Definition, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment

Chronic Bronchitis and COPD and Definition, Symptoms,

What does COPD mean? COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. It encompasses two types of disease processes namely chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Quite often, people who suffer from COPD show a combination of features of both disease processes. In lay person's term, COPD means persistent lung disease with features of airway narrowing. To be more specific, bronchitis means inflammation of the bronchi or the larger airways of the lungs whereas emphysema means destruction to the smaller airways and alveoli or airsacs of the lungs. Thus COPD is commonly used to describe chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or both.

What tests are needed to diagnose COPD? Edward waters college spirometry is often performed to diagnose COPD. Bronchodilators (drugs that cause the airway to dilate) are usually added to confirm the diagnosis. If the test result does not show improvement with bronchodilators, then COPD is very likely. The initial stages of this article on Chronic Bronchitis Emphysema proved to be difficult. However, with hard work and perseverance, we have succeeded in providing an interesting and informative article for you to read.

What are the causes of COPD? Smoking. Smoking is the number 1 cause of COPD. More than 90 percent of COPDs are caused by smoking, cigarette or otherwise. About 30 percent of long term smokers will eventually show symptoms of COPD of varying degrees. Other causes include air pollution and inherited enzyme deficiency namely alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.

What are the symptoms of COPD? The two main symptoms are cough and breathlessness. COPD sufferers commonly complain about breathlessness and cough that develop gradually over a long period of time. The cough that COPD sufferer gets are usually productive which means they commonly cough up phlegm. The cough usually comes and goes initially but tends to become persistent as time passes. Breathlessness is usually intermittent and only occurs with exertion in the beginning, however if you continue to smoke, the breathlessness persists even when you are at rest, this can be quite distressing! Other symptoms are chronic sputum production, where you constantly cough up phlegm all day and recurrent chest infection. People with COPD are more prone to chest infection for obvious reasons, as the lining in the lung looses its normal defense mechanism against intruding bugs.

COPD a Common Condition?

It is one of the commonest conditions that require hospital admission during period of flare-ups. According to one epidemiology study in the US, approximately eight million people have chronic bronchitis whereas 2 million people have emphysema. As we can see, chronic bronchitis is more common than emphysema. You may be inquisitive as to where we got the matter for writing this article on Bronchitis Common. Of course through our general knowledge, and the Internet!

What are the treatments of COPD? First of all. Stop smoking. This cannot be stressed enough. Smoking cessation is the first thing you have to do if you want to get better. As the underlying mechanism of COPD is irreversible, american conservatory theater with an aim to slow down it's progress. Drugs that are commonly used to treat COPD include short-acting bronchodilator inhalers (i.e. salbutamol), long-acting bronchodilator inhalers (i.e. tiotropium), steroid inhalers and tablets are all available drugs for treatment of COPD. Again, no treatment is more important that stop smoking. Lung transplant is the last option and should be reserved for people with severe COPD. The value of this composition is achieved if after reading it, your knowledge on Emphysema Chronic Bronchitis is greatly influenced. This is how we find out that the meaning of Emphysema Chronic Bronchitis has really entered you!

COPD sounds like asthma, are they any different? Yes. Both COPD and asthma cause similar symptoms, however, they are different in certain ways. COPD causes permanent damage to the airways. The obstruction is 'fixed', hence it is irreversible in general terms. However, airway narrowing in asthma is intermittent and reverses quite easily with medication. Having said that, both COPD and asthma is common, people who suffer COPD can have an asthmatic component and vice versa. Inspiration can be considered to be one of the key ingredients to writing. Only if one is inspired, can one get to writing on any subject especially like Chronic Bronchitis Emphysema.

• Homeopathy Attack the hack.
  
• For a dry, hacking cough, Aconitum is among the best homeopathic medicines, according to homeopath Dana Ullman.
  
• Others that work well include Antimonium tartaricum, Bryonia, Drosera, Phosphorus, and Spongia.
  
• Which of these medicines a homeopath prescribes depends on your unique symptoms.
  

Home Remedies

Stay hydrated. Drink plenty of fluidssix to eight 8-ounce glasses a day, Dr. Pizzorno advises. Fluids help liquefy bronchial secretions, making them easier to cough up. Most people with bronchitis find warm fluids more soothing than cold.

Red Flags Consult your doctor immediately if you have bronchitis and you develop a fever or you start coughing up bloody, brown, or greenish yellow phlegm. You may have pneumonia, which requires prompt professional treatment. The length of an article is rather immaterial about its response from people. People are more interested in the matter about Bronchitis, and not length.

• Close your eyes again and take three breaths.
  
• If you cough, just accept it and keep breathing.
  
• Open your eyes.
  
• Close your eyes again and take three breaths.
  
• Focus on how your breathing is changing, deepening.
  
• Open your eyes.
  
• "Before prescribing antibiotics, your doctor should take a sputum culture to make sure that you really have a bacterial infection," Dr.
  
• Brauer says.
  
• If the test comes out positive-that is, you do have bronchitis-causing bacteria in your system-then antibiotics are appropriate.
  
• The more interesting an article, the more takers there are for the article.
  
• So we have made it a point to make this article on Treating Bronchitis as interesting as possible!
  
