Bronchitis is a common disease. It is characterized by the fact that the mucous membrane of the bronchi is inflamed. Its symptoms depend on what form of the disease the person has: chronic or acute, as well as on the stage of its development. This disease cannot be ignored, because its consequences are extremely dangerous. Pneumonia or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease may develop. In this article we will try to describe in as much detail as possible how to treat bronchitis quickly in an adult and a child, as well as what are its symptoms and main causes.
Why does bronchitis develop?
The development of bronchitis in the body is affected by various infections that enter the respiratory tract. These infections can be divided into several groups:
- viruses: measles, influenza, rhinovirus, parainfluenza and others;
- bacteria: staphylococci, pertussis pathogens, streptococci and many others;
- fungal infections such as aspergillus and candida.
However, almost ninety percent are due to the fact that the virus becomes the cause of bronchitis. If a person has reduced immunity and there is a viral infection in the body, then these are just ideal conditions for bacteria to begin to develop, which will inevitably lead to the onset of an inflammatory process with a mixed flora.
As for fungi, they rarely cause bronchitis. They cannot be activated if a person has normal immunity. This will be possible only if the immunity is severely compromised, or if a person has undergone chemotherapy, or has immunodeficiency.
There are other factors that can contribute to the development of a lower respiratory tract disease such as bronchitis:
- in the presence of a focus of chronic infection in the upper respiratory tract;
- if a person has breathed polluted air for a long time, tobacco smoking is also included here;
- if there is any pathology in the development of bronchopulmonary infection.
Before you learn how to treat bronchitis, you need to know its classification and the features of the course of a particular form of the disease.
Acute bronchitis
It is almost impossible to predict the occurrence of an acute form of bronchitis, since it arises completely suddenly. if you turn in time to a specialist who will prescribe the correct treatment, then bronchitis will last no more than ten days. However, this will not be considered a complete recovery, since the affected cells of the walls of the bronchi will recover for about three more weeks. Acute bronchitis has three degrees of severity: mild, moderate and severe. One or another stage can be determined only on the basis of the results of blood and sputum tests, and X-ray studies are also carried out and the doctor checks the severity of respiratory failure. Only, having all these data, you can accurately determine at what stage your disease is.
Chronical bronchitis
If the inflammatory process in the bronchial mucosa does not pass for more than three months, then, most likely, it is chronic bronchitis. It is also accompanied by daily morning cough, shortness of breath appears, especially if a person is subjected to strong physical exertion.
Most often, the chronic form manifests itself in people of certain professions who are forced to constantly breathe dust, gases or other harmful substances. And the reason is tobacco smoke. And not only the smoker himself, but also the person who has to regularly inhale this smoke.
Chronic bronchitis is more common among adults. He only bothers children with immunodeficiency or with congenital pathologies of the respiratory tract.
Symptoms of acute bronchitis in adults
In almost ninety percent of cases, acute bronchitis in adults begins with a common SARS. However, the disease develops quite rapidly, there is a strong dry cough, discomfort in the chest area. Coughing is especially intensified at night, when a person is lying down. During such attacks, severe chest pain may occur. And besides this symptom, the usual signs of acute respiratory viral infection are also observed. A person has severe weakness, body temperature may increase, appetite worsens, headaches torment.
A cough is such a protective reaction of the body. With its help exudates are displayed. At the beginning of the disease, the cough is observed to be extremely dry, but with the timely appointment of the necessary drugs, sputum begins to be removed after five days and this is a signal that the patient is recovering. Even without the use of special tools, you can hear wheezing in the chest of the patient.
If the cause of bronchitis was ARVI, then on the fifth day the infection begins to recede, the body temperature returns to normal, the general condition of the patient improves. However, if during this period there was no occurrence of a productive cough, and the patient is still feeling unwell, it makes sense to conduct additional examinations. Since a bacterial infection could have joined, or any complications started. Here, a slightly different treatment is already required.
If we talk about statistics, then a bronchial cough lasts about two weeks, and a full recovery occurs in three weeks. But these figures are applicable only to healthy people without bad habits. In smokers, cough usually lingers.
Acute obstructive form
This form of the disease is most often found in children, but it can also develop in adults. It is less dangerous for the health and life of the patient. But here, too, everything depends on respiratory failure, which is visible in the patient.
The first sign of this form of the disease is shortness of breath, which is present even at rest. It becomes harder for the patient to breathe, and breathing is especially difficult. This is due to oxygen deficiency in the lungs. Usually, it is easier for the patient to be in a sitting position, it is difficult for him to breathe. On inspiration, you can observe how the wings of the nose expand significantly. Even speaking can cause severe shortness of breath, therefore it is better if you just leave a person at rest and do not pester with unnecessary questions.
