BronchitisWhat are the Symptoms and Treatments

In 1808, Charles Bedham described and named bronchitis. For many years this condition affected many people. But because of newer developments in the field of medicine, people now have more alternatives to treating the said condition.

Pulmonary disorders are quite common especially in children. But this doesn’t mean that adults can’t have the disorder. In fact, those that live in polluted cities, especially smokers, are prone to it. If your bronchi are inflamed, then you may have bronchitis, which is widely known as an obstructive pulmonary illness or disorder.

Bronchitis is divided into short-term or acute and the long-term or chronic types. How will you know if you have bronchitis? There are symptoms associated with the disorder including expectorating cough, dyspnea, malaise and/or fatigue, mild fever and chest pains, coldness, and vibrating chest.

People of all ages may have bronchitis. Those that have frequent flu and colds tend to have this condition. If your immune system is weak, you are at a greater risk to major complications like asthmatic and chronic bronchitis, and it would be a lot easier for pneumonia to settle in.

As mentioned earlier, bronchitis can be acute or chronic. To diagnose and treat bronchitis properly, the pulmonary specialist must be more detailed with their diagnosis and understanding of various diseases and illnesses.

As a responsible individual, you must be aware of the symptoms so that when you or a family member exhibits such symptom, you can identify them easily and seek the help of medical professionals. It is best to act on the condition at an early stage to avoid any complications.
 
Acute Bronchitis

Acute bronchitis has symptoms similar to flu and lasts for a short term only. People who have viral infections may be susceptible to acute bronchitis. Acute bronchitis is contagious and usually begins by having dry cough that occurs at night. In a matter of days, the cough will progress and the person can suffer from fatigue, fever, and headache. The cough might take several weeks; but for some it might even take months because the healing process is very slow in the bronchial tubes.

If you’ve been suffering the cough for over a month, your doctor can refer you to an ENT expert to find out if there are other causes of irritation. If your bronchial tubes are always irritated, it can lead to asthmatic conditions.

With acute bronchitis, the passageways constrict because of the infection caused by a virus or bacteria. If it is caused by a bacteria, then giving the right antibiotic regimen can make the person well. You must visit your doctor to get accurate diagnosis because administering any medicine without doctor’s prescription can make the disorder worse.

If you experience persistent wheezing and cough, then you might have acute bronchitis. If you have constricted bronchial tubes, you can hear a wheezing sound every time you breathe. The disorder clears up after a few days but it can also last for over a week. Make sure that you take a rest and drink lots of juices or water.

As a simple home remedy, you can put wet blankets and towels inside the house to increase humidity or you can opt for room humidifiers. Smokers who happen to have acute bronchitis should quit smoking to heal faster and don’t make his condition even worse. 

Chronic Bronchitis

This condition is ongoing. It can take months, or even years, for the condition to last. Due to environmental factors like exposure to smoke, fumes, odors, and dust can lead to chronic bronchitis. Chronic bronchitis has no cure; therefore patients having the condition must avoid the triggers and make considerable changes in their surrounding environment. You must be able to identify the ‘triggers’ and you can do this with the help of your doctor.

When you consult a doctor, several laboratory tests will be performed including chest x-rays, test for pulmonary function and blood gases in the arteries, and the sputum culture. Usually, these tests are also performed for patients with acute bronchitis.

Chronic bronchitis can be prevented only if you try to change some of your bad habits including smoking.

Nothing beats a healthy and active lifestyle. If you practice preventive measures, then you can avoid getting bronchitis or any other illness.

I think I might have a minor case of asthma because my chest hurts badly when I run and for the rest of that day. I've never had an asthma attack, so is it at all possible to have asthma?

I have an appointment to see a doctor but I wanted to know if anyone knew beforehand.

Yes, it is. Symptoms are
* Tightness in the chest
* Characteristic 'wheezing' sound, especially when exhaling
* Shortness of breath
* Persistent cough, especially at night
* May have increased pulse, anxiety or fear

Asthma has typically been divided into two major categories: extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic, or atopic, asthma is generally considered an allergic condition, with a characteristic increase in levels of serum IgE-the allergic antibody. Intrinsic asthma is associated with a bronchial reaction that is due not to allergy, but rather to such factors as toxic chemicals, cold air, exercise, infection, and emotional upset. Both extrinsic and intrinsic factors trigger the release of chemicals like histamine that mediate (produce or control) inflammation from mast cells-specialized white blood cells that reside in various body tissues, including the lining of the respiratory passages. The rate of asthma in the United States is rising rapidly, especially among children. Reasons often given to explain the rise in asthma include: increased stress on the immune system due to greater chemical pollution in the air, water, and food; earlier weaning and earlier introduction of solid foods to infants; food additives; and genetic manipulation of plants, resulting in food components with greater allergenic tendencies.