• Other Good Choices Visualization Breathe in, breathe out.
  
• Coughing that you're unable to control makes you anxious.
  
• This leads to shallow breathing, which in turn triggers even more coughing.
  

Naturopathy Make your own cough syrup. Place six chopped white onions in a double boiler. Add 1/2 cup of honey. Slowly simmer this mixture for 2 hours to draw out the onion juice, then strain out the remaining onion material. Take 1 to 2 warm tablespoonfuls of the honey-onion juice mixture every hour or two, Dr. Pizzorno says. As we got to writing on Cough Bronchitis, we found that the time we were given to write was inadequate to write all that there is to write about Cough Bronchitis! So vast are its resources.

• Close your eyes and focus on your breathing, telling yourself that you can get rid of anything that interferes with your normal breathing.
  
• Then open your eyes.
  
• This article has been written with the intention of showing some illumination to the meaning of Cough Bronchitis.
  
• This is so that those who don't know much about Cough Bronchitis can learn more about it.
  

Choose a Cough Medicine

For a dry cough, try an over-the-counter cough suppressant that contains dextromethorphan, Dr. Simons suggests. Both Triaminic DM and Dimetapp DM have dextromethorphan as their active ingredient. But don't use these products if you're bringing up mucus. In that case, you should use an expectorant made with guaifenesin, such as Congestac. People are inclined to think that some matter found here that is pertaining to Treat Bronchitis is false. However, rest is assured, all that is written here is true!

Get Plastered

Did your grandmother believe in mustard plasters? Naturopaths still do. Here's Dr. Pizzorno's recipe: Mix 2 tablespoons of dry black or brown mustard with 6 tablespoons of flour. Add enough water to make a paste. Spread the paste on a cloth, then lay the cloth over your chest. Inhale the vapors for no more than 20 minutes. After that, be sure to remove the plaster. If you leave it on your chest too long, you could develop blisters. With people wanting to learn more about Bronchitis, it has provided the necessary incentive for us to write this interesting article on Bronchitis!

• The following visualization exercise, recommended by Gerald N.
  
• Epstein, M.D., director of the Academy of Integrative Medicine and Mental Imagery in New York City, relieves anxiety and restores normal breathing.
  
• Practice it for a minute or two every few hours.
  

Chinese Medicine

Silence the Wind. Chinese medicine views bronchitis as an invasion of Wind, according to Efrem Korngold, O.M.D., L.Ac. Sometimes the condition is brought on by Wind Cold, which produces a dry cough and whitish mucus. For this type of bronchitis, Dr. Korngold might prescribe ginger. Then there'gaining health from garlic, which is characterized by a thick yellow-green mucus. This type responds well to prescription herbal formulas containing fritillaria bulb and tricosanthis fruit, he says.

Consult an Acupuncturist

The United Nations World Health Organization includes bronchitis in its list of conditions treatable with acupuncture. When treating bronchitis, acupuncturists use Lung 5, which is located inside your elbow, on the upper part of the crease. They also use Lung 6, which is high on the thickest part of the forearm. You can try stimulating these points yourself with acupressure. Using your fingertips, apply steady, penetrating pressure to each point for 3 minutes.

Protect Your Airways

Avoid cigarette smoke, dust, chemical vapors, and other respiratory irritants, Dr. Brauer says. Over-The-Counter Drugs We have not actually resorted to roundabout means of getting our message on Treat a cough/ bronchitis naturally to you. All the matter here is genuine and to the point.

Repeat the above steps, this time focusing on breathing from your diaphragm rather than from your upper chest. Aromatherapy Get a whiff of relief. Herbalist/aromatherapist Kathy Keville, coauthor of Aromatherapy: A Complete Guide to the Healing Art, recommends the following essential oils for bronchitis: clove bud, fir (including balsam and pine), ravensara, and sweet inula. Add 3 to 5 drops of the essential oil of your choice to a bowl of hot water and inhale deeply. Or add 3 to 15 drops to a comfortably hot bath and step in for a soothing soak. Avoid using clove in the bath, as it may irritate your skin.

Chronic Bronchitis

That case, there's something that you can do to increase the effectiveness of any antibiotics you're given: Pair them with bromelain, says Alan Gaby, M.D. An enzyme found in pineapple, bromelain helps antibiotics get into your cells. He suggests either eating more pineapple or taking a 250-milligram bromelain supplement with your antibiotics. A lot of imagination is required in writing. People may think that writing on Treat Bronchitis is very easy; on the contrary, knowledge and imagination has to be merged to create an interesting composition.

Medical Measures

A study conducted by Ralph Gonzalez, M.D., of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, found that doctors prescribe antibiotics to two-thirds of the people whom they treat for bronchitis. But more than 90 percent of all cases of bronchitis result from viral infections, and antibiotics can't kill viruses. These drugs are effective only against bacteria, which cause comparatively few cases of bronchitis.

It's Dry, Humidify

Why and how i quit smoking and can trigger coughing fits. "At night, run a vaporizer while you sleep," Dr. Simons suggests. During the day, take hot, steamy showers. It is the normal style of writers to add additional information with the intention of lengthening the length of an article. However, we have provided a short and concise article with only required information on Treating Bronchitis.

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