Chapter 1 of RealTime Health's Living with COPD: Speaking From Experience People living with COPD offer their first-hand experiences, discussing the early days of dealing with their condition. COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) is a group of long term lung diseases including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. It is the THIRD leading cause of death in the United States. (C) RealTime Health LLC 2012