COPD flares are not fun.   It is hard to breathe, you cough, you suck on inhalers and nebulizers..  You grab your pulse/oximeter to make sure you are getting oxygen.  You cough some more.  Tour chest hurts, no it's not a heart attack, that's different.  Your collarbone/clavicle hurt.  Your lungs hurt.  Your back hurts where you lungs are.

You feel like an elephant is on your chest and you are helpless to get it off.  You gasp, you yawn and you wheeze getting air in and out.  Sometimes after a coughing spell you have to grab a rescue in haler just to get air back into your lungs....but first you have to expel what is in there out...if you can.

Sometimes putting vapor rub on your chest helps, and if you have someone willing to do so having them put it on your back in your lung area helps as well.  Not that it will help much, yes it can open up airways but mostly it is just a comfort.  So you can curl up and go to sleep because by the time you do everything else you so exhausted all you want to do is sleep...