There are four important dietary therapies in asthma: elimination of food allergies, following a vegetarian diet, and elimination of food additives. If you'd like to read more, go here:
http://www.doctormurray.com/conditions/Asthma.asp

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Great stomping Jug Band take of Woody Guthrie’s 1938 Dust Bowl song. As a music-hungry 12 year old, like everyone else it seemed, I went out & bought ‘In The Summertime’. Since then it’s this great b-side stomper that only gets played. (Dawn DNX2502)

Duration : 0:5:51

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In the beginning, very few illnesses and diseases were known, people would suffer from different ailments mysterious to them. As time passed, the number of diseases cropping up continued to increase. Millions of people acquire illnesses at some point in their lives; from common colds, coughs, to cancers and heart ailments. Though these illnesses or diseases have medications, it’s still best to stay healthy. Prevention is still better than cure, as many people always say.

Perhaps you’ve heard about bronchitis. This is the irritation and inflammation of a human’s bronchial tubes and adjacent tissues and organs involved in the breathing process. Bronchial tubes filter the air before it reaches the lungs, and are covered with hair-like things called cilia. Prolonged exposure to irritants can break the defenses thereby causing infection and inflammation.

Asthmatic bronchitis is similar to bronchitis. This is a disease associated with the airways. If you have chronic bronchitis, it can develop into asthmatic bronchitis. This type of disease is quite difficult to identify and diagnose. The generated symptoms exhibited by an individual having asthmatic bronchitis are similar to other respiratory tract illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis, sinusitis, and emphysema.

Bronchial hyperactivity, immunologic abnormalities, and severe childhood infections can cause asthmatic bronchitis. Individuals suffering from serious chronic bronchitis and persistent asthma are susceptible to asthmatic bronchitis.

Bacterial infections lead to chronic bronchitis; but with asthmatic bronchitis, small particles that passes though the cilia in the bronchial tubes triggers this disease; the airways and bronchial tubes become obstructed. Mucus is produced by the bronchial tubes to cover the trachea, lungs, and soft tissues involved in the breathing process. Due to irritants, the bronchial tubes produce an excessive amount of mucus thereby blocking air access. Constant blocking of the tract is a common occurrence among patients having asthmatic bronchitis.

Prolonged smoking and exposure to irritants, pollutants, and toxins can lead to asthmatic bronchitis especially if the person already has chronic bronchitis. The reason behind this is still unknown according to experts; but they claim that some environmental factors influence such condition.

Symptoms

- wheezing
- cough
- difficulty breathing
- chest discomfort
- pain and soreness
- increased infection vulnerability

Individuals suffering from asthma exhibit the same symptoms, but those that have asthmatic bronchitis experience them in higher intensities.

Treatment includes bronchodilators, antibiotics, and steroids. You must be warned that these treatments are not that effective in treating the causes of the disease. Inhaled medicines and bronchodilators provide only temporary amelioration to symptoms because the airways are cleared. Improvement can be seen after an ongoing treatment.

Treatments

- Oral corticosteroids like prednisolone tablets
- Symptom controller like salmeterol
- Oral antibiotics
- Preventer-medication or anti-inflammatory like fluticasone
- Reliever medications or bronchodilation like salbutamol

Doctors will advice patients with asthmatic bronchitis to avoid irritants like dust, pollen, smoke, alcohol vapors, and chemicals. Some patients are even required to have flu vaccines and the necessary precaution should be undertaken against bacterial or viral infections.

Any disease when not treated at an early stage has a great chance of developing into other forms of illnesses. Clinical examinations, pulmonary testing, and laboratory analyses can establish the asthmatic bronchitis diagnosis. Although bronchitis is a common condition, misdiagnosis can occur since respiratory illnesses are somewhat similar with each other. Other doctors might require supplementary respiration tests and chest x-ray to prescribe a treatment or medication.

People of all ages may suffer from asthmatic bronchitis. This is already a major complication that needs professional medial attention. Now, you’re already susceptible to developing pneumonia.

If you want to heal permanently, you must first get an accurate diagnosis. Only then can you be given the appropriate medication and treatment. If you don’t want further complications to develop, then you’d better see your doctor. If you haven’t been diagnosed yet and you think you have the symptoms mentioned above, then try to seek medical help.