If treatment is started on time, then the first improvements will be noticeable already on the fifth day. It is during this period that a productive cough should begin, which will contribute to the rapid removal of sputum from the respiratory tract. This disease lasts a little longer than the acute form. It will take about four weeks to fully recover. Here, too, much will depend on the lifestyle that a person leads, as well as on the type of his activity.
Symptoms of Chronic Bronchitis
You can talk about the presence of chronic bronchitis only when a strong dry cough does not end for several months. In addition, certain facts from human life must be taken into account. So, most often chronic bronchitis occurs in active smokers. Although it is also possible its manifestation in those people who simply inhale tobacco smoke.
This form of the disease can proceed almost imperceptibly, but any viral infection can lead to exacerbation. However, unlike the acute form, such bronchitis is much more complicated, various complications are possible, and breathing is quite difficult for a person. By itself, such bronchitis will not go into the stage of remission, therefore, treatment should be taken when the first symptoms appear.
As for the stage of remission, it passes quite calmly. Sometimes a cough may bother, but only after a night's sleep. Later, shortness of breath is added even after minor physical exertion, a person begins to get tired pretty quickly, sweating increases, and a cough can appear not only in the morning, but also at night during sleep, and also at any time of the day if the person is lying on his back.
There is also a late stage of chronic bronchitis, when pus is released during a cough, the shape of the chest can change, if you listen to the patient’s breathing, hoarseness somewhere in the lung area will be clearly heard. It is quite difficult to cure bronchitis at this stage, and if you do not do it at all, then there is a risk of it becoming a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Bronchitis in children
For children, bronchitis is a fairly common disease. And its appearance is influenced by various factors. In childhood, the cause can be not only an infection that has entered the body, but also an allergic reaction, as well as diseases such as rubella, measles, whooping cough, which are found only in children.
Even a newborn baby can get bronchitis and there are reasons for this. It may be affected by the fact that the baby was born prematurely, and also if it is fed not with breast milk, but with artificial milk mixtures. The presence of various congenital pathologies can be a serious reason for the manifestation of bronchitis. The list of these causes, of course, includes immunodeficiency.
In preschool children, an acute form of bronchitis is common. First of all, this is due to the special structure of the respiratory system in a child. But the acute form is quite easy and has the same symptoms as in adults. They were described above in the article. This form can be overcome literally in a week, if you seek qualified help in time. The acute obstructive form, which most often occurs in children under three years of age, has its own characteristics. So every fourth child has such bronchitis.
Why exactly obstructive form? This is due to the fact that the bronchi in children are too narrow and their canals are quite quickly filled with exudate. Even the parent himself can detect obstruction in the child. Indeed, the baby develops severe shortness of breath not only during the period of physical activity, but even when speaking, and whistles are heard during breathing, inhalation becomes more frequent, deep and heavy, and exhalation is also difficult.
What is most interesting, not always obstructive bronchitis in children is accompanied by a cough, because of which parents can not immediately notice the onset of the disease. However, you need to monitor the skin condition of the child. Since respiratory failure leads to the fact that blue swelling appears on the skin of the baby, especially in the area of ​​the nasolabial triangle, as well as on the nails of the hands and feet. And, of course, all the usual symptoms are: fever up to thirty-eight degrees, runny nose, sore throat, severe fatigue.
Diagnostics
There is not one research method with which you can determine not only the disease itself, but also its stage, the presence of possible complications:
- At the patient’s first visit, the doctor should collect an anamnesis, listen to the patient’s complaints, conduct a visual examination, and also listen to breathing tones using a stethoscope.
- Assign a general blood test.
- A general sputum analysis is prescribed.
- A complication of bronchitis is pneumonia, so the task of the doctor is to conduct an X-ray study to exclude its presence.
- A spirographic study is also carried out, with the help of which the degree of obstruction and respiratory failure are determined.
- To exclude the presence of foreign bodies and tumors in the bronchi, bronchoscopy is performed. But this is not prescribed to every patient, but only if there is a suspicion at the doctor.
- If there are special indications, they can prescribe computed tomography.
Bronchitis treatment
So, first of all, it should be noted that the treatment of bronchitis in adults at home largely depends on the form of the disease and the presence or absence of complications, as well as the treatment of such a disease is necessarily complex, otherwise the result should not be expected. If the doctor can correctly determine the causative agent of the disease, then the treatment will pass quickly and fairly easily.
How to treat bronchitis and cough in an adult? Not all doctors agree that antibiotics need to be prescribed and they resort to this method in special cases. Antibiotic therapy is prescribed if a bacterium is the causative agent of the disease. And also in the event that the disease is difficult, is accompanied by additional diseases, or it caused any complications.
