Bronchitis is the absolute worst with the chronic coughing, that feeling of a heavy brick on your chest, and an irritated throat. Not to mention the extra symptoms caused by dehydration due to your body producing so much mucus and not knowing how to expel it correctly.
Yes, a thorough understanding of bronchitis and its causes can make you wonder how the human body functions at all, as it often does its best to react to problems and then ends up exacerbating the situation, thereby creating more problems for itself.
Bronchitis is often treated on a multi-symptom level pharmaceutically, which means that you can expect to be taking a lot of drugs that attempt to encourage your body to do the things that you can get it to do yourself with a little know-how, and possibly even curb your costs as well as avoiding any of the side-effects the drugs may cause! Here are some natural “home remedies” to help you beat bronchitis!
Bronchitis: the break down
Your lungs have passageways that air flows in and out of called “bronchial tubes”, when these are inflamed because the mucus cells that line the bronchial tubes are attacked due to some irritant such as dust or bacteria etc. it will then give the impression that there is something foreign that needs to be expelled.
The body’s response to this is to secrete mucus which hopefully will be able to be pushed out via the force of the air that you expel. However, the mucus membranes (or mucosa) go into overdrive often making so much thick mucus that it is unable to be expelled before the inflammation goes away.
This leads to chest congestion, and a chronic cough in response to the perceived “foreign matter” (i.e the mucus) that is now in your lungs. Your cough irritates your throat, and the whole chain reaction ensues!
Alternative modes of attack: Simpler than you think!
- Drink more water!
It may sound silly, but drinking a lot of water is perhaps the most effective, natural means of fighting bronchitis! Debra Fulghum Bruce and Murray Grossman in their book “The Sinus Cure” equate an expectorant like “Mucinex” to drinking 8-10 glasses of water a day!
Staying hydrated is awfully important when you have bronchitis; your body is in a state of siege in which it is constantly using water to make all that mucus which is hurting you! Drinking water, therefore keeps your mucus membranes secreting instead of tiring out and becoming irritated thereby thinning mucus and allowing stronger coughs!
- Utilizing the power of essential oils and foods!
Standing over a point of boiling water with a couple drops of eucalyptus or peppermint oil can refreshingly open up your passages as you breathe in the warm steam, says “Best Health Magazine”. Ginger, Cinnamon, and clove are strong anti-inflammatory foods and adding them to your diet may attack the problem at its source!
Beyond that strong anti-viral, anti-bacterial foods such as garlic, and oregano oil can help fight any virus that may be circulating around and causing your problems to stick around! Finally to soothe your throat, honey will work its magic not just topically, but internally as it also fights inflammation!
I hope now that you have a firm grasp of what bronchitis is that you will be able to incorporate these natural tips to help you get on top of this resilient condition!
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