Symptoms and signs of chronic bronchitis

Bronchitis and the main causes

Bronchial tubes carry the air to the lungs and when their liningis inflamed, the person is diagnosed with bronchitis. While acute bronchitis ispractically a result of a cold or some infection of the respiratory tract,chronic type is often a consequence of smoking and it results in constant inflammation.The person with chronic bronchitis coughs every day and sputum is present forthree months at least.

Chronic bronchitis and the most common symptoms

The fact is that the symptoms of chronic bronchitis are notthat much different from the symptoms of acute type, but with the differencethat they tend to occur much more frequently and last much longer. This meansthat it should not be difficult at all to recognize symptoms of chronicbronchitis. Since coughing accompanied by mucus is one of the first signs ofbronchitis, if such cough is present for three months or even longer, theperson is very likely to suffer from this condition. On the other side, ifcoughing has a tendency to aggravate in the morning or in wet weather, then itis also an indicator. Shortness of breath, wheezing, chest discomfort from timeto time are also some of the indicators of chronic bronchitis. Pain in thechest and cyanosis are definitely the most severe signs of chronic bronchitis,but fever should not be ignored either. Instead, medical help should be soughtbefore serious consequences appear. The person with this condition is moreprone to frequent infections of the respiratory tract such as the flu or cold, andit is not at all uncommon that these people are smokers because cigarette smokehas been identified as one of the most common causes of chronic bronchitis. Thisis why smokers are at significantly higher risk of contracting this disease whencompared to those people who do not smoke. However, besides cigarette smoke, itis possible that some underlying conditions provoke chronic bronchitis as well.Asthma, congestive heart failure, immunodeficiency, are some of them. It isnecessary to be careful when these symptoms last longer than usually, becausethey will not go away on their own, but they will probably aggravate more andcause further complications. In order to diagnose it, procedures such as chestX-rays, CT scan, complete blood count test and several others might be needed. Thetreatment is possible and it is highly recommended to start with it as soon aspossible.