Treating Bronchitis
If you have acute bronchitis, you will not have a pleasant few weeks. Treating bronchitis doesn’t take a lot of special effort, especially if it is just caused by a virus.
In most cases you can just take care of it at home. If you don’t suffer from the chronic type of bronchitis, the most common steps for treating bronchitis include reducing cough, pain, and fever.
Medications are necessary for acute bronchitis, but there are some products on the market that may reduce your symptoms but not get rid of the cause. Don’t take antibiotics, unless your bronchitis is suspected to be caused by a bacterial infection. Viruses don’t respond to antibiotics. Rather than healing you, this medication will harm you.
Some of the home treatments you can try for acute bronchitis include:
* Treating your cough with cough drops, drinking a lot of fluid, and eliminating any irritants
* Discontinue smoking, alcohol consumption, and caffeine
* Getting plenty of rest, providing your body with sufficient energy to ward off the infection
* Using a humidifier to moisten the air
* Antibiotics only if your bronchitis persists for more than 2-3 weeks or worsens within that time
Obviously, there are other ways you can prevent yourself from getting sick. Quitting smoking is a great way to prevent sickness.
If you are not around smoke, but around it often, try to avoid it. Cigarette smoke reduces your body’s methods of fighting off bacteria and viruses. Try to also avoid pollution and other airborne irritants, such as pollens, chemicals, and dust.
Instead of treating bronchitis before it attacks, try to prevent some of the causes, such as avoid contracting a cold. Don’t hang around people that have respiratory infections if possible, such as colds or other disorders.
Try to eliminate your exposure to other irritants by wearing a mask. If you live in a home where you burn wood during the winter, stay away from the smoke and ash as much as possible.
I have noticed that when I get nervous or stressed, I start coughing. If I try to sing, talk, or laugh, I cough. I have been through the Antibiotics for 21 days, and 2 weeks later, I still have my cough. I am tired of avoiding everybody, and hiding from people when they come to my house. I’m lucky I don’t have to go to work, because I am retired, but I do have a life. I don’t want to pass it around to others.
I used to Bowl, but I’ve given it up this year, because I Bowl with alot of Seniors. Help! Gwen
seems like what i have, im close to 40 and have sadly been smoking since age 12-remember those old cig. vending machines? By age 19-20 was told I had chronic bronchitis, then got worse with age, early 30′s hit and I ignored for a while, until getting really, really sick and dropping from lol 100 pounds down to about 88 within 3 weeks, that was a long, full, very painful bout with pneumonia,left untreated for over a month..dingy docs..and went all month to doctors. Now as im nearing 40…uggg for a woman, still getting worse & just got home from Hospital ER last night..again there saying bronchitis and now Im more prone to pneunomia..hate it. Antibiotics, mainly only Cipro has helped me with this on and off issue, and another thing that has…as far as STRESS as well goes..that has helped me GREATLY when it comes to feeling relaxed and being able to breathe with ease and no pain is ANTIANXIETY Medicine-My anti anxiety meds work wonders with me on this issue, with them, I feel like I can breathe better ect., cough less, ect., but when I try without them..like I’ve done the past week now..something like This Bronchitis Garbage comes back and gets me.
Michelle,
You’ve had 20 years to quit smoking but ignored the “dingy doctors” when they told you that you had developed chronic bronchitis. (They meant “quit smoking and start taking care of yourself) Now you’re developing repetitive pneumonia, a resistance to all antibiotics and a dependency to anti-anxiety medicine. But wait! There’s more! Soon you will develop emphysema and lung cancer. There is no modern miracle of medicine to reverse what you have done to yourself. You must now live with the consequences of your decisions. That is a fact of life we all learn at a different age. Quit smoking and try to enjoy your remaining years as best you can.