Health is Wealth – this is what the wise men suggest and stands true in all regards.
Having loads of wealth and no health to enjoy and make fun in life makes no sense. Similarly to earn wealth you need proper health. Hence keeping healthy is the basic key to success.
In the lifestyle that we lead today we are surrounded with so much pollution and unwanted, unhygienic factors that it is a must to be cautious enough keep the ailments away form yourself. In short your health entirely lies in your own hands.
One of the most common ailments these days is the respiratory ailment. Asthma being the most known respiratory disease there are several others alongside that you must be aware of. One such ailment is bronchitis.
Bronchitis is a sort of a respiratory illness affecting the bronchial tree of our body. That is, in this ailment bronchi of our lungs becomes inflamed. It is a common disease among tobacco smokers & people ho are living in the areas where there are high levels of air pollution. In case you one among those affected with bronchitis, here are some points you must understand about this disease.
1. Bronchitis is of two kinds depending on the time it lasts for in the body – Acute bronchitis lasts for only 10-12 days. On the other hand, chronic bronchitis might also take 3 months to 2 years.
2. It is easier to prevent acute bronchitis because it is mainly caused due to some viral & bacterial infections.
3. Also there are some cases where this ailment comes from some fungus. The individual suffering with acute bronchitis experiences persistent cough along with mucus, shortness of breathe, feeling of fatigue, mild fever, mild chest pains, feeling of coldness, vibration inside chest while breathing, etc.
4. When acute bronchitis is caused due to virus, it is usually the same virus as that of common cold. In case of such viral infections, the doctors suggest that there is no need of any special medications. The only means of getting well is talking lots of rest and drinking loads of non caffeinated & non alcoholic beverages.
5. In case one is affected with acute bronchitis caused due to the bacterial infection, the usual antibiotic medications can treat him/her well. In such remember two things – one contact the doctor and take the anti-biotic that the expert suggests rather than taking just any medicine without prescription and two, increasing the humidity in the patients’ house would really help. You can do this by placing wet towels all across the house or placing room humidifiers.
6. Generally, acute bronchitis lasts about 10-12 days only. Yet, it is closely followed and/or associated with flu and cold. So, many a times during the healing process coughing does not end and bronchi in the lungs keeps irritating. In case the coughing lasts longer than a month, the experts advise you to consult the physician immediately, before the conditions get worst. This is because, cough occurs for several other reasons as well.
7. Bronchitis happens chiefly due to infections such as viral, bacteria and very rarely due to fungus.
8. Remember you must not take any medications until & unless the doctor prescribes so else it might get dangerous for you.
9. The doctors in such cases usually get some essential lab tests done before prescribing the medications. These examinations are very important and must be taken very seriously.
Now before making any decisions, let us first understand the signs & symptoms of the bronchial diseases.
1. Bronchitis is a name given to the swelling of our bronchial tubes. This swelling leads to the bronchial mucosa’s disability in getting rid of the mucus.
2. This means the patient would have lot of cough, and face difficulty in breathing.
3. The other symptoms include the following:
• Difficulty in breathing
• Breathlessness
• Coughing alongwith thick phlegm
• Pain in the throat
• Feeling tightness around the chest
• Mild fever
• Pain & swelling around the patient’s eyes
4. The other symptoms of bronchitis are as follows:
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Excessive sweating
• Nausea
• Chest pain
5. The key difference between the other obstructive lung diseases and asthmatic bronchitis is that the latter is often reversible, both, with or without the treatment.
6. Persons afflicted with asthma might experience certain symptom free episodes while interchanging acute asthmatic attacks last for a few minutes or a few days.
7. Factors setting off the asthmatic attacks are quite similar to the asthmatic bronchitis (like dust, smoking, etc.).
8. Common asthma is mainly triggered through the allergens. The common allergens imply ones arising due to season (that is weed pollens and grass tree), and the persistent ones (like roaches, animal dander, dust, etc). Almost all asthmatic individuals are extremely sensitive to these triggers.
9. The key causes of bronchitis are the bacterial infections. While asthmatic bronchitis is activated through tiny specks breaking through the safety walls created by cilia, a part of the bronchial tubes.
10. Just like other COPDs, the asthmatic bronchitis involves congestion of our respiratory tract. The bronchial tubes actually produce mucus under all normal circumstances. This mucus then covers our lungs, trachea, and other important organs of the respiratory system. When the irritants are existent in our respiratory system, there is an overproduction of this mucus that consequently obstructs our airways. A continuous mucoid obstruction in the respiratory tract is the most common factor among the asthmatic bronchitis patients.
11. These factors contribute towards the development of the asthmatic bronchitis, hyperactivity of bronchus and/or immunologic aberrations, the relentless childhood infections, etc.
12. The persons suffering with asthma and/or the other grave sorts of chronic bronchitis become quite vulnerable towards asthmatic bronchitis.
13. Ones who are afflicted with the chronic bronchitis, ultimately contract to asthmatic bronchitis owing to the long term exposure towards pollutants and/or environmental toxins & mainly cigarette smoking.
14. While the medical experts continue to research what exactly causes this disease by far the established fact is that the environmental factors lead to this ailment.
15. The general symptoms leading to asthmatic bronchitis include dyspnea (that is difficulty in breathing & shortness of breath), chest discomforts, cough, wheezing lasting for several weeks, general malaise or fatigue, weight loss, pain, usual feeling of soreness, high risk to catch infections, etc.
While the above mentioned factors are also seen in the common asthmatic patients, the persons suffering with asthmatic bronchitis also show rather profound symptoms. These are those symptoms that show higher frequencies as compared to a common