There is no diagnosis of "lingering bronchitis" in medical reference books. So doctors call the condition during which bronchitis in adults is not treated, and the person suffers from coughing for a long time. Protracted bronchitis in adults, the treatment of symptoms of which will be described in this article, is also often called chronic. You can learn more about this pathology below.
Reasons
There are several reasons why the disease does not leave a person for a long time. These include the following:
- Illiterate therapy for acute bronchitis.
- Non-compliance by the patient with the recommendations of a specialist, incorrect dosage of funds, as well as the duration of treatment.
- Treatment started later than necessary.
- Ignoring symptoms for a long time, as well as self-treatment of bronchitis.
Very often, a protracted course of bronchitis in adults is observed precisely because of self-treatment of the acute form. There is now a lot of information on the Internet that people use to treat a particular disease. Bronchitis is no exception.
Another common cause of prolonged bronchitis in adults, the treatment of which will be discussed below, is an interrupted course of therapy. Having received the prescriptions and recommendations of the doctor, the patient begins treatment, and when he begins to feel better, he stops it. However, at the moment, bronchitis is still not cured, and it will remind of itself with new symptoms.
Additional factors
Specialists also identify some factors that contribute to the protracted form of the disease. These should include:
- Alcohol abuse.
- Tobacco smoking.
- Hazardous work.
- Too damp climate.
Symptomatics
Before treating chronic bronchitis in adults, it is necessary to diagnose the disease. But how to identify this disease?
As you know, bronchitis is provoked by a bacterial infection. If the patient does not recover after using the prescribed medications, then this indicates that these drugs were selected incorrectly. Seek medical advice if symptoms persist for 3 weeks or more. The main onesare:
- Loss of appetite, weakness, fatigue for no apparent reason. These are signs of a weakened immune system as well as microbial intoxication.
- Debilitating, persistent cough that appears against the background of difficult expectoration.
- Neurasthenia, pleurisy, soreness in the sternum.
- Shortness of breath, which is a constant companion of protracted bronchitis.
Stages of the disease
As mentioned earlier, treatment of chronic bronchitis in adults should be carried out only after diagnosis. To do this, the specialist examines the patient, collects an anamnesis, and then prescribes certain procedures. For example, bronchoscopy allows the doctor to see how much the inflammatory process has spread in the respiratory system. In the case of a chronic form of the disease, the bronchi are affected at all levels. Speaking about how to cure protracted bronchitis, therapy will be prescribed based on the stage of the inflammatory process. As a rule, inflammation is divided into 3 stages:
- Small changes in the bronchial mucosa.
- The mucous membrane is bright red and dense, bleeding and suppuration are possible.
- The color of the mucosa becomes cyanotic, the epithelium bleeds, a large amount of pus is formed.
If it is necessary to do bronchography, then the bronchial tree is initially sanitized, otherwise the accumulated pus will not allow the specialist to consider small bronchi. In chronic bronchitis, an x-ray will show a change in patternlungs, as well as increasing tissue transparency.
Features of therapy
If a diagnosis of protracted bronchitis has been made, then it is impossible to carry out therapy without drugs. Quite often, specialists prescribe bronchodilators. In addition, antibacterial drugs are prescribed, for example, Amoxiclav and Augmentin. However, attention should be paid to the fact that other medications may be prescribed. This will depend on the sensitivity of the harmful bacteria to the active drug. If there are symptoms of prolonged bronchitis in adults, the specialist may also prescribe the following medications:
- Mucolitics, which thin sputum, make it easier to remove it from the bronchi.
- Vitamin complexes that strengthen the body and the immune system as a whole.
- Broncholytics that improve breathing.
- Expectorants that speed up the excretion of sputum.
Special attention was given to the drug "Berodual" for inhalation. See instructions for use for adults below.
Berodual
This drug is used for the treatment of bronchial asthma, as well as chronic bronchitis. This remedy is produced in the form of a solution for inhalation. Instructions for the use of "Berodual" for adults:
- Use 20-80 drops of medication.
- In case of long-term treatment, a reduced dosage of 20-40 drops is used.
- Appliesremedy up to 4 times a day.
- For assisted ventilation of the respiratory system, 10 drops of this solution are prescribed.
Contraindications
Before using this remedy for the treatment of protracted bronchitis, contraindications must also be taken into account. These should include:
- Obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
- First and third trimester of pregnancy.
