Bronchitis

Bronchitis is swelling of the lining of the large airways called bronchi in the lungs. The swelling causes more mucus than normal to be made. This can block the airflow through the lungs and may damage the lungs.

Acute bronchitis lasts 2 to 4 weeks and can be treated.
Chronic bronchitis is a long-term disease of the lungs. It is one disease in a group of lung diseases called COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The damage often gets worse over time and cannot be cured.

Signs of Bronchitis
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A frequent cough
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Feeling tired
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Chest pain with coughing or deep breathing
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Noisy breathing
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Shortness of breath
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Body aches
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Fever or chills
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Sore throat
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Runny or stuffy nose

Causes of Bronchitis
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Bacterial or viral infections
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Smoking
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Air pollution
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Allergy to something in the air such as pollen
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Lung disease such as asthma or emphysema
Your Care
Your care may include medicines and breathing exercises to help you breathe easier. You may need oxygen if you have chronic bronchitis. Your care may also include:
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Avoiding colds and the flu.
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Drinking a lot of liquids to keep mucus thin.
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Using a humidifier or vaporizer.
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Using postural drainage and percussion to loosen mucus from your lungs. You will be taught how to do this.

To Breathe Easier
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Quit smoking. The only way to slow the damage of chronic bronchitis is to quit smoking. It is never too late to quit.
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Do not drink alcohol. It dulls the urge to cough and sneeze to clear your air passages. It also causes your body to lose fluid, making the mucus in your lungs thicker and harder to cough up.
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Avoid things that irritate your lungs such as air pollution, dusts and gases.
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Sleep with your upper body raised. Use foam wedges or raise the head of your bed.

Call your doctor right away if you:
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Have chills or a fever over 101 degrees F or 38 degrees C
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Need to use your inhalers or breathing treatments more often
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Have more mucus, the color changes, or it becomes too hard to cough up
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Have a new or worsening gray or blue tint of your nails or the skin of your fingers or mouth
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Have trouble talking or doing your normal activities
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Have to use more pillows when sleeping or start having to sleep in a chair to breathe at night
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Cannot get your breath
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Become confused, dizzy or feel faint
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Have new chest pain or tightness

BRONCHITIS

What is Bronchitis?

Bronchitis is a serious variety of kasa roga, which is nothing but the inflammation of the bronchi (air passages that lie beyond the windpipe and has cartilage and mucus glands in its wall).The disease can occur at any particular time, but damp and cold climate is often the contributory cause. The disease can occur at any time and at any place, but damp and cold climate are often favourable conditions.

There are three types of bronchitis:

• Cold Type: Coughs after you are getting cold, plenty of phlegm, thin and white; running nose, and aversion to cold.
• Heat Type: Coughs that are frequently and severe, thick and yellow phlegm, shortness of breath or wheezing, and thirst.
• Dry Type: Dry cough, no phlegm (or very hard to cough up), and dry sore throat and mouth.

The techniques of acupressure for Bronchitis

(1) Use the tips of the index, middle, and ring fingers of both hands to scrub up and down the center of the breastbone for one minute. Gently press and knead the breastbone from the top to the bottom for one minute. (2) Gently press and knead the point right in the middle between the nipples for men, and between fourth and fifth ribs on the midline for women (Cv17). Do this for one minute.
(3) Gently press the point located at the depression right above the top of the breastbone for one minute (Cv22). Use your fingers to gently squeeze the skin and muscles from this point up to the Adam's apple 20 times.
(4) With your thumb against the index finger, use your other thumb to gently press the webbing where it bulges up the highest for one minute (Li4).
(5) Gently press the point located two finger-widths up from the wrist crease, on the inside of the forearm, in line with the thumb, for one minute (Lu7).
(6) Gently press the point on the outside edge of the leg bone halfway between the tip of the anklebone and the middle of the kneecap for one minute (St40). (7) Gently press the point four finger-widths up from the inside anklebone, right behind the leg bone for one minute (Sp6).

Some Home Remedies for Bronchitis

Some common home remedies for the treatment of bronchitis are:

• Most common home remedy for bronchitis is administration of one teaspoonful of turmeric powder (haridra) can be given with a glass full of milk, twice or thrice daily. It acts best when taken early in the morning, empty stomach.
• Take equal amounts of dried ginger, black pepper, and long pepper (pippali). Now powder them all and their mixture can be given thrice daily.
• Even a teaspoonful of honey and ginger juice dissolved in 150 ml of hot water will cause expectoration of trapped phlegm.
• Juice of vasa (Adhatoda vasica) may be taken thrice daily, in two teaspoonful doses. Two teaspoonfuls of honey taken daily are also helpful for the treatment of bronchitis.

Some well-known Ayurvedic preparations for bronchitis

Rasa Sindur; Pravala Pisthi; Silopaladi Churna.
Kaphachintamani; Kaphakelu; Shringyadi Churna.

Some oils for Bronchitis

Gently rub eucalyptus oil on the chest or use olive oil to it. Take a bowl of hot water, add 2-3 drops of lavender/ Eucalyptus/Thyme or Tea tree essential oil and inhale the medicated steam but make sure, the boiling water does not fall on your body.

Benefits of Yoga in Asthma (Asthmatics) and Bronchitis

 Asanas and pranayama have corrective, curative and strengthening effects on the condition of the lungs and the bronchiole linings.

Pranayama does the internal purification. As we know that air has some fantastic properties like absorbing property. It absorbs certain things as moisture, fragrance and odour. When air is kept in the body for a longer time, it absorbs the impurities of the system and when it is expelled with a force it carries those inner impurities out. Further, when external pressure is given it maximizes the inner penetration of the air and enables it to rub, activate and give inner massage to the body cells and organs.