What Immediate Care Can Be Done To Help Bronchitis?
Bronchial tubes are part of your respiratory system, also known as the respiratory tree. The air that you breathe comes down the trachea and is delivered to each lung by one of the two bronchial tubes. When those tubes become inflamed or infected, you have a viral infection known as a chest cold or acute bronchitis.
The infected bronchial tubes swell and produce mucus, causing chronic coughing, low grade fever, soreness in the chest and overall fatigue. What immediate care can be done to help bronchitis? First and foremost, avoid second-hand smoke and if you smoke cigarettes, please consider a smoking cessation program. Cigarette smoking can lead to chronic bronchitis, a serious condition that is often related to emphysema.
Acute bronchitis is very uncomfortable – the chest gets clogged with mucus, breathing is more difficult and coughing can become constant, interrupting sleep and keeping the sufferer from working. The cough can persist up to two weeks after the other symptoms fade away. It is important that you rest and use a clean humidifier to alleviate bronchial irritation and make breathing easier.
Seek Medical Assistance
Bronchitis in young children can be riskier than adults. If your child has a fever over 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit accompanied by a cough with thick or bloody mucus, the Center For Disease Control (CDC) suggests that you seek medical attention. FastMed Urgent Care will be here when you need us – we’re open 365 days a year, staffed by dedicated medical professionals treating walk-in patients requiring immediate care. The FastMed Urgent Care team will review the severity of each case and may prescribe treatments to help control the coughing or open up the airways.
Three important things to remember:
- If your child is under 3 months old and has a fever for any reason, contact your healthcare provider or come to the FastMed Urgent Care location nearest you.
- Antibiotics do not work on viruses, such as bronchitis except on rare occasions. Taking antibiotics when they are not needed can be harmful and may lead to unwanted side effects like diarrhea, rashes, nausea, and stomach pain.
- Overusing antibiotics may cause bacteria present in the body to become resistant to the medication which means at some point the antibiotic will no longer be effective.