Our expert is a pulmonologist, therapist in the therapeutic department of the clinic of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Treatment and Rehabilitation Center” of the Ministry of Health of Russia Eldar Guseinov.

Not a bacterium, but a virus

There is an opinion that bronchitis is the result of a bacterial infection. Actually this is not true.

Pathogenic bacteria “occupy” the bronchi only on the second or third day of the disease, joining the original pathogen, which most often is one of the cold viruses. That is why the prevention of bronchitis is in many ways similar to the prevention of acute respiratory viral infections and influenza.

During the cold season, when viruses are especially active, try to stay in crowded places as little as possible. If this is not possible (for example, you travel to work by public transport during rush hour), wear a medical mask. But don’t forget: its protective effect lasts no more than two hours, after which it needs to be replaced with a new one.

Take care of your immunity. At the height of viral activity, it is important to take vitamin complexes containing a lot of ascorbic acid. You can also get it from products, for example, rose hips or citrus fruits (if you are not allergic to them). In general, meals should be balanced and contain enough protein.

Maintain good hygiene. Viruses persist on many objects, so when you come home from outside, wash your hands with soap. If you plan to be away from home for a long time, carry wet wipes or antiseptic gel with you. After visiting places where there are many people, it is useful to rinse your nose with sea or simply salt water, and also gargle.

Ventilate the apartment every day and do wet cleaning regularly.

Take care of the air quality in your home: in the winter season it is too dry due to heating. Such air has an irritating effect on the patient's bronchi. You can purchase a special humidifier, but if the cost of it was not included in your plans, you can really get by with improvised means. For example, hang several wet towels in the room.

Gymnastics and aerobic training are very useful. They not only strengthen the body as a whole, but also improve the functioning of the respiratory system.

If a person has treated acute bronchitis in a timely manner, the walls of his bronchi, as a rule, restore their normal structure. And the mucociliary apparatus, which is “responsible” for clearing the airways, begins to work normally again. If there was no treatment or it was inadequate, bronchitis can become chronic, and the prognosis is different. Inflammation in the bronchi does not disappear completely, and the damage caused by it often remains. Fortunately, negative changes are usually not observed in all parts of the bronchi. Unfortunately, during each new exacerbation, the area of ​​inflammation increases and the damage spreads.

That is why “chronicles” must approach prevention especially carefully. They need to strictly follow all the rules described above, as well as get a flu shot. It often becomes a trigger for problems with the bronchi, and after vaccination the risk of getting sick, although it does not disappear completely, decreases.

It is also important for those who suffer from chronic bronchitis to consult a doctor at the first signs of illness. However, this also applies to healthy people if they start coughing - acute bronchitis also requires the help of a professional.

Antibiotics are no joke

Unfortunately, in most cases, people are in no hurry to visit a doctor, preferring self-medication. Moreover, already on the first day of cough, in the hope of a quick recovery, they begin taking antibiotics. This is pointless, because bronchitis is mainly caused by viruses, which are not affected by antibacterial drugs.

In a number of studies, doctors compared the condition of people who took and did not take such pills. There was no difference in the course of the disease.

But then, when a bacterial infection actually joins the viruses and antibiotics are needed, it is extremely difficult to treat those who started taking them ahead of time. There are several groups of antibacterial drugs that are used for respiratory diseases. The doctor selects a group and a specific remedy, taking into account many factors that patients cannot take into account. As a result, the drug bought at random does not help, the person finally goes to the doctor, and he cancels the drug. It would seem, what's wrong? And the fact is that now the doctor cannot prescribe another drug from the same group. It will be ineffective, although, perhaps, initially one of the drugs could help.

As a result, the duration of therapy increases, and the risk that prolonged bronchitis will become chronic increases. This is if you have experimented with one medicine. But what if you managed to try antibiotics from several groups?

Therefore, you need to consult a doctor immediately. And if this is not possible on the first day of coughing, you should take an antiviral drug rather than an antibiotic. By the way, such remedies are also useful for preventing bronchitis. During the cold season, they can be taken in a course according to a special preventive regimen, which is described in the instructions.

Infection from the upper respiratory tract often spreads to the bronchi, causing acute bronchitis. This disease can last for many weeks, and without the necessary treatment it becomes chronic. How to prevent bronchitis? It is better to take care of the prevention of this disease than to treat it for a long time.

What to do to avoid bronchitis

The best prevention of bronchitis is to increase the body's potential. Before cold weather sets in, harden yourself with water while swimming, take a contrast shower and air baths, and do physical exercise. Due to improved blood circulation, all these measures mobilize the lymphatic system, which is the main guardian of your health.

How to prevent bronchitis - when cold weather sets in, do not create hothouse conditions for your body and do not wrap yourself tightly in clothes, so as not to become vulnerable to viruses and infections again. But, do not allow hypothermia, which can significantly reduce the body’s ability to fight pathogenic bacteria.

To prevent bronchitis and other respiratory diseases, use full breathing - breathe through the entire chest, it should expand from the diaphragm and thoracic region to the collarbone area. Such exercises should not be done in heavily polluted places.

Avoid staying for long periods of time in places where the air is polluted, including cigarette smoke. During an outbreak of a respiratory disease, avoid staying in crowded places, or apply oxaline ointment to your nose before going out to reduce the risk of infection.

How to prevent bronchitis - at work, don’t forget about bronchitis prevention. It is necessary to regularly ventilate the room where you work. Disinfect the air with essential oils (pine needles, eucalyptus, rosemary). In summer, do not stay under the air flow from the air conditioner.

