Patients with emphysema most often have symptoms of other pulmonary diseases like chronic bronchitis mixed in.  This is why you often hear of COPD more than simply emphysema.

The major cause of emphysema is smoking.  Smoking introduces toxins and chemicals into one’s lungs which damage the sensitive tissues of the air sacs’ walls.  It is the intake of these chemicals over a long period of time that gradually wear away at the structure and elasticity of one’s lungs.     

Emphysema takes a long time to develop.  It takes years of exposure to irritants like cigarette smoke for the lung to finally break down in such a complete way.  Little by little a person begins to feel more and more out of breath.  Eventually, even just a brief walk will cause him or her to have trouble breathing.  

Although the large majority of cases of emphysema are brought on by smoking, there are some other possible causes. A small portion of people who have emphysema have inherited it through a rare protein deficiency called alpha I-antitrypsin (AAT) which is named after the protein the person is lacking.  Other air born irritants, like pollution, chemical fumes, and industrial dust, that are inhaled for years and years can produce similar effects or cause further damage in cases that are just developing.