Diseases that affect the respiratory system: bronchitis
The bronchi make the connections between the lungs and the windpipe. They are lining of your bronchial tubes and allow air to flow into your body. These bronchi can get infected, or inflamed making it harder fro air to travel to the lungs. This condition is called bronchitis.
Apart form making it very difficult to breath, the inflammation of the bronchi can also cause mucus in the airways, or phlegm. There are two types of bronchitis: acute and chronic bronchitis. There can also be another type of bronchitis, but only in people who suffer from asthma.
The first type of bronchitis, the acute one, can develop from a cold that you might suffer and usually lasts a week at the most. It can also be caused by viral infections. It is accompanied by cough, pain in the middle of the chest and sometimes even fever. When suffering from acute bronchitis, one might experience some shortness of breath, but very little and fro short periods of time.
The second type of bronchitis, the chronic one is caracterized by a cough that produces mucus. In people suffering from this ilness, problems breathing are very dens. They are also more likely to get lung infections, thing which can generate even more problems with their breathing. This ilness is mainly characterized by clogged or narrowed airways, thing which causes the problems you might have breathing. It gets very difficult for air to from the environment to the lungs.
It is very important to know that the reason we get acute bronchitis is due to viruses in almost all of the cases. Viruses travel through the air and when they go into the bronchi, cause an infection. Our body then tries to protect us from the virus. When this happens more mucus is produced and the swelling can get even worse. We get bronchitis from the same virus that causes the cold, though there are times when a bacteria can cause bronchitis. This is more likely to happen after you have suffered from a cold.
It is only necessary for the bronchial tubes to get irritated for more than two weeks and the qunatity of muscus that the body produces increases. This part of the body starts to thicken, coughing becomes even worse than before, problems in breathing start to grow even more alarming and the lungs are therefor in more danger. Bronchial tubes are a very good place for infections.
As bad as it all sound, things are not that bad. A case of acute bronchitis usually lasts only a few days. The cases that are more severe can also produce chest pain. Chronic bronchitis has very minor symptoms and it can be easily treated. There are cause when the symptoms may get worse over the years and even start to threaten once' s life at some point, but these are rare cases.
For greater resources on bronchitis please visit http://www.bronchitis-guide.com/acute-bronchitis.htm or http://www.bronchitis-guide.com/asthmatic-bronchitis.htm
Symptoms and genetic aspects of Bronchitis and Emphysema
A simple cough mustn't be ignored. If this cough transforms into a persistent productive cough with an excessive airway mucus secretion we can think that it is bronchitis. if the process becomes chronic and the cough and sputum persists for minimum three or six months during one or two years with very short periods in which the cough disappears, the diagnosis is sure. All this symptoms leads to the diagnosis of Bronchitis, a disease of the lungs from the COPD category. In Bronchitis the large and small airways can be obstructed and it becomes very difficult to move air in and out of the lungs.
Another aspect is the deficiency of alpha-1-antitrypsin. This deficiency is caused by the loss of elastin which is a structural protein. All this leads to Emphysema. Because elastin is involved in the maintenance of the strength of the alveolar walls, in Emphysema there will be a permanent destruction of the alveoli.
There is a form of Emphysema influenced by a long period of smoking called "Smoker's Emphysema". It develops usually in older patients. Another type of Emphysema is the one with a hereditary transmission. In this case there is a deficiency of alpha-i-antitrypsin (AAT), but just one to three percent of all cases of Emphysema are due to AAT deficiency. This happens because in the lungs, at cells level there is an imbalance between elastin and AAT. The reaction between this two proteins is mediate by an enzyme called elastase. When there is a genetic deficiency of AAT the elastin degradation occurs unchecked. This phenomenon is worsen if the patients with genetic deficiency of AAT smoke and the symptoms appears early middle age. The deficiency of ATT is detected by blood tests made in specialized laboratories.
Regarding Smoker's Emphysema and the hereditary one studies showed that in the lungs cells the mechanism is the same. One of the tobacco smoking effects is the elastese-AAT imbalance. The explanation is that smoking stimulates excessively release of elastase. There was also confirmed the theory that the inhaled smoke stimulates the migration in the lungs of the elastase producing cells. Another aspect of smoking is the effect of the oxidants from the cigarette smoke. The antioxidants inactivate a significant portion of the elastase inhibitors and as a consequence it is upsetted the elastase-antielastase balance. But there are also other factors in addition to smoking effects that influences the development of Emphysema. Nowadays the effect of these other factors is not very clear. There was estimated that only twenty percent of smokers develop Emphysema.