Addressing any disease immediately can prevent complications, and not only that, you get to save money on medical costs. If you let your condition worsen, then you’re bound to spend a huge amount of money in the future for medications alone.

So why wait before things get complicated? Act now and look for a doctor that can diagnose your condition. He or she is the best person to assess your condition and determine the right medication suited for you.

My husband just found out he has Emphysema. I’m not sure what phase he might be in, but it’s very confusing. He has never smoked, but both parents smoked all his life. He is now 27 yr old how long can he live with this??? All the websites are not very clear on it.

Emphysema in a 27 year old non-smoker?? I have to seriously — I do mean VERY seriously — doubt that diagnosis. My advice to you would be to get your husband to some different doctors. Pulmonary specialists, internal disease specialists, as many as you need to go to. There are many, many diseases and disorders that can look like emphysema on a chest X-ray. Several are auto-immune or even genetic (like enzyme deficiencies). Has he had either vaccinations or viral infections recently? If so, over-stimulation of the immune system has been recently linked to the onset of many auto-immune disorders.

To answer your question, people can live a very long time with emphysema. I’m willing to bet, however, that emphysema is NOT what he has.

Good luck…

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I've noticed that every single time my cat starts to purr, he'll go into a coughing fit and have to stop. Is this caused by heart worms? Are heart worms transferable to humans? What should I do? I honestly do NOT have the money to take him to a veterinarian. I wish I did, but I don't. He was a stray and he was fine at first, but now he's displaying this weird symptom.

I'm not saying that this is what's wrong with your cat, but our cat was diagnosed with asthma and is now on steroids to control it. He was coughing a lot, sounding like he was working on a hairball, but there was no hairball. Fortunately, if this is the problem with your cat, it is treatable and the steroids are not very expensive.

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how long does it take to progress into something serious. like say you get sick start coughing and think you are sick then you make an appointment to see a doctor in a week. can the pneumonia spread super fast and kill you? i mean if you are elderly and you are trying to see a doctor as fast as you can but say you cant get in for a week. or you dont think it is serious… until it is very developed. can it develop in a week?

Pneumonia is the lung's reaction to a bacterial or viral infection in the lungs, and it can develop as quick as a day. If you feel like you have something worse than a cold, then instead of waiting for a Doctor go to an ER or better yet go to a walk-in clinic and let them know of your symptoms. They will do a chest x-ray to determine if you have pneumonia. Signs of pneumonia include a "wet" chest, coughing up sputum that is green or yellow colored and/or foul smelling, shortness of breath, and possible fever. Most common sign is shortness of breath.

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There are quite a lot of people living today who are suffering from different kinds of respiratory illnesses. You have to consider that your respiratory health is one of the most important factors that you should consider. Many people have been disabled by chronic respiratory illnesses where the main cause is that they tend to neglect early signs and symptoms of the disease when it develops and becomes severe.

One kind of disease that is commonly neglected by people is called bronchitis. This particular disease is common in infants and children where their immune system is still at the developing stages. Tobacco smokers and people living in areas where there is a high level of air pollution is also commonly affected by bronchitis. Acute bronchitis is a respiratory illness where the bronchial tree is infected by either a virus or bacteria or in rare cases, fungus.  95% of acute bronchitis is caused by viral infection where no special treatment is necessary.

The treatment for acute bronchitis that is caused by viral infection only consists of getting a lot of rest, drinking a lot of water or juices during the duration of the infection. In bacterial infection, antibiotics are usually needed along with the basic treatments. If it is possible, it is recommended that the humidity in the house should be increased by using room humidifiers or by placing wet towels and blankets around the house.

Acute bronchitis, if properly treated, can last up to 10 to 12 days only and are usually followed by flu or cold. Sometimes, coughing can last for two to three weeks or during the duration of the healing process of the bronchioles. However, if the cough still persists, it is recommended that you should consult your physician immediately because there may be other conditions that is affecting your body.

If acute bronchitis is left untreated, it can develop into chronic bronchitis where the disease can remain in long duration that can last up to 3 months to 2 years. Chronic bronchitis has permanent damages into your respiratory system. This is why it is important that you should know all about bronchitis and the signs and symptoms associated with it. If you neglect the signs and symptoms of acute bronchitis, it will develop into chronic bronchitis that can cause permanent damage in your respiratory system and can interfere with your normal movements and activities.

The signs and symptoms associated with acute bronchitis will include shortness of breath, mild pain on chest, mild case of fever, persistent coughing with mucus, chills, tightness in the chest, wheezing, and headache. As you can see, the symptoms associated with acute bronchitis have similar symptoms associated with the common cold disease. This is why it is important that if you experience the mentioned signs and symptoms, you should immediately consult your physician about it.

