When born, a person is immediately exposed to various bacteria and microbes. They can settle on favorable soil - mucous membranes and walls of susceptible organs. Such manifestations of the common cold and other diseases, such as a runny nose, sore throat, cough, have been known to us since childhood. If a runny nose and sore throat can still be treated without going to a doctor, then the situation is more complicated with coughing. It can be of different types and with various consequences for humans. The main danger is wheezing in the bronchi and lungs. Only a specialist can hear them, so it is important to consult a doctor with a prolonged, barking and unproductive cough.
What is a cough
Cough itself is our defense against microbial damage to the respiratory system and respiratory tract. It is aimed at protecting our body, therefore, in every possible way cleans the bronchi and trachea from mucus and sputum.
There are several types of cough:
- dry (unproductive, with no sputum);
- wet (productive, expectorant with sputum production, such a cough happens already at the end of viral diseases);
- spastic (it happens with bronchitis, asthma and the ingestion of a foreign object into the respiratory tract, such a cough is characterized by a continuation of heavy exhalation);
- barking (often with allergies, observed during laryngitis and tracheitis);
- pertussis-like (often ends with vomiting, coughing attacks can accompany acute pharyngitis and some forms of tuberculosis);
- hoarse (occurs with inflammation of the vocal cords);
- bitonal (starts in lower tones, then goes into upper tones);
- stockato (jerky and sonorous cough for some diseases in infants);
- syncope (jerky, occurs due to short-term loss of consciousness with insufficient nutrition of the brain).
Wheezing in the bronchi during exhalation is observed with some types of cough. It is difficult for a person uninitiated in medicine to determine the specific type of cough, so when it appears it is better to get advice from a specialist.
What is wheezing in the bronchi?
In the airways, normally there should be no interference or noise. If they arose, this means that there is some kind of pathological process in the respiratory system (lungs, bronchi, trachea and others). In addition to the fact that they arise due to inflammation or damage to these organs, their appearance can be triggered by diseases of organs that are not associated with breathing. Among them, myocardial infarction, some diseases of the cardiovascular system, anaphylaxis, as well as the ingress of a foreign body into the lungs and bronchi are noted.
What are wheezing?
Like some types of cough, wheezing can be wet, dry, crepitating, wheezing.
Wet rales appear due to the accumulation of sputum in the bronchi. Sputum is a liquid mucus that collects as a result of inflammation of the respiratory system. Air passes through it, and bubbles form in it. They constantly burst in large numbers, so there is a noise called wheezing. Most often, wet rales are heard on inhalation and exhalation. They, in turn, also have their own varieties:
- Fine bubble - the noise of bursting small bubbles, similar to the sounds of open soda. This phenomenon occurs with bronchiolitis, pulmonary infarction, bronchopneumonia.
- Medium bubbling wheezing is a noise resembling gurgling water when blowing it through a straw. Diseases with this type of wheezing: hypersecretory bronchitis, pneumosclerosis, pulmonary fibrosis.
- Coarse bubble noise - it can be heard even without special medical equipment. Such wheezing occurs with an advanced state of pulmonary edema, as well as with a mild cough reflex.
Dry noises are buzzing and whistling. Such wheezing in the bronchi during exhalation appears with obstructive bronchitis against the background of an allergic reaction. With a decrease in the lumen of the bronchi during the disease (most often with bronchial asthma), a whistle appears during breathing. This is due to the uneven narrowing of the bronchi, thus, the air undergoes a narrowing and expansion. A buzzing also appears due to a significant reduction in the air flow through the bronchi, but it is also stopped by mucous bridges. Meeting with them, the air flow fluctuates, and a characteristic noise is manifested.
Wheezing: causes
To determine the causes of wheezing, it is important to know their nature. They are of two types:
- pulmonary;
- extrapulmonary.
The first type speaks for itself: such wheezing results from pathological processes in the bronchopulmonary system. The second type of noise is observed as a symptom associated with various diseases that are not associated with the organs of the respiratory system. A striking example of such a symptom is heart failure, which is accompanied by dry wheezing.
Wheezing of the bronchopulmonary system can indicate many diseases, so they need to be distinguished. Causes of wheezing in the bronchi (wheezing treatment depends on their exact definition):
- dry noises arise due to turbulent eddies of a stream of air that travels through altered bronchi;
- wet noises appear due to bursting bubbles, which arise due to the combination of air and sputum.
What diseases can be accompanied by wheezing in the bronchi?
Diseases accompanied by wheezing, most often relate to pathological processes of the bronchopulmonary system, but there are also other nature. There are diseases with pronounced wet noises, and there are those that appear only with dry ones.
Wet rales are present in diseases such as:
- heart failure;
- bronchial asthma;
- pulmonary edema;
- malignant neoplasms that have different localization;
- bronchiectatic disease;
- heart defects;
- acute renal failure;
- pneumonia;
- obstructive chronic pulmonary disease ;
- a condition in which the graft did not take root (GVHD);
- ARVI;
- flu;
- Legionnaire's disease ;
- pulmonary tuberculosis;
- endemic flea typhus;
- pulmonary embolism.
Wheezing in the bronchi during exhalation is usually heard with bronchitis, bronchial asthma. In diseases that are not related to diseases of the respiratory system, such noises will be heard quietly and, possibly, when inhaling, too.
Dry wheezing, in turn, is also a specific characteristic of certain diseases. The main ones are:
- chronic bronchitis and bronchiolitis;
- pneumonia;
- bronchial asthma;
- tumors in the bronchi;
- heart failure;
- in some cases, lung cancer;
- pneumosclerosis;
- pharyngitis;
- laryngitis;
- foreign body in the bronchi;
- emphysema.
Diagnosis of diseases taking into account different types of wheezing
We see that quite a few diseases can occur with a concomitant symptom, such as wheezing in the bronchi upon exhalation. To make a definitive diagnosis, you need to have good reason, namely, the presence of other important symptoms. Such characteristics of human conditions include shortness of breath, disturbance of external respiration, cough, blue of the nasolabial triangle, cough, X-ray syndrome, blood test results confirming or refuting the diagnosis.
Medical treatment of wheezing
It is better not to joke with noise in the lungs and bronchi, as it can cause serious harm to health. Purulent complications of wheezing in the bronchi are also dangerous. How to cure cough and wheezing, experts will tell you. But if there is no way to turn to them, you need to start the fight as early as possible.
If you have all the signs of bronchitis, then you should give up everything and do your health, as it can quickly develop into pneumonia. The surest remedy for complications is antibiotics, but they are prescribed already for severe forms of the disease. At the first stage, you need to take expectorant drugs that thin the sputum, and with a strong cough , medicines that act on the cough center.
Traditional medicine in the fight against wheezing
Traditional medicine experts advise the following remedies. In equal amounts, mix the crushed aloe leaf, peel of fresh lemon and honey, insist for a week. Take before meals 1 tbsp. l for 40 days, then take a break for 10 days and repeat the course again. This mixture is a powerful preventative way to avoid wheezing and maintain immunity.
Milk perfectly treats wheezing in the bronchi. How to cure the disease with this product? You need to drink up to 200 ml of hot (not warm!) Milk 3 times a day along with the raisins.
Carrot juice, turnip tincture, black radish juice with honey, milk with soda, inhalation with Borjomi will help you safely and effectively get rid of wheezing of various kinds.
Herbal treatment
It is known that herbs very well treat inflammatory processes in the bronchi, and also help quickly remove sputum from the body. To do this, it is enough to drink 3-4 times a day decoctions of chamomile, thyme, St. John's wort, and yarrow. They will also help with wheezing and additionally support the immunity of nettles and coltsfoot.