Bronchitis & It's Types & How To Manage It

Bronchitis is a condition in which you may face swelling and irritation in your air passages or bronchi. It may also be the inflammation in the bronchi that produces redness, swelling and pain and as a result blockage of the air ways. There are various types of bronchitis.

Bronchitis can be defined as the inflammation of the bronchial tubes that pass the air into the lungs. When the cells present in the bronchi lining are irritated due to dust or some chemicals, the tiny hair that act as guard stop working and the passage becomes blocked.

These bronchial tubes connect trachea with lungs and thus it results in lack of oxygen to the lungs.

Types of Bronchitis

There are two types of bronchitis – acute and chronic

Acute Bronchitis

Acute bronchitis occurs when the bronchi get infected. It is usually caused by a viral infection and may begin after a case of sore throat and cold. It results in difficulty in breathing due to swelling of bronchial tubes. Mucus is also accumulated in the tubes and hinders in normal breathing.

As the swelling increases it becomes difficult to breath. It spreads in the form of common cold by inhaling the infected air or interacted with infected people.

Chronic Bronchitis

When too much phlegm, that is mucus lined up leading o persist cough and sputum, present on most days a year, it refers to chronic bronchitis. It is often not taken seriously and treated lightly but prolonged duration of this disease may lead to lung failure. Only prompt medical action may help in failure of lungs.

Causes of Bronchitis

Bronchitis can be caused by

• Viruses
• Bacteria
• Smoking, tobacco smoking causes irritation in bronchi
• Breathing certain kinds if chemical
• Environmental irritants such as pollution and hair spray
• Severe outbreak of cough and congestion.

Symptoms of Bronchitis

• Frequent cough
• Shortness of breath
• Extreme fatigue
• Fever
• Thick sputum hard to throw-up
• Chest pain
• Pain in muscles and lungs

Bronchitis Diagnosis

Bronchitis is diagnosed when the symptoms last for longer time period and get worse, such as coughing through out the day. Diagnosis include;

• History and physical exam
• Lung function test, the best test for lung diseases is pulmonary function test (PTF), the most common PTF are Spirometry and Peak flow meter.
• Chest X-ray is also done
• Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) test is also carried out to check the amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the blood.

Treatment Of Bronchitis

The treatment of bronchitis involves;

• Change in lifestyle, the first thing to do is to quit smoking as well as a change in environment.
• Self care and alternate methods, by taking steam and eating spicy foods that help in initiating runny nose and clearing mucus as well as drinking lots of water.
• Oxygen, some people need oxygen to breath easily.

Medication For Bronchitis

Your physician may prescribe medicines either to be inhaled or taken orally.

• Bronchodilators to open the blocked airways. The two main classes of bronchodilators are beta-agonists and anti-cholinergics which when combined may be more effective than when given alone.
• Corticosteroids are given to reduce inflammation and swelling. They are given as either inhalers or to take orally.
• Expectorants are given to stop the persistent cough. It also makes the phlegm easier to be thrown up.
• Antibiotics are also given to treat the disease itself.

It’s better to take proper medication and take good care while bronchitis is in its initial stage so as to prevent any further complication. Steps can be taken to make sure that factors affecting bronchitis are duly avoided.