Many people with chronic respiratory impairments talk about it feeling like someone is sitting on their chest all day long. It’s not hard to see how such a condition will affect someone’s ability to work. The most apparent effect of such impairments (for instance, emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, sleep apnea, and certain types of cancer) is shortness of breath. However, a person who is chronically short of breath will also usually experience chronic fatigue, numbness, and tingling in extremities like hands and feet because of the lack of oxygen getting to parts of the body furthest away from the heart and lungs and, in some cases, even chest pain. Chronic respiratory conditions also make people more susceptible to viruses such as colds and flu (or worse – many individuals with chronic lung conditions died during the COVID pandemic). It is very common for respiratory conditions to be affected by the weather, especially very cold or very hot, humid weather conditions. Treatment usually consists of medications and/or breathing treatments or other forms of breathing therapy, and sometimes surgery is necessary. Sometimes, the treatments cause additional side effects that further limit a person’s ability to function.

Most respiratory disorders do not affect a person the same way every day; it is very typical for a person with this kind of medical condition to have “good days and bad days,” days where functioning does not seem very affected at all but other days where it’s a struggle even to do basic daily activities.

A disabling condition does not need to be disabling every day to support a finding that a person is unable to work because being able to work means doing it daily, week after week, on a regular and continuous basis.