They will conduct a series of test that will include physical examination by listening to your breathing through a stethoscope and chest X-rays. Laboratory tests will also include examination of your mucus to determine whether you have acute bronchitis caused by virus, bacteria, or fungus infection.

During the recovery phase in acute bronchitis, it is important that you should stop smoking if you are a smoker, or avoid inhaling cigarette or tobacco smoke blown by smokers. It is also recommended that you should install air purifiers inside your home in order to breathe clean air.

Acute bronchitis is also easy to prevent. By constantly washing your hands and by quitting smoking, you will be able to maintain your respiratory health and avoid getting infected by viruses and bacteria that causes acute bronchitis.

Always remember that acute bronchitis is treatable. As soon as the signs and symptoms show up, you should consult your doctor about it. You have to consider that it may not be a simple cold that you are suffering from but acute bronchitis.

By taking the necessary precautions and by knowing about the signs and symptoms of acute bronchitis, you will be able to prevent it from getting worse and let it develop into chronic bronchitis. By effectively managing the illness and with the proper treatment, you can be sure that you will never have to suffer from chronic bronchitis.

The respiratory system is one of the most important systems in the human body. It is the part of the body that distributes oxygen throughout the body in order for it to live. Without it, the body will not be able to survive. This is why it is important for you to always take care of your respiratory system.

However, there are instances where there will be a respiratory disorder. One type of respiratory illness is called bronchitis. Bronchitis is an obstructive pulmonary disorder where the bronchi of the lungs become inflamed. This particular condition is common with tobacco smokers or people living in areas where there is a high level of air pollution.

One type of bronchitis is called acute bronchitis where it is considered to be a short-term bronchitis and can be treated right away. You can tell if you have acute bronchitis if you are suffering from the following signs and symptoms:

• Persistent coughing with mucus
• Shortness of breath (Dyspnea)
• Mild fever
• Fatigue
• Mild chest pains
• Feeling of vibration in the chest when breathing
• Feeling of coldness

If you are suffering from the mentioned signs and symptoms, it is recommended that you should consult your physician immediately in order for them to conduct a diagnosis. The diagnosis will include a physical examination where the physician will listen for your breathing sounds through a stethoscope. They will also have your chest X-rayed for further testing.

Acute bronchitis is commonly caused by viruses infecting the lining of the bronchial tree. The virus can be the same viruses that cause colds. In rare cases, acute bronchitis can be caused by an infection of fungus in the bronchial tree. Bacterial infection is also one of the main causes of acute bronchitis.

Treatment for acute bronchitis can be rather easy to do. If the bronchitis is caused by a virus, it will usually go away after a few days and signs and symptoms of bronchitis will subside. It is only required that you should get plenty of rest until the fever subsides and drink a lot of non-caffeinated and non-alcoholic drink, such as water and juices. It is recommended that you should drink at least 3 to 4 liters a day in order for you to recover faster.

However, if the bronchitis is caused by bacteria, the treatment will include taking antibiotics. It is also recommended that you should increase the humidity in the environment by using room humidifiers or by simply putting wet towels and blankets around the house.

In order to help the bronchial tree recover and heal faster and prevent another attack of bronchitis, it is recommended that you should stay away from polluted areas and if you are a smoker, you should cut down or quit smoking if possible or at least by not smoking inside the house.

The duration of acute bronchitis is usually 10 to 12 days after the first signs and symptoms appear. It will be accompanied by cold or flu or in some cases it can come unaccompanied by other conditions. You have to remember that acute bronchitis is contagious. It is usually transmitted through coughing where the virus or bacteria will be released in the air causing someone who breathes in the virus or bacteria to get infected. It is important that whenever you need to cough, you should cover your mouth with a damp cloth to prevent most of the virus or bacteria particles from getting airborne.

For some people, after the bronchitis has been treated, they will still continue coughing. However, if the coughing lasts longer than a month, it is recommended that you should consult your physician immediately as some other condition aside from the bronchitis may be causing you to cough.

There are ways to prevent bronchitis. To do this, all you need to do is wash your hands thoroughly and frequently, drink lots of fluid, and get lots of rest. You have to remember that bronchitis is caused by viruses or bacteria that can be transferred from an infected area to your hands and from your hands to your lungs.

Always remember that once you see the signs and symptoms associated with bronchitis, you should consult your doctor immediately in order to make a quick diagnosis of your condition and let you treat it at its early stages.