MDIs are still more difficult to use than pills. Patients may respond gradually despite the absence of an acute bronchodilator response on pulmonary function tests. Relatively few patients respond to inhaled or oral corticosteroids. Effects should be documented and patients maintained on minimum effective doses. Smoking cessation initiated during hospitalizations for COPD exacerbations have also been shown to be effective.
Many patients require several attempts before quitting successfully.
Symptoms of nicotine withdrawn can be lessened with replacement therapy or the anxiolytic buspirone. Should be standard care Pulmonary rehabilitation is a structured, supervised, individualized program of exercise and education directed at patients with lung disease. In contrast to cardiac rehabilitation, pulmonary rehabilitation has only slowly gained acceptance within the medical community. There have been several reasons for this delay. Pulmonary rehabilitation practice began without a strong scientific foundation.