Bronchitis

When you're feeling as sick as a dog...

The lungs consist of four types of tissue: connective tissue, blood vessels, air sacs, and tubes called bronchi. When these become inflamed or diseased, the condition is called bronchitis.

Acute bronchitis is always associated with a cough, and often with wheezing and fever. However, chronic bronchitis usually produces a chronic cough with no fever (although there may be a slight evening temperature elevation, with or without night sweats).

Most upper respiratory tract infections, including colds, have a phase of acute bronchitis beginning a day or two after the onset of cough, followed by wheezing and coughing when a deep breath is taken.

WARM TREATMENTS 

Most people do not appreciate the degree of warmth their extremities require to be entirely healthy. Any reduction in the body's ability to circulate blood perfectly into the skin of the extremities increases one's susceptibility to viral diseases. Even a short, barefooted walk across the floor may prolong a cough another day.

Treatment is quite simple. First, keep the extremities warm. The skin contains white blood cells that remove substances from the blood while imparting protective proteins that act as antibodies to enhance the immune mechanism. A hot footbath increases the circulation of these cells, making them more active in fighting infections. It can also quiet the coughing, redistribute the circulation to the extremities, and produce relaxation.

A hot half bath (with water up to the navel) will produce similar results. Children with a cough should be treated with a hot half bath lasting for three minutes, adding one minute for each additional year beyond the age of three. Water temperatures should range from 104 -110º, even up to 112º - a temperature that normal adults can easily tolerate for 15-20 minutes.

A heating compress to the chest each night is also very helpful. Place a thin, wet cotton piece of fabric (squeezed from cold water) against the skin, and cover it well on all sides with a piece of plastic cut from a bread bag or similar material. Secure the compress in place with a long strip of bed sheet, a snug-fitting sweatshirt, or a vest. The compress should be worn all night.

COUGH TREATMENTS 

Coughs should be treated by drinking water freely. I tell my patients that every time they cough they should drink a small glass of water. Drink another glass if they cough in the next five minutes, and so forth. This eventually loosens the secretions enough to be expectorated freely, and lubricates the bronchial surfaces, reducing the tickling.

Catnip tea can also quiet a cough, but one should avoid cough syrups containing codeine, since they suppress the cough reflex, leading to the retention of secretions in the lungs. Because of their negative effects on the body's defense and immune mechanisms, one should avoid using heavy, rich, and hard-to-digest food items, including margarine, mayonnaise, fried foods, cooking oil, meat, milk, eggs, and cheese. Two meals daily are preferable, or else three small meals.

Multiple layers of clothing should be used on the extremities and over the chest, but not so heavy or thick as to promote sweating, since this tends to cause chilling.

A vaporizer or humidifier can also be helpful in keeping the secretions thin and avoid the drying and irritation of sensitive mucous membranes.

And, finally, exposure to sunlight and moderate outdoor exercise are most useful for both acute and chronic bronchitis.               

By: Agatha Thrash, M.D.