Before you can really understand about chronic bronchitis, you need to be aware of the actual bronchitis condition itself and how it works.
Bronchitis occurs when there is an infection of the bronchial tree, which is made up of the different tubes that work by carrying air to your lungs.
This is why people who suffer from bronchitis find it difficult to breathe and often have serious wheezing and congestion problems. Many different factors are considered as potential causes of bronchitis, but it is usually always caused by viruses that attack the lining of the bronchial tree and then which end up causing infection.
Chronic Bronchitis Information
It comes an excessive amount of bronchial mucus, a symptom that is not present with acute bronchitis. In the earlier stages of chronic bronchitis, the sufferer will usually begin experiencing a dry cough, one that usually occurs most in the morning time.
As well during the earlier stages of chronic bronchitis, it is usually only the larger airways that are affected, however as the disease progresses and becomes worse, all airways eventually wind up becoming involved, and over time, the patient will experience abnormal ventilation-perfusion.
When compared, this form of bronchitis is much worse than the other form of it – known as acute bronchitis, and this is largely because chronic bronchitis usually lasts more a much longer period of time, usually weeks or months, even years.
Chronic Bronchitis Treatment and Prevention
There are no surefire methods of preventing yourself from ever getting bronchitis, but there are certainly preventive measures that you can take in order to guard yourself against the disease as much as possible. Namely you need to quit smoking if you were a smoker to begin with, as this is by far one of the leading causes of the condition.
You also need to live an otherwise healthy life, and this means eating a healthy and nutritious diet, and getting plenty of regular exercise. By doing this, not only will you be safeguarding yourself against bronchitis and other respiratory diseases, but you will be becoming healthier overall.
Chronic bronchitis is one of the most commonly occurring upper respiratory conditions in the world, and one of the most potentially dangerous as well, and so it is really important that you take the situation seriously and take every step possible towards protecting yourself and preventing your body from developing the disease.