Chronic Bronchitis: Definition, 9 Symptoms, and How To Treat It – Bronchitis is an inflammation that occurs in the airways or bronchial tract. Bronchus is a channel that is connected to the right and left lung. This part of the respiratory tract is branch-shaped so it is also called Throat branch.
When your airways are inflamed or infected, air that can flow in and out of the lungs becomes reduced. When inflammation occurs too, it also creates mucus or thick phlegm that makes you cough because it tries to remove it.
What is chronic bronchitis?
Chronic bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchial tract, which is the respiratory tract that carries air to the lungs. People with bronchitis often experience a persistent cough that produces thick, colored mucus. Bronchitis may be acute bronchitis or chronic bronchitis.
The American Lung Association (ALA) defines chronic bronchitis as a cough-phlegm attack that appears during most days of the month, three months in a year, for two consecutive years without any other fundamental conditions that explain the cough itself. If suffering from chronic bronchitis, you are also potentially suffered to emphysema.
Chronic bronchitis is one type of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). The inflamed bronchial tract will produce a lot of mucus, and it causes cough and breathing difficulties.
How common is chronic bronchitis?
This health condition is very common. Chronic bronchitis affect more women than men, and can affect patients of any age. It can be controlled by reducing your risk factor. Please discuss with your doctor for more information.
Symptoms of chronic bronchitis
The main characteristic of chronic bronchitis is the persistent cough with phlegm. People with bronchitis often have a stubborn cough that produces thick mucus that is yellow, white, or green. Generally, chronic bronchitis is experienced by older people aged 40 years and above.
Besides, persistent cough, some other symptoms that can be seen if you have chronic bronchitis are:
Sound on the Breath
Another sound of a wheezing that occurs in asthma symptoms. The sound that arises from the symptoms of bronchitis disease sounds like a “Krok krok” sound. When this condition is found, it will trigger the onset of bronchitis. Triggering a difficult breath and removing the sound is essentially triggered by some things such as the sufferer of bronchitis that are too tired or pollutants and bacteria that are polluted in the air.
To overcome this, the sufferer of bronchitis disease, especially chronic bronchitis is not recommended to do excess activity and always keep the cleanse and health of the body. Because this disease will be very dangerous if not immediately handled or resolved quickly.
8 Other symptoms
- Shortness of breath.
- Chills
- Fever
- Fatigue
- Breath that smells
- Chest Pain
- Blockage of sinus cavity
In the stage of chronic bronchitis, the lack of oxygen in the blood can lead to bluish skin and lips, as well as swelling of the legs and ankles.
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How to treat chronic bronchitis?
To relieve the condition of patients with chronic bronchitis, there are some simple steps that can be done, among others:
Stopping smoking habits
One factor that could increase the risk of chronic bronchitis is smo**king. About 9 out of 10 people affected to chronic bronchitis are those commonly exposed by cigarette smo**ke or smo**kers. If smo**kers have a long (chronic) cough, it may be a sign of the lungs experiencing damage. It is worth noting that the damage may not be fully healed.
Exercise regularly
The advantage of doing regular exercise is to strengthen the muscles that can help the respiratory process. If you want to do a special exercise to improve the quality of your lungs, a lung rehabilitation program can be an option. This exercise involves physiotherapist. To find out more clearly about the program, consult a doctor or a hospital.
Keep Room Moisture
Patients with chronic bronchitis often experience shortness of breath, so make the home room temperature more comfortable. One way is to use the room moisturizer or a humidifier, especially in the bedroom. Also make sure that the room humidifiers used are always cleaned regularly.
Enough time to rest
Patients with chronic bronchitis basically need more energy to breathe. It can even spend 10 times more energy than people who have healthy lungs. For that, it needs to be adequate, to stay healthy, energetic, and avoid fatigue.
Keep your weight ideal
Being overweight can make a person’s difficulty moving, difficulty exercising, and shortness of breath. Especially for patients with chronic bronchitis, too thin body is also not good. Have the ideal body weight by consuming healthy food, such as fruits, vegetables, grains, low fat meat, fish, chicken, dairy products, and exercise regularly.
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