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Other Medications 

Morphine Elixir

Morphine reduces respiratory effort and helps with reducing the feeling of breathlessness. 

The dose that is usually required is 2.5mg - 5mg every 4 hours. 

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Anxiety Medications

Anxiety due to breathlessness can be common in COPD.

You should discuss this with your doctor.

There are risks such as falling, increased pneumonia/exacerbations, and should not be used in respiratory failure with carbon dioxide retention. 

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Antibiotics

During exacerbations of COPD, you will often need antibiotics. They are not always necessary as exacerbations can be viral or bacterial. 

The recommended first line antibiotics are 5 days of Amoxicillin or Doxycycline

To ensure that antibiotics appropriately target the bacterial culprit a sputum sample should be taken to the laboratory. 

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Prednisone

Systemic steriods, such as Prednisone are often used for exacerbations of COPD. They can help improve lung function, oxygenation, and shorten recovery time. These are usually given for 5 days.

Long courses or continous steriods are not recommended due to the risk of side effects. 

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Oxygen

Oxygen is a treatment for hypoxia. It does not help breathless. Oxygen is a medication and must be prescribed. Home oxygen therapy increases long term survival in severe hypoxaemia but this may not be apparent for months or years. To increase survival it must be used 16 hours or more a day. There are strict ministry of health criteria that must be meet to get oxygen at home. 

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Vaccinations
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It is recommended that you have:

  • Annual Influenza Vaccinations (funded for everyone with a chronic lung condition)

  • COVID 19 Vaccinations (funded for everyone)

  • Pneumococcal Vaccinations (unfunded but highly recommended)

These can help reduce the likelihood and severity of COPD exacerbations.​

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