Symptoms and treatment of bronchitis are what every parent should know. After all, it is this disease that most often occurs in preschool children, and especially this applies to babies younger than one year old.
Main symptoms
If a child develops this ailment, it means that the mucous membrane of the bronchi is inflamed, and there are swelling. In addition, mucus accumulates in them, which interferes with normal breathing. In these cases, parents can hear wheezing in the child’s chest, he has the so-called hard breathing, which can only be heard by a doctor in a stethoscope.
Also, the baby may lose appetite and rise in fever. There is always a frequent cough, which is dry at the beginning of the disease, and after a few days it becomes wet, because sputum begins to pass. It will intensify at night, since the vertical position of the patient contributes to its activation.
All of the above are the main symptoms. And the treatment of bronchitis, of course, should follow immediately and be carried out regularly, since episodic medications are not able to solve the problem.
Bronchitis: what are the dangers?
The causes of the disease, by the way, can be very different: the bronchi can be affected by bacteria or viruses. Also, the appearance of an ailment can cause passive smoking, alcohol or inhalation of a number of chemicals.
The disease can also occur in a mild form, while it will be almost indistinguishable from a common cold. But in any case, only a doctor can prescribe the symptoms and treatment of bronchitis. It is not necessary to engage in amateur activity, entrusting its functions to itself.
Although the disease is not dangerous, it is advisable not to delay it with its “elimination”. If you do not comply with these requirements, it may become chronic or "lower" even lower. In the first case, each acute respiratory viral infection will end in bronchitis, and in the second, pneumonia may begin.
Beware of obstructive bronchitis
One type of disease is obstructive bronchitis. Its peculiarity is that the bronchi are affected even more than with a normal ailment, and their muscles are regularly sharply reduced, that is, a spasm occurs. In this case, the child does not have enough air, he begins to breathe more often, while the nasolabial triangle may turn blue. Both the symptoms and treatment of bronchitis in this case have a number of features.
The kid with such manifestations of the disease shows quite understandable irritation - and this dissatisfaction is all the more, the younger the baby. The disease can last for 10 days, but if you do not carry out the necessary treatment, then everything can end with a bronchiolot, which can cause asthma in the future.
How to treat?
How to diagnose bronchitis in children at home ? Symptoms, treatment - all this is determined only by the doctor, as mentioned above, he also makes a diagnosis. The methods that are usually recommended for expelling an ailment are hydration, ventilation and the establishment of a drinking regime.
Of course, doctors recommend taking medications that thin the sputum, helping it to go out. Spasm-relieving medications may come in handy, but antibiotics may not always be beneficial.
If you decide to conduct alternative treatment of bronchitis in children, you need to perform the procedure very carefully. It is advisable to consult with doctors, since self-medication can cause the development of additional complications.
For example, taking herbal baths, which are often advised for bronchitis, or inhalation can cause the child to begin to suffocate. The reason will be that a lump of dry mucus inside the bronchi will increase in size.