of discoloration. This is actually seen in various lung diseases. This particular symptom is referred to as cyanosis, and like the other symptoms of the disease we are focusing on, it tends to come about gradually. In the early stages of the disease, the cyanosis may not be noticeable, but a point soon comes (especially if no interventions are put in place) when the change in skin color can't be ignored.