Contents:
- Medical Video: Bronchitis: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments - Dr. My-Huyen Tran
- Overview of bronchitis
- Duration of treatment based on the type of bronchitis
- Acute bronchitis
- Chronic bronchitis
- Things that need to be done while undergoing bronchitis treatment
Medical Video: Bronchitis: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments - Dr. My-Huyen Tran
Treatment of bronchitis can help relieve symptoms that make you uncomfortable. However, patients often wonder how long does it take until the treatment of bronchitis is declared complete? Does it have to be a lifetime? Well, the duration of treatment depends on the type of bronchitis you experience. Here's the review.
Overview of bronchitis
Bronchitis is inflammation that occurs in the bronchial tubes, which are tubes that carry air to and from your lungs. If the bronchial tube is inflamed, the inner layer will swell and thicken. This will cause the respiratory tract to narrow.
This inflammation also secretes excess mucus that lines and clogs the airways. As a result, people with bronchitis will usually cough as a way to expel phlegm which blocks the respiratory tract.
Bronchitis itself consists of acute bronchitis and chronic bronchitis. Both have almost the same symptoms. The most striking difference from the two is seen from the period of occurrence. The following are various symptoms that arise due to bronchitis, namely:
- Coughs.
- The presence of phlegm which is usually clear, grayish yellow, or green. Even in rare cases can be accompanied by blood.
- Fatigue.
- Hard to breathe.
- Fever and chills
- The chest feels painful and uncomfortable due to persistent coughing.
- Wheezing when breathing.
Duration of treatment based on the type of bronchitis
Viewed from the type, bronchitis is divided into two, namely acute bronchitis and chronic bronchitis. Both types of bronchitis have significant differences, including the duration of treatment. Here's the difference.
Acute bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is a temporary inflammation of the airways that will cause coughing with phlegm which lasts several days to weeks. Acute bronchitis can affect people of all ages, but most attack children under five. Usually, symptoms of acute bronchitis such as mild headaches and muscle aches will improve in about a week.
Although the symptoms have improved somewhat, bronchitis treatment to relieve cough is usually done for 3 weeks.
Chronic bronchitis
Chronic bronchitis is a type of inflammation with a more severe cough from acute bronchitis. This disease belongs to the type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which mostly affects adults over 40 years. People with chronic bronchitis usually experience coughing every day which lasts for a minimum of 3 months and continues for a number of years.
Usually, people with chronic bronchitis can experience recurrence for at least 2 consecutive years. Therefore, the treatment lasts as long as the symptoms of bronchitis are still quite strong, which can be in a matter of months to years.
Some people with very serious cases of chronic bronchitis even need bronchitis treatment for the rest of their lives.
Things that need to be done while undergoing bronchitis treatment
In the treatment of bronchitis, doctors usually give you medication that has been adapted to the symptoms and types of bronchitis that you experience. These drugs include pain relievers, bronchodilators or drugs that can help open the airways, antibiotics, expectorant drugs to help expel or thin the phlegm, until stimulant suppressants cough if there is no mucus in your respiratory tract.
In addition, the doctor will also ask you to rest a lot and drink lots of water. Quoted from WebMD, resting the body and drinking lots of water can help relieve acute bronchitis quickly.
Not only that, combining treatment with applying a healthy lifestyle is also one of the important things that need to be done. Here are some important things you must do to reduce the risk of the severity of bronchitis that you experience, namely:
- Quit smoking.
- Avoid things that can irritate the lungs such as air pollution, breathing cigarette smoke, and dust.
- Use a mask when traveling outside the home.
- Wash hands with alcohol-based hand sanitizers to reduce the risk of being infected with a virus.
- Have a healthy diet to prevent lung infections.
- Exercise lightly regularly to avoid obesity which can result in an increasingly difficult and severe breathing process.
Duration of treatment depends on the type of bronchitis you experience. In addition, the regular consumption of drugs prescribed by doctors and also the adoption of healthy lifestyles also affects the healing process.