For more resources on bronchitis or especially about acute bronchitis please click this link http://www.bronchitis-guide.com/acute-bronchitis.htm
Acupressure the New Cure for Acid Reflux?
Acupressure is acupuncture without the use of needles. By applying pressure to the acupoints prescribed by ancient Chinese medicine, specific organs and areas of the body may be successfully treated. With this science, the energy of the meridian system called Yin, Yang and Qi is brought into alignment, allowing the body to heal itself.
Traditional Chinese acupuncture has been used to treat digestive disorders for over two thousand years. Recent studies suggest that acupuncture, acupressure and electrical acupoint stimulation applied to Pericardium 6 (P6) reduce relaxations of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). Relaxation of the LES is the major cause of acid reflux. One study with electrical acupoint stimulation showed a 40% reduction of these LES relaxations in most of the cases studied. This is an astounding claim and could be the beginning of one of the most important discoveries ever made for the treatment of acid reflux.
What is P6? P6, also called Neiguan, is an acupoint located on the underside of the wrist between 2 tendons. If you hold out your hand and bend it toward you, P6 is located in the middle of the wrist approximately two finger-widths from the crease where the hand and arm meet.
What is the LES? The lower esophageal sphincter is a muscular valve located between the esophagus and the stomach, which opens to allow food and liquids into the stomach. It is supposed to close tight to prevent gastric fluids from coming back up into the esophagus. When it becomes relaxed, you have acid reflux. Many things can cause the LES to relax; acidic foods, carbonated beverages, alcohol, tobacco, chocolate and stress, to name a few.
Acupressure to the P6 has been employed for years to relieve nausea and vomiting. Recently it has been used to treat traveler’s motion and sea sickness, morning sickness in pregnant women and post operative nausea. Acupressure wrist bands, also called “sea bands”, are now being used for this purpose. The wrist band fits snugly on the wrist and has a small plastic button which applies pressure to the P6. It is now believed that these same wrist bands may reduce acid reflux.
You can also treat yourself without the use of wrist bands by using the fingers. Keep in mind that when applying pressure to the P6, the feeling should be a slight numbness, never a sharp pain. All acupoints are normally beside and in between bones, ligaments and tendons. They are never found on bones, blood vessels or arteries, but in depressions between or beside them.
Interestingly, the P6 is also used to treat insomnia, chest pain, epilepsy, fever and migraines as well as nausea, vomiting and acid reflux. Stimulating this acupoint may be beneficial to the entire body.
Ancient Chinese medicine supports the theory that acupoints connect the internal pathways of energy conduction and that stimulating these points accelerates the flow of this energy. On the other hand, allopathic medicine is just beginning to understand these principals. They attribute the success of acupuncture to nerve signals and chemicals released by the central nervous system, but have no idea how it works. Given enough time, hopefully modern medical science will catch up with these ancient healing methods.
Whatever you believe, acupuncture really does work. It is relaxing and absolutely pain free. The needles used are so thin that you don’t even feel them. Acupressure is a simple variation of this theme by which we can treat ourselves without the use of needles or expensive acupuncture sessions. Just find an acupressure chart and start working on yourself. It’s also fun to treat others. Even pets benefit from this science. I work on my thirteen year old Jack Russell Terrier, Jack Pot, every morning to relieve him of his allergy symptoms. He is very appreciative, indeed.
I encouraged a friend who recently developed acute gerd to try a pair of the P6 wrist bands, which I bought on line. We found that they actually do work in reducing acid reflux, but only if you have them placed on the wrist so that pressure from the wrist band button is precisely on P6. It took a bit of experimentation, but we were successful after an hour or so. One company on the internet claims that you only need to wear one wrist band. Others suggest that it only works with two. Maybe they are both right – who knows. I do know that this is worth trying if you suffer from acid reflux even if you only have a 40% chance of success. What have you got to loose?
If you want to try the wrist bands, they are available on line and at many health food stores at reasonable prices. You might also consider a massage from someone who specializes in acupressure and have them work on the P6. I find that a visit to my reflexologist is always beneficial. But whatever you do, it is always good to keep an open mind about healing in general and to exercise your right to treat yourself. We all have the ability to heal ourselves. As far as acid reflux is concerned, there are many natural ways to at least keep it under control, if not actually cure it.
© 2006 Wind Publishing
For free recipes, articles and information about how to cure acid reflux, please visit: http://www.refluxgoneforever.com
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