Chronic bronchitis is the inflammation and irritation of the passage airways in the lung. Chronic bronchitis is known as one of the two forms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which can be very devastating.
During the beginning stages of chronic bronchitis, slight coughing may be seen in the morning and as the disease progresses the individual may cough all throughout the day. This homeostatic imbalance causes a build up of excess mucus which in turn causes shortness of breath due to less airflow. Signs of excessive coughing can be seen also some may even see some blood in the mucus. The airway passages start to get inflamed starting with the largest passage until all of the airways has been affected. Then the individual may experience abnormal ventilation-perfusion which is insufficient oxygenated blood, heart failure of the right side or hypoventilation. Eventually the mucus becomes so thick that it starts affecting the cilia which is a small thin hair like structure which protects the lungs from airborne irritants by sweeping the particles of fluids in the lungs. When this occurs, the lungs become defenseless and the body itself becomes more prone to other …show more content…
Bronchitis can be cause by both viral and bacterial infection, though there are only 10 to 15 percent of bronchitis cases that are actually bacterial. There are some medication are recommended such as antibiotics like amoxicillin or doxycyline. Patients can also use a bronchodilator to assist in easing the pain. The bronchodilator dilates the bronchi and bronchioles; this causes the airflow to increase and the resistance in the respiratory air passage to decrease. An individual experiencing chronic bronchitis may also take cough suppressants, corticosteroids, theophylline or go through oxygen