Are asthma and copd the same?

no

COPD ( chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) can have 3 components.
Asthma, Emphysema, Chronic bronchitis. Each person differs depending on which component they have. They can have 1-2 or all 3 at varying degrees.
Asthma is a reactive airways disease that effects the airways. The will constrict or have inflammation that will make it difficult to breathe. Asthma can be controlled with medication, monitoring and understanding what sets you symptoms off, like exercise allergies or an infection.
COPD in a chronic progress disease the over time gets worse with increase shortness of breathe, increase cough and mucous. From a practicing respiratory therapist of 19 years...

sew and sews,
Asthma and COPD are similar in many respects, in that they affect the normal functioning of the lungs, however, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 鈥?COPD - is a progressive lung disease process characterized by difficulty breathing, wheezing, and a chronic cough. Complications include bronchitis, pneumonia and lung cancer. Most cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) develop after repeatedly breathing in fumes and other things that irritate and damage the lungs and airways. Cigarette smoking is the most common irritant that causes COPD. Pipe, cigar, and other types of tobacco smoke can also cause COPD, especially if the smoke is inhaled. Breathing in other fumes and dusts over a long period of time may also cause COPD. The lungs and airways are highly sensitive to these irritants. They cause the airways to become inflamed and narrowed, and they destroy the elastic fibers that allow the lung to stretch and then return to its resting shape. This makes breathing air in and out of the lungs more difficult.
The airway inflammation that is noted in ASTHMA is due to an immune-mediated process in which inflammatory cells and inflammatory mediators enter airway tissues to cause disease. Many cell-mediated immunologic factors participate in the inflammatory process of asthma. The most important inflammatory cells involved are eosinophils, mast cells, and T lymphocytes. Important aspects that define asthma include airway hyperreponsiveness and bronchoconstriction. Airway hyperreponsiveness refers to an increased tendency of the asthmatic airway to react to a variety of stimuli that would not cause a response in a normal airway. These asthma triggers can cause an asthma attack in an inflamed airway. Bronchoconstriction refers to a narrowing of the airways that causes obstruction of airflow (sometimes termed - airflow limitation). The bronchoconstriction of asthma is unique because it is at least partly reversible, either spontaneously or with treatment.

ALL ANSWERS SHOULD BE THOROUGHLY RESEARCHED, IN ANY FORUM AND ESPECIALLY IN THIS ONE. MANY ANSWERS ARE FLAWED.


The information provided here should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

I add a link for COPD and one for Asthma that contain details which may be of interest.

http://www.asthmameds.ca/
whatisasthma.php


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Chronic_obstructive_pulmonary
_disease


Hope this helps
matador 89

I don't believe so although I really don't know anything about COPD. I have asthma and have had all my life and nothing has ever been said to me about having COPD.