Hello! I have been a doctor for 21 years. My name is Georgy Olegovich Sapego. In this article I will talk about chronic bronchitis, and I will explain how money is pulled out of you with lies about the causes of this bronchitis.
Correcting the neighbor's bullshit again. The topic is serious, therefore, such publications cannot be left without a review.
The author writes that viruses or bacteria cause bronchitis, it is treated with antitussive or antihistamines, but without antibiotics.
Bronchitis can indeed be caused by viruses and bacteria. Viruses are not treated with antibiotics, but bacteria are killed with antibiotics. The author, you see, heard something about the treatment of acute bronchitis.
Acute bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is a common cold with a cough. It is caused by viruses, so the common cold is often left untreated with antibiotics. But this is not always the case.
If bronchitis is found in a person over 65, and even if he has diabetes or other immune problems, then the doctor will easily prescribe an antibiotic to such a patient. Just in case. This is normal.
Antihistamines are not used to treat bronchitis. And antitussives are used very rarely.
The next is the most interesting.
The author writes that if acute bronchitis is not properly treated, it will turn into chronic.
But this is already a very harmful lie. A whole system of selling unnecessary drugs and unnecessary medical services is built on this lie.
Acute bronchitis is not treated at all. You need to wait 3 weeks, and if after that the cough remains, then only then will they take a chest X-ray, check for asthma or acid reflux and treat something.
And all these 3 weeks you need to control yourself, endure and not be treated. Because the treatment is often worse.
The fact is that people love expectorants for acute bronchitis. It doesn't make sense, but people want them.
Expectorants
Expectorants cause the bronchi to secrete mucus. The bronchi will secrete this mucus exactly as much as expectorants take. This can last for a week, month, year, or ten years.
Liquid phlegm will flood the lungs and the body will cough to expel the mucus.
If the patient is persistent enough to take expectorants all his life, then the cough will continue all his life. Have you thought about it?
So, if you take expectorants all your life, you will have to constantly live with a cough. But this is not chronic bronchitis. This is the usual action of expectorants.
Chronic bronchitis is different.
What is chronic bronchitis
Chronic bronchitis usually occurs in smokers. Nicotine, tar and other nasty things from tobacco get into the lungs and spoil them.
In our bronchi there are cilia that constantly move and throw dust, debris and microbes upstairs. Therefore, there is normally no infection in the lungs.
Tar and other nasty tobacco damages the cilia. They die, and "bald spots" remain on the surface of the bronchi. This is not a hole in the bronchus, but, roughly speaking, just a flat and smooth place. There are no cilia on it, and any debris sticks to this bald spot. Sometimes just dirt sticks. Sometimes they are microbes.
If microbes accumulate there, then together they will break through our defenses, and inflammation will begin. There will be a cough with purulent sputum, the body temperature will rise.
The more smoking has damaged your lungs, the more likely you will be coughing. If a person coughs 3 months a year for two years in a row, then this is chronic bronchitis. They do not recover from him.
If you quit smoking in time, then exacerbations will be rare and mild. If you do not quit smoking, then everything will get worse.
Obstructive bronchitis
Many people cough and are used to it. Everything would be fine, but our bronchi do not like constant infection. From constant inflammation, the bronchi become narrow. It's like a scar at the site of a wound. It doesn't have to be sleek and pretty. Just as a scar will cut the skin, so in chronic bronchitis, inflammation can tighten the bronchi.
Air does not pass well through the narrow bronchi, and shortness of breath begins. The person is short of air. This is called obstructive bronchitis. It occurs in about one in four people with common chronic bronchitis.
This is not asthma that can be treated and airflow restored. With obstructive bronchitis, the narrowed bronchi will no longer expand back.
Have you presented? Have you seen grandfather coughing in the movies with an oxygen cylinder on wheels? This is exactly what obstructive bronchitis leads to.
So it's not about the cold, it's about smoking. Quit smoking!
How do you like the story? If you liked it, then like it and subscribe to my channel. Check out my articles on related topics:
How to assess your risk of life-threatening asthma
Dangerous lies about bronchial asthma
How to behave outdoors if you have asthma
