General description of the disease
This is an infectious disease, which is provoked by Koch sticks or tuberculosis sticks. Tuberculosis bacteria are very resistant to external factors. They can survive for a long time in soil, humid environments, on contaminated surfaces, and are even resistant to disinfectants (for example, tuberculin sticks remain on the pages of books for about 4 months).
Methods of penetration of mycobacteria and the causes of tuberculosis
Most of all, people with weak immunity are prone to tuberculosis. Most often, infection occurs by airborne droplets, at the moment when the patient coughs, sneezes, speaks, sings, laughs. When a healthy person communicates with a sick person, there is a high risk of contracting tuberculosis. After all, a person involuntarily takes a breath and at the same time draws in Koch’s sticks. Also, tuberculosis can be contracted through direct contact: during a kiss, through the use of objects that the patient previously used.
It is worth noting that mycobacteria of this disease cannot develop outside a living organism, but they retain their abilities for a long time. You can also get sick through eating food from animals with tuberculosis (through milk, meat).
Most often, people who suffer from tuberculosis have a low body resistance to various infections, who have an immunodeficiency. People who are malnourished, live in poor conditions, abuse alcohol, and use drugs are also at risk.
Tuberculosis can be caused by the use of hormonal drugs, such as the use of corticosteroids, which are used to treat bronchial asthma and other diseases.
Forms of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis should be divided into 2 main forms: pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis… It is for these 2 types that the manifestations of the disease should be considered.
Tuberculosis can be closed and open form… In the presence of an open form, Koch’s bacillus is secreted with the patient’s sputum, which can be easily identified during a routine analysis. A patient with this form of tuberculosis is dangerous to others. As for the closed form, it is difficult to identify it. It can only be found during sowing, when the stick germinates there.
Pulmonary tuberculosis symptoms
Pulmonary tuberculosis is the most common type of this disease. It can be distinguished on several grounds.
Let’s start with the main symptoms… In adult patients, there is increased fatigue, low performance, constant malaise and weakness in the morning. In children, pulmonary tuberculosis can manifest as poor sleep, decreased appetite, low concentration, and difficulty in completing school curriculum.
As for the general appearance of patients, they are thin, quickly lose weight, pale, facial features are sharpened.
The next sign is temperature… The body temperature rises slightly, up to 37,5 or 38 degrees Celsius. The temperature jumps in the evening or at night, while the person is very chilly, there is increased sweating. This is the main difference between tuberculosis and bronchitis, pneumonia, acute respiratory infections. With these listed diseases, the temperature rises sharply to a high level and can also drop rapidly. With tuberculosis, the temperature is kept for a long period of time.
Having a cough – constant and main symptom of pulmonary tuberculosis. In the initial period of the disease, the cough is dry and persistent, mainly disturbing the patients at night or in the morning. As the disease progresses, the cough becomes moist, accompanied by a large amount of sputum. During pulmonary tuberculosis, the cough does not stop. Naturally, with other inflammatory processes there is also a cough, but it is not as long as with tuberculosis.
Coughing up blood… This is the most important symptom of pulmonary tuberculosis. Blood in the sputum appears after severe coughing fits. With an advanced form of tuberculosis, bleeding of the lungs may begin or, as they say, blood may go through the throat. Such a condition is very dangerous for the patient’s life, therefore, it requires an immediate appeal to medical workers.
Depending on the severity and location of lung lesions, there are: focal, disseminated, miliary, infiltrative, cavernous, cirrhotic, fibro-cavernous tuberculosis, caseous pneumonia and tuberculoma.
Extrapulmonary tuberculosis symptoms
The tubercle bacillus can affect not only the lungs, but all other organs as well. With this type of course, it is difficult to determine tuberculosis, because in this case there are many accompanying symptoms that can be confused with other diseases of individual organs.
Allocate tuberculosis:
- joints, bones and spine – with this type of tuberculosis, patients have severe pain in the lesions, limited movement, the presence of pathological, specific fractures;
- brain – such tuberculosis develops within 2 weeks, while it most often develops in people with a low level of immunity (in HIV-infected and diabetic patients). In the first week, the patient’s temperature rises, sleep is disturbed, frequent outbursts of anger and irritation occur. In the second week, there are severe headaches, vomiting. The meninges are irritated during the first week. Brain damage manifests itself in the form of tension in the neck muscles, pain in the back with straightened legs, while pressing the head to the chest, tilting the head while lying down. Disorders of the nervous system are observed.
- digestive organs – with this type of tuberculosis, constipation or frustration occurs, there are severe pains in the abdomen, bloating, there may be intestinal obstruction and bloody discharge with feces;
- genitourinary system – tubercle bacillus mainly affects the kidneys, while the patient’s temperature rises, back hurts, urination occurs along with blood discharge. The urethra, ureters, and bladder may also be affected. In such cases, urinary retention occurs.
- skin – with this type of tuberculosis, nodules and seals appear under the skin, which eventually increase in size and tear the skin, releasing a white thick liquid.
Useful foods for tuberculosis
To effectively get rid of mycobacteria, it is necessary to adhere to a therapeutic diet, which is aimed at increasing immunity, normalizing weight, appetite, sleep, regenerating damaged tissues and restoring metabolic processes and impaired functions of one or another organ.