When you do get sick, at the first signs of an acute respiratory infection, do not wait for the inflammatory process to spread to the bronchi and lungs, start treatment immediately. The disease on the legs cannot be tolerated either. It is better to lie down for two or three days and carry out treatment.

Instructions

While at the workplace, for example, in the office, also do not forget about the prevention of bronchitis. Ventilate the office regularly. Disinfect the air with essential oils (eucalyptus, pine needles, rosemary). In summer, avoid exposure to direct cold air from an air conditioner. It is an equally common cause of respiratory inflammation.

With the onset of cold weather, do not wrap yourself up tightly in warm clothes and do not create greenhouse conditions for your body in which it will become vulnerable to various viruses and infections. However, do not allow hypothermia. It significantly reduces the body's ability to resist pathogenic bacteria.

To prevent bronchitis, avoid long stays in places with polluted air, including tobacco smoke. And during periods of outbreaks of respiratory diseases, if possible, avoid visiting places with large crowds of people, or first protect yourself, at least with oxaline ointment or interferon drops. They significantly reduce the risk of infection.

If it was not possible to avoid, then at the first sign - a runny nose or sore throat, do not wait for the inflammatory process to spread to the bronchi and lungs, but immediately begin treatment. Don't carry the disease on your feet. This will inevitably complicate her course with bronchitis. Keep in bed for at least 2-3 days and carry out active treatment with heat, plenty of fluids, vitamins, especially C, and, if necessary, antibiotics or sulfa drugs (only as prescribed by a doctor).

It all starts with a tickle in the throat. An invisible hand runs the feather along the back of your throat. Then a rumble erupts from deep within the chest. Suddenly, a volcano explodes in your lungs, and for the next few minutes you cough, and your mouth fills with phlegm - lava thrown up by your lungs.

You got bronchitis, or, to be more precise, bronchitis got you. Bronchitis usually wins out as there is little you can do to get rid of it.

“In many ways, bronchitis is very similar to a cold. It's usually caused by a virus, says pulmonologist Barbara Phillips, an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, so antibiotics can't do much. Sometimes, however, bronchitis is caused by bacteria, in which case antibiotics work. Acute bronchitis in most cases goes away on its own within a week or two, but chronic patients may cough and choke for months. Although you should let the disease run its course, there are things you can do to help you breathe easier when you are sick.”

Symptoms for which you should consult a doctor

Bronchitis requires medical intervention if:

• after a week the cough gets worse, not better;
• you have a fever and are coughing up blood;
• you are an elderly person and you are suffering from a dry cough due to another disease;
• you are out of breath and have long bouts of coughing.

This is the most important thing you can do, especially if you have chronic bronchitis. Quit smoking and your chances of getting rid of the disease will increase significantly. “90-95% of cases of chronic bronchitis come directly from smoking,” says pulmonologist Daniel Simmons, professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“Your bronchitis will improve if you stop smoking,” agrees Gordon L. Snyder, a pulmonologist and professor at Boston University School of Medicine and Tufts University School of Medicine. “If you've been smoking for a long time, some of the damage done to your lungs can no longer be reversed, but if you started smoking recently, you're more likely to make a full recovery.”

Try to avoid the company of smokers

Avoid the company of people who smoke. If your spouse smokes, force him/her to quit. Smoking by others may cause bronchitis in you.

“You need to avoid tobacco smoke at all costs,” warns Dr. Phillips. “Even if you don’t smoke yourself, if you inhale someone else’s smoke, you become a so-called passive smoker, and this can cause bronchitis.”

Drink more fluids

“Drinking helps mucus become more watery and easier to cough up,” explains Dr. Phillips. “4 to 6 glasses of fluid a day will help dissolve mucus properly.”

The best warm drink is plain water. "Avoid caffeine or alcoholic beverages," Dr. Phillips cautions. “They are diuretics, you urinate more often and actually lose more fluid than you gain.”

Breathe in warm, moist air

Warm, moist air helps mucus evaporate. “If the mucus is thick and difficult to cough up, a vaporizer will help ease the secretion. You can stand in the bathroom, close the door and turn on the shower, breathing in the warm moisture that fills your bathroom.”

Arrange a steam bath

“The steam from your bathroom sink will help a lot,” says Dr. Snyder. “Fill the sink with hot water, cover your head with a towel, set up something like a tent and inhale the steam for 5-10 minutes every 2 hours.”

Don't Expect Too Much from Expectorants

“There is no scientific evidence that there is any medication that can dry out mucus,” says Dr. Phillips. “Any liquids are the best way to cough up.”

Listen to your cough

Is your cough productive or not? “If it is productive, the kind that produces phlegm, do not try to stop it completely, as it cleanses your lungs. Stick with the cough for as long as possible,” says Dr. Simmons.

Mute the sound

On the other hand, “if you have a non-productive cough, that is, nothing is coughing up, then it is good to take a cough suppressant medicine. Choose ones that have the active ingredient dextromethorphan,” recommends Dr. Simmons.

Smokers, clean the air!

Smokers plagued by chronic bronchitis can be persuaded to drink milk using research conducted by Melvin Tockman, MD, a pulmonologist and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

"We found that people who smoke and drink milk are less likely to have attacks of chronic bronchitis than those who smoke but do not drink milk." Dr. Tockman discovered this connection by comparing the medical histories and lifestyles of 2,539 smokers.

“Smokers who drink milk consume an average of 1 glass per day. So, says Dr. Tockman, if you can't help but smoke, drink milk."

"Why milk might suppress an attack of bronchitis in smokers remains a mystery," he admits, but notes that "no such effect has been found in nonsmokers drinking milk." However, he does not recommend milk as an antidote for smokers suffering from bronchitis: “Quitting smoking is still the best way to get rid of chronic bronchitis.”