How To Treat Bronchial Diseases

Introduction

Bronchial diseases are the diseases that affect the bronchial airways making it difficult to breath. The bronchi have the responsibility of carrying air into and out of the lungs. Bronchial diseases are very common and can be fatal if not treated on time. There are different bronchial diseases that have different causes like viral infections or bacterial infections. The bronchial diseases cause the blockage and inflammation of the airways or total damage all together. 

Step 1

Types of bronchial diseases:

• Asthma: it is triggered by allergies, certain medications and stress and is characterized by the swelling and narrowing of the bronchial tubes and increased mucus. It can cause severe attacks or breathing difficulties.
• Bronchitis: it involves the inflammation of the large bronchial airway that leads to the lungs. It can be acute or chronic. Acute bronchitis is caused by a virus and it attacks children, smokers, old people and the people with a compromised immune system. Chronic bronchitis is a recurring condition that is defined by excess mucus production and frequent coughing.
• Bronchiectasis: this is condition whereby an infection damages the airways causing the widening and scarring of the bronchial tubes. When the structure of bronchial tubes changes, they are unable to clear mucus from the lungs which leads to serious lung infections. These lung infections destroy the bronchial tubes and reduce their ability to exchange air normally.
• Bronchial pneumonia: it is caused by a viral or bacterial infection that affects the bronchial tubes and the lungs. The bronchi are infected leading to fever, deep coughing and chills.

Step 2

Symptoms of the bronchial diseases:

• coughing
• fever
• fatigue
• chills
• spitting up mucus
• regular colds and flu's
• wheezing
• chest pain
• increased thickness of finger nails and toe nails
• shortness of breath
• sleeping difficulty
• chest tightness

 

Step 3

Most bronchial diseases cause secretion of additional mucus in the body and also inflames the airway. This makes the bronchial tubes to clog and the lungs to congest. Taking a lot of water when suffering from the bronchial diseases prevents the body from dehydrating, assists the body in excretion of the toxins, germs and bacteria that cause illnesses and allows the body organs to work at their best to fight the infections.

 

Step 4

When suffering from the bronchial diseases, the body works extra hard to fight the infections. Hence, proper and adequate rest should be recommended to help the body cope with the extra work it has to do and also speed up the healing process. 

Step 5

The following are medications that are administered to treat bronchial diseases:

• Taking antibiotics: Antibiotics are known for treating the bacterial infections fro many years. The doctor will prescribe the antibiotics depending on the type of bronchial disease that an individual is suffering from. For example in a case of bronchiectasis which is caused by bacterial infections.
• Anti-Cholinergics: these are used to treat asthma and bronchitis. They can take time to give results but they provide long term protection.
• Beta-Adrenergic MDIs: this is an inhaler that is used to treat inflammation of the bronchial airway. It does so by stimulating a certain protein that is in the cell membrane to enlarge the airways.
• Corticosteroids: these are anti-inflammatory medications that are used to treat bronchial diseases like asthma that inflame the bronchi airways. They reduce the number of white blood cells traveling to the injured areas and the proteins that cause the inflammation.
• Mast Cell Mediator Inhibitors: mast cells are cells that are involved in the release of substances that increase secretion and production of mucus and make the bronchial airway smaller. This happens when there is an injured tissue or foreign substance. This medication fights the inflammation, reduces the amount of mucus and prevents the bronchi airways from getting smaller.

 

Bronchial diseases can be very fatal and therefore, it would be wise to aim at preventing them rather than treating them. The following are ways in which the bronchial diseases can be prevented:

• avoiding smoking whether secondhand or cessation 
• getting a flu vaccine would also be necessary 
• avoiding congested areas 
• avoiding direct contact with the sick people. 
• people who are above 60 years should have a pneumonia shot.

Comments

Most Recent Articles