- Tachyarrhythmia.
- Hypersensitivity to the components that make up the product.
In addition, this drug should be used very carefully in the presence of the following diseases and pathologies:
- Hypertension.
- Angle-closure glaucoma.
- Diabetes mellitus.
- Hyperthyroidism.
- Myocardial infarction, which was suffered within the last three months.
- Vascular and heart disease.
- Pheochromocytoma obstruction of the bladder neck.
- Prostate hyperplasia.
- Cystic fibrosis.
- Lactation period.
- Second trimester of pregnancy.
Other drugs for chronic bronchitis in adults
To lower the temperature, antipyretics are used, for example, Teraflu, Paracetamol, Ibuprofen. Antibiotics for prolonged bronchitis in adults are prescribed for treatment only in situations where infectious bacteria have been identified in the patient's body.
For inhalation, you can also use mineral water, in whichs alt needs to be dissolved. Such a solution helps to expel sputum from the lungs.
Very effective in the fight against cough are tablets "Erespal". You can use this medicine in the form of a syrup for bronchitis in children.
Folk remedies
There are many different traditional medicine recipes that can alleviate the symptoms of chronic bronchitis in adults. This should include all kinds of tinctures and decoctions based on medicinal plants. Below you can find the most effective recipes. Most of them involve the use of the aloe plant, which has a number of healing properties:
- To stop the course of bronchitis, you need to use aloe and honey. To do this, a glass of plant juice is mixed with the same amount of natural honey. After that, 100 milliliters of vodka or alcohol are added there. Such a mixture should be infused for a day, after which it is taken from inflammatory diseases of the respiratory tract in the amount of one teaspoon twice a day. You can store the healing composition in the refrigerator.
- In a glass of warm milk, add one tablespoon of natural honey and cocoa butter. Such a drink is drunk before going to bed, after which sputum will be well coughed up in the morning.
- Mix 350 g of crushed aloe leaves, 100 ml of alcohol, and 750 ml of Cahors. Ready tincture is stored in a dark room. The medicinal composition is taken in the amount of one tablespoon twice a day.
- Mix200 g cocoa, 150 ml aloe juice, 300 g natural honey. Add badger fat to the resulting mixture. The ingredients are mixed together, after which the finished mixture should be stored in the refrigerator. The finished product is used in the amount of one tablespoon twice a day.
- Take one glass of birch buds, four thick leaves of the aloe plant, 500 g of natural honey. Heat the bee product in a steam bath, add birch buds there, as well as crushed leaves of the aloe plant. The finished mixture is stored in the refrigerator, and is taken three times a day, one teaspoon.
- 300g of crushed aloe leaves mixed with the same amount of natural honey. 500 ml of brandy is added to the ingredients, as well as the juice of two medium-sized lemons. All ingredients are thoroughly mixed again, after which the healing composition is used twice a day in the amount of one teaspoon.
Those patients who do not delay going to a medical facility when they have the first symptoms of bronchitis will recover much faster. In the complex of basic therapy, the doctor can include massage, exercise therapy, pepper plaster, compresses, mustard plasters, correction of the diet and daily routine.
Prevention
If you do not want to allow the development of prolonged bronchitis, then you must follow simple preventive rules. As a result, you can avoid very serious complications of this disease.
First of all, you should seek help from a specialist in a timely manner, nothoping for advice from friends. Only a qualified doctor is able to accurately diagnose, identify the main cause of the development of the disease, and also choose the right method of therapy, which will depend on the characteristics of the patient's body. Quite often, self-medication provokes an increase in the number of pathogenic microorganisms in the patient, as well as complications in the work of other organs.
In addition, during the treatment of bronchitis, the main task is to remove sputum from the respiratory system, as well as to stop the inflammatory process. The same applies to the protracted form of the disease. You can get rid of phlegm by drinking plenty of water.
Special attention should be paid to cleanliness as well as freshness in the room you are in. In this case, we are talking about regular cleaning, walking away from the track, airing the premises.
Small conclusion
Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that prolonged bronchitis is a consequence of undertreated acute bronchitis. For the reasons listed above, harmful microorganisms become very resistant to medications, other pathologies begin to develop, and treatment becomes complex and long-term. That is why it is always necessary to bring the therapy of acute bronchitis to the end, so that you can protect yourself from unpleasant problems in the future. When the first signs and symptoms of bronchitis appear, be sure to seek help at the clinic.
