Beating Bronchitis

Bronchitis is not a fashionable disease. When I was young there were many people who used to suffer from it every year and at times during the year. What can we do about it? How can we prevent it? Can we stop it recurring once we have had the misfortune of suffering from it?

In this e-Book I am concentrating on the people who are most vulnerable to bronchitis and that is those who are pregnant and the young. I am not trying to scare you or your family but I am trying to pass on some straightforward advice to avoid any continuing problems of bronchitis.

What is bronchitis in general terms? First let's understand some jargon. The tubes that are in the body to take air from the nose, where we breathe it in, to the lungs, where we process it, are collectively called the bronchial tree.

When the tubes in the bronchial tree are inflamed or infected or both they produce a thick mucus. This thick mucus is held inside the bronchial tree and it becomes very difficult to breathe. Doctors diagnose chronic bronchitis only when it strikes on two successive years and is evidenced by sputum and a cough for at least three months in each of those two years.

Bronchitis has two types and you should not let the terms frighten you. Acute Bronchitis is short term and brought on by a virus or bacteria. Chronic Bronchitis on the other hand is long term and is brought on by smoking and pollution in the environment that irritates the airways.

Pregnancy

Every woman's body faces many changes during pregnancy. The oxygen and nutrients she once consumed only for herself, and her well-being, now must be processed for herself and her unborn baby. Doctors treating a pregnant woman with any sort of respiratory difficulty becomes a conundrum for her doctors. The doctors have a series of balancing acts to perform in treating the woman and caring for her baby.

Doctors must consider the physiological and anatomical alterations that the woman goes through during a pregnancy. They must strike a balance between the woman's needs and the needs of the fetus. They must also recognize that there is a greater vulnerability to disease for a pregnant woman. The doctor's management of a pregnant woman with bronchitis is made more complex with the unborn child and that individual's needs not to receive some of the medication intended for the mother alone.

As the pregnancy progresses and the uterus rises there is the risk of any respiratory problem getting worse. The reason for this is straightforward in that the uterus tends to squeeze the diaphragm and decreases the usable space for the lungs and the size of the thoracic cavity. This process of squeezing happens just when lung function is essential to meet the growing oxygen needs of the fetus and the mother.

You may have noticed in your own pregnancy, or those of your friends, that pregnant women tend to have nosebleeds and stuffed up noses. The reason for this is there is an increase in the level of estrogen in the body. The estrogen causes a number of different changes in the woman's body. For example there will be an increased amount of blood (hyperemia), increased activity of the glands (glandular hyperactivity), as well as increase in the levels of mucopolysaccharide and more phagocytic activity.

All the changes we have mentioned are to care for the metabolic needs of the unborn child. The doctor in charge needs to be told if there are any changes to the respiratory health of the mother. The doctor will need to balance the needs of the mother and child in all of their care and management.

Watch out for the signs of bronchitis. Some are very general, and some others can only be confirmed by a doctor:

* Wheezing

* Labored breathing which is worsened by physical exertion, called dyspnea

* Cough with sputum or mucus

* Low grade fever

* Abnormal lung sounds that can be heard in the lungs through a stethoscope, called rales

* Fatigue (what pregnancy is without it

* Chest aches