Nutrition is prescribed depending on the site of infection, metabolic processes, the patient’s weight, and also, depending on the stage, the form of tuberculosis.
Depending on the patient’s regimen, he is assigned food with a certain calorie content for each kilogram of weight. For completely bedridden patients, 35 kcal should be consumed per kilogram; for patients who spend about 6 hours in bed and have short walks, 40 kcal will be required; for active patients (3 hours lying in the afternoon plus training and plus participation in the labor process), food should have 45 kcal; but for workers from 3-6 hours a day with a break of 2 hours (during working hours), 50 kcal per 1 kg of body weight will already be required. This increased calorie content is due to high energy expenditure, which is lost due to constant feverish conditions.
Due to the fact that with tuberculosis there is an increased breakdown of protein, food must make up for its deficiency. During the period of the normal course of the disease, one kilogram of body weight needs one and a half grams of protein, and during the period of exacerbation of the disease, protein consumption should reach up to two and a half grams of protein. It should be noted that half of it must be of animal origin. Protein is best replenished by consuming milk, cottage cheese, fish, meat, eggs.
To improve the metabolism of the amino acids tryptophan, arginine and phenylalanine, it is necessary to eat foods with these amino acids: feta cheese, hard cheese, cottage cheese, pork and beef liver, chicken, turkey, mushrooms (dried white), squid, soy, cocoa, peas, chum caviar. These amino acids have antibiotic properties.
In addition, the body needs to be saturated with essential fatty acids (you need to eat vegetable fats and butter), vitamins of groups A, B, C, E, calcium (you can get it by using cottage cheese, cabbage, legumes, lettuce, raisins), phosphorus, magnesium and iron.
With tuberculosis of the digestive tract, the patient needs to eat grated light soups, weak broths, steamed dishes, cereals, grated vegetables (pumpkin, carrots, zucchini, potatoes), jelly, jelly, rosehip decoction, juices, non-acidic cottage cheese and not spicy cheese, cutlets steamed meatballs.
When the nasopharynx and larynx are affected by a tubercle bacillus, it is important that all food is in a liquid, grated, mushy form. Uncool mashed potatoes, tea or coffee with milk, just milk, milk porridge, frozen broths and strained jelly are well suited for consumption.
In case of tuberculosis damage to joints and bones, it is necessary to replenish the body with calcium, phosphorus and fish oil.
When coughing up blood, you need to equalize the water-salt balance, drink jelly, fruit drinks, jelly, tomato juice, water with lemon juice, eat liquid semolina.
In general, patients should take food in a calm, pleasant environment, always in a ventilated area. Meals should be fractional, the number of meals should be up to 5 times.
The diet of patients with tuberculosis is based on the diet of table No. 11.
Traditional medicine
- In a saucepan with hot milk, add a tablespoon of internal fat of goose, pig and Indian black tea, add 250 grams of dry currants and raspberries, 2 glasses of vodka, a large handful of aloe leaves. Cook for two hours with the lid closed over low heat. After the end of cooking, leave the broth to infuse for an hour, then filter it and add half a liter of honey (it is better to take lime honey, but in no case should you boil it – it will lose its beneficial properties and turn into poison). Take such a decoction one tablespoon three times a day before meals (20-30 minutes).
- With tuberculosis, you need to eat pig lard with tea. To do this, grate 200 grams of bacon and 3 green apples, put in a bowl and simmer over low heat. At this point, beat 12 chicken yolks with a glass of sugar until white. After grinding, add 200 grams of grated black natural chocolate to the eggs. Pour over the melted bacon with apples with the resulting mixture and mix thoroughly, then filter. Leave to cool. Spread the resulting butter on bread and eat with tea.
- It is useful to chew propolis, inhale the vapors of garlic and horseradish.
- Phytotherapy is also an effective method for tuberculosis. It is useful to drink decoctions from gooseberry leaves, pine buds, chaga (birch mushroom), coltsfoot, agave, medicinal Veronica, knotweed, nettle leaves and roots, aloe, St. John’s wort, agave.
Dangerous and harmful foods for tuberculosis
- with tuberculosis intestines: smoked meats, canned food, pickles, lard, raw eggs and vegetables, kvass, soda, black bread, spicy, whole milk, any cold food, fatty meats;
- with tuberculosis kidneys: radish, horseradish, mustard, pepper, alcoholic beverages;
- with tuberculosis larynx and nasopharynx it is forbidden to eat food that irritates the mucous membrane – fermented, salty, spicy, pickled, too hot or cold dishes, all spices;
- with tuberculosis liver, it is necessary to exclude the eating of egg yolks, meat and fish of fatty varieties, coffee, smoked meats, spicy, muffin.
For any type of tuberculosis, overeating and excess fluid are contraindicated. Also, during the treatment, it is worth excluding any fat (culinary, beef, pork) from consumption, avoiding cakes, pastries with pastry cream, fatty meat and fish.
Attention!
The administration is not responsible for any attempt to use the information provided, and does not guarantee that it will not harm you personally. The materials cannot be used to prescribe treatment and make a diagnosis. Always consult your specialist doctor!