Good Herbal Health

Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are diseases that involve the whole lung. They can be of varying severity and both are characterized by the gradual progression of breathlessness.

Because chronic bronchitis is almost invariable associated with pulmonary emphysema, the combines disorder frequently is called obstructive-airway disease. The disease involves damage to the lung tissue, with a loss of normal elasticity of the air sacs (emphysema), as well as damage to the bronchi, the main air passages to the lungs. In addition, chronic bronchitis is marked by a thickening mucus production and difficulty in expelling these secretions. This results in coughing and sputum production.

The condition known as acute bronchitis is an acute process generally caused by a sudden infection, such as a cold, with an exaggeration of bronchitis symptoms. If a spasm of the bronchi occurs, accompanied by wheezing, the ailment is called infectious or nonallergic asthma.

Chronic cough and breathlessness are the two earliest signs of chronic bronchitis and emphysema. A smoker’s cough is not an insignificant symptom. It indicates that very definite irritation of the bronchi has developed and it should be respected early.

Once emphysema or bronchitis are diagnosed there ate many forms of therapy that can help. Stopping smoking is the most important measure, and will in itself produce dramatic effects. When chest infections develop they can be treated with antibiotics. For more severe disease a program of breathing exercises and graded exertion may be beneficial.

For those with the most advanced stage of the disease, new methods of treatment have been devised in recent years. One of the most encouraging is the use of controlled oxygen administration, treatment that can sometimes allow a patient to return to an active working life from an otherwise helpless bed-and-chair existence. But it must be remembered that all these measures produce little effect if the patient continues to smoke.

The problems encountered by patients with obstructive disease do not encompass merely that disease alone. Because of their smoking history, these patients are also prone to lung cancer. All too often a person with a potentially curable form of lung cancer is unable to undergo surgery because his lungs will not tolerate the added strain of surgery.

Despite the emphasis placed on smoking as the predominant factor for the development of obstructive disease, there are people with the disease who have never smoked. For many of these individuals, there is no known cause for their disease. However, a group of younger people with obstructive disease has been found to de deficient in a particular enzyme. (Enzymes are agents that are necessary for certain chemical reactions.)