A classic set of antibiotics is used, which are selected for each patient individually. Here a lot depends on the individual intolerance of one or another component, as well as on the characteristics of the course of the disease. If any virus became the cause of bronchial inflammation, then antibiotic therapy may not give a result and even lead to some worsening.
The main symptom that indicates that the use of an antibiotic is necessary is sputum with purulent impregnations with cough. In such cases, several additional studies are prescribed and only then the drug is prescribed. It is impossible to choose a medicine for treatment on your own, since this can not only not give a result, but also exacerbate the situation.
We are used to the fact that we treat bronchitis at home in adults without going to the doctor, but this should not be done. Since at home a person cannot determine the nature of his origin and independently prescribe the correct course of treatment. After all, it is necessary to take into account the nature of the disease. Since if bronchitis was caused by a virus, then it must be treated with antiviral drugs. For this, not all drugs are used, and you can buy them only if you have a prescription from a doctor.
But you can do without antibiotics and antiviral drugs, but there are drugs without which it is impossible to treat bronchitis in children and adults.
Expectorant
How to treat bronchitis at home quickly without the use of expectorants? It's impossible. Bronchitis begins with a dry cough that needs to be made productive. For this, expectorants are used, which are divided into two groups: the former stimulate expectoration, and the latter dilute sputum. The first group of drugs irritate the gastric mucosa and due to this, the cough and vomit centers begin to work intensely. This, in turn, leads to the fact that a fluid secretion begins to be produced in the bronchi, as well as cough reflexes. These drugs include Mukaltin, Alteyka, Bronchoton and others.
You need to be careful while using such drugs, since even the smallest overdose can cause vomiting and nausea.
The second group - mucolytics, dilutes phlegm. What is especially important, they do not increase its quantity, but only help in elimination. There are many syrups from this group, which have almost the same composition and are analogues. Therefore, the drug prescribed for you is only the preference of the attending physician, and if you buy something else from this series, then do no harm to the treatment. Mucolytics include Ambroxol, Ambrobene, Doctor Mom, and many others.
Antipyretic drugs are also referred to as medical treatment. However, there is no urgent need for their use, since usually the body temperature does not increase more than 38 degrees. And with such an indicator, the body can easily cope itself. Such drugs should be drunk only if the temperature exceeds 38.4. The temperature is usually brought down with paracetamol, and if it is a child, it is better to use "Nurofen" or "Ibuprofen."
Now you know how to treat bronchitis in adults at home quickly and efficiently.
ethnoscience
Probably, there is no disease that we would not try to overcome with the help of folk remedies. It is possible to treat bronchitis with folk methods, but only in tandem with medicines. There are many different recipes and ways. The most effective and time-tested should be considered.
So, lemon, honey and glycerin are the first helpers who will definitely help you. First of all, it is necessary to boil water and dip a well-washed lemon there, after notching it in several places. The fruit is boiled for five minutes, and then pulled out of the water and allowed to cool. After it cools down, it is necessary to squeeze out all the juice from it and place it in a glass. About two tablespoons of glycerin and honey are added there, which should fill all the remaining space in the glass. The mixture is mixed well and sent to the refrigerator for several hours.
Take the drug on an empty stomach, half an hour before meals, two or three times a day, one tablespoon for an adult and half for a child. There are no age restrictions. If the patient is tormented by a strong and frequent cough, then the frequency of admission should be doubled.
Often we treat bronchitis at home in adults with folk methods using onions. Here is one good and long-tested recipe.
You will need: two or three small onions, milk and honey.
, . . : . . , .
Massage for bronchitis
, , : , . . , .
- The patient must be comfortably laid on his back, on a hard surface. During inhalation, the masseur runs his hands from the chest to the back, and during exhalation returns to its original position. At this time, the chest is slightly compressed, which causes the early removal of the remaining sputum there.
- The patient’s position does not change, but a small pillow must be placed under his head. Masseur presses his hands to his stomach and runs them to his shoulders. You can also lay the patient on his stomach and make the same movements already on the back.
- The third technique also stimulates the rapid removal of sputum. But in this case, the patient lies on his stomach so that his head is outside the massage table. The legs should be raised, for this they lay a pillow under them. It is in this position that intercostal massage is performed, the session of which should last at least twenty-five minutes.
Remember that he knows how to treat chronic bronchitis and acute in adults, only a doctor. Since improperly prescribed therapy or even an incorrectly conducted massage session can cause unforeseen consequences, which, at times, can be even more difficult to eliminate than the disease itself. We treat bronchitis quickly on our own, but without suspecting it, we expose ourselves to even greater danger.