Contents
Bronchitis: Treatment
What you should and shouldn’t do if you catch a virus and come down with acute bronchitis. As a rule, acute bronchitis begins with symptoms that resemble a common cold: fatigue, sore throat, then cough, fever, headaches. Some of the symptoms go away in 2-3 days, and the cough can last for several weeks. How to help your body? Practical advice is shared by Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor of the Department of Phthisiology and Pulmonology of the Faculty of Medicine, Moscow State Medical University named after Yevdokimov, Director General of the Center for Respiratory Medicine Andrey Malyavin.
1. Do not use antibiotics
Bronchitis is an acute infectious viral disease. I emphasize, viral. It cannot be treated with antibiotics.
Coughing is the body’s defensive reaction. When mucociliary clearance (a cleaning mechanism constantly acting in the respiratory system) fails, the cough defense mechanism is activated.
3. Make your cough productive
There is no dry and wet cough, which is often used by ordinary people. There is a productive and unproductive cough. In acute bronchitis, mucus, which is removed from the body during normal mucociliary clearance, becomes viscous, and its amount increases. A traffic jam is created. Therefore, the cough must be made productive – to liquefy the phlegm (with the help of mucolytic drugs) and evacuate the accumulated mucus with the help of a cough.
4. Use anti-inflammatory drugs as needed
Acute bronchitis is inflammation, that is, the body’s response to an infectious agent, which is aimed at removing that agent. In the process of inflammation, a large number of biologically active substances are formed, which provide blood flow, edema, irritation, and cell death – this is a cytokine explosion. When it is excessive, anti-inflammatory drugs are used. In this case, it is better not to use hormonal ones. The most famous non-steroidal ones are aspirin, paracetamol. But, unfortunately, they only work with one biochemical branch. Now there is another drug with the active substance fenspiride, which acts at a higher level, eliminating all the violent inflammatory reaction.
5. Do not go to a hot bath
At a temperature, you don’t need to go to the bathhouse at all. Avoid the sauna too. The Russian bath is better in terms of effect, but the maximum temperature in it should not be higher than 90 degrees. A good option is hammam. Here both the temperature is low and the humidity is necessary.
Only buy an inhaler. Do not do it the old fashioned way over steam, you can burn the mucous membrane. The steam temperature during inhalation should not be 100 degrees, but 43. This is how the human body works. Use plain clean water without any flavorings. If mineral, then alkaline – the content of minerals is not more than 2 g / l.
This is a kind of mini steam inhalation. In addition, tea contains theophyllines, which will help the body. If you use honey, be careful – it is a strong allergen.
8. Do not use mustard plasters
In acute bronchitis, mustard plasters have no effect. They only enhance local blood circulation, nothing more. The bronchi will not warm up if you put something on your skin. A good effect is given by UHF – the effect on tissues with an alternating electromagnetic field of ultra-high frequency. A kind of heat exposure.
9. Check your child for asthma
There are no fundamental differences in adults and children with acute bronchitis. But be sure to check your child for asthma to rule out this disease.
10. Don’t count on recovery in a week
The duration of treatment for acute bronchitis is 3-4 weeks. The cough does not go away quickly, even if you are effectively treated.