Bronchitis can be either acute or chronic,
depending on how long it lasts and how serious the damage.
Acute bronchitis is generally caused by an
infectious agent (like a virus or bacteria)
or an environmental pollutant (like tobacco smoke) that attacks the
mucous membranes within the windpipe or air passages in your respiratory tract,
leaving them red and inflamed.
Bronchitis often develops in the wake of sinus infection, cold, or other
respiratory infection, and can last anywhere form three days to three
weeks. Coughing is often the first sign
of bronchitis, and it may be accompanied by chills, low-grade fever, sore
throat, and muscle aches.
Treatment includes:
- Breathing air from a steam vaporizer
- Bronchodilators (prescription drugs that open up the bronchial passages)
- Antibiotics
- Aspirin or acetaminophen (for fever and aches)
- Expectorants (to thin mucus and promote a more productive cough)
- Bed rest
- Drinking plenty of liquids
- Not smoking
Full recovery from acute bronchitis can take up to
four weeks. If acute symptoms last longer than a week or get worse, see a
doctor. You may be developing pneumonia.
In chronic bronchitis, the airways produce too much
mucus, enough to cause a daily cough that brings up the mucus, for as long as
three months or more, for more than two years in a row. Many people – most of
them men – develop emphysema (destruction of the air sacs) along with chronic
bronchitis.
Because chronic bronchitis
results in abnormal air exchange in the lung and causes permanent damage to the
respiratory tract, it’s much more serious than acute bronchitis.
Used with permission from A
Year of Health Hints by Don R Powell, PHD and the American Institute for
Preventive Medicine, copyright 2010. www.healthylife.com
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