But as I found out over the past five years you can do a lot to relieve its symptoms. Unfortunately not everybody responds to the same treatments as some work well for some people, but not others.

If symptoms become troublesome, one or more of the following treatments may be advised. Treatments aim to ease symptoms. Also, some treatments may prevent some flare-ups of symptoms. As a general rule, a trial of 1-3 months of a treatment will give an idea if it helps or not so continued after a trial if it helps or stop it if it doesn’t improve symptoms.

Stop smoking – how many of you said no not this one again? - But if you stop smoking at an early stage of the disease, it will make a huge difference. Any damage already done to your airways cannot be reversed, but stopping smoking prevents the disease from getting much worse. It is never too late to stop at any stage of the disease. Even if you have fairly advanced COPD, you are likely to benefit and prevent further progression of the disease.

Note: Your cough may get worse for a while when you give up smoking but an increase in cough after you stop smoking usually settles in a few weeks and will help improve your coughing and phlegm after that.

Bronchodilators - if your main symptom is breathlessness, then you may benefit from a bronchodilator. A bronchodilator is an inhaler that delivers medicine to make your airways wider. There are different types of bronchodilators which work in different ways.

1] Short acting bronchodilator inhalers - These relax the muscles in the airways (bronchi) to open them up (dilate them) as wide as possible. They include:

• Beta agonist inhalers.
• Antimuscarinic inhalers.

Typically, symptoms of wheeze and breathlessness improve within 5-15 minutes with a beta agonist inhaler and within 30-40 minutes with an antimuscarinic inhaler. The effect from both types typically lasts for 3-6 hours.

2] Long acting bronchodilator inhalers - These include the beta agonists called formoterol and salmeterol, and the antimuscarinic called tiotropium. They work in a similar way to the short acting inhalers, but each dose lasts at least 12 hours.

3] Steroid inhaler - A steroid inhaler may help in addition to a bronchodilator inhaler if you have more severe COPD or regular flare-ups (exacerbations) of symptoms. Steroids reduce inflammation. There are several brands of steroid inhaler. A steroid inhaler may not have much effect on your 'usual' symptoms, but may help to prevent flare-ups.

Bronchodilator tablets - These contain medicines such as theophylline that 'open the airways'. Side-effects are quite common and inhalers are usually better. However, some people find inhalers difficult to use, and tablets are an alternative. They may also be added in to the above treatments in severe cases.

Nebulisers - nebulisers can provide bigger doses of medicines but inhalers are just as effective. What you are given depends on how you respond to treatment.

Steroid tablets - A short course of steroid tablets is sometimes prescribed if you have a bad flare-up of wheeze and breathlessness (often during a chest infection). They help by reducing the extra inflammation in the airways caused by infections. Your doctor may give you a short course of steroids for a few days. Taking steroid tablets long-term is not usually advised due to the serious side-effects which can develop.

Antibiotics - They help by reducing the extra inflammation in the airways caused by infections. So if your phlegm changes colour becomes stickier, or there is more of it, your doctor may give you a course of antibiotics.

Flu vaccination - a flu vaccination every autumn is also worthwhile, as flu can cause exacerbations.