People are being encouraged to raise awareness of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a condition which causes breathlessness and a cough.
The disease, more commonly recognised as chronic bronchitis and emphysema, is relatively unknown when compared to cancer and diabetes.
However, it is the third leading cause of death globally and 500,000 people in Ireland are estimated to suffer from the condition.
Yesterday marked World COPD Day, an annual event aimed at raising awareness of the disease.
Speaking on Lunchtime Live, Dr Róisín Cahalan, founder of SingStrong, outlined how COPD is diagnosed.
She said: "It's estimated that 500,000 people in Ireland have it but many people are unaware of their diagnosis.
"It's really quite innocuous when it comes upon you first.
"It's a disease of middle age and beyond, when we start getting a little bit more unfit, you're breathless, maybe if you're a smoker you might have that irritable cough.
"We kind of write it off for a long time until people might get an exacerbation and end up in hospital at which stage you could be diagnosed.
"So it is very common, it's out there, and people just don't have an awareness of the disease I think.
Dr Cahalan described the disease as a "ninja" as it can "sneak up very gradually on people".
She said: "People will just get progressively more out of breath, they'll find things just a little bit harder, and then they might get a chest infection or an exacerbation that will end them up in hospital."
She added that people can have very mild COPD while others will be severely affected and require oxygen around the clock.
She said: "It is a progressive disease, it is incurable, but there's a huge amount you can do to manage it depending on when it's caught."
This includes going to the doctor for an initial test and then good health practices when diagnosed, she said.
COPD sufferer
Mary Boreland, who lives with COPD, said she was initially surprised when she was diagnosed, despite being a smoker.
She said: "I was diagnosed with COPD in September 2016.
"I previously had a lumpectomy in 2013 and I just thought it was to do with that.
"It's sort of a shock when you're diagnosed with it but you go to the doctor and try and so what you can with that."
Mary explained that COPD is more commonly known as bronchitis or emphysema or a chronic lung condition.
She said: "I got mine from smoking, I was a smoker and I smoked for years.
"That's not the only reason you can get COPD but it is a very high factor in it."
She added that the main symptoms associated with the disease are breathlessness and a cough.
Mary said: "Mine was like an irritable cough, it was annoying more than anything.
"I was lucky, I caught it in the early stages and I did something about it.
She said that she is limited by the disease in what she can do in her daily life, particularly with exercise.
She added: "I would always consider myself very fit, I would walk every day for an hour.
"But it would catch you when you're walking and you would have to stop and catch your breath.
"I have an inhaler, I use my inhaler every morning, but I would do a lot of exercise because exercise is key.
"You feel like when you have it you cant exercise but you find the more exercise you do, the better off you are."
