If you cough frequently, it will cause chest pain and abdominal pain, and hinder sleep and rest, bringing pain to patients. Cough consumes a lot of energy. Severe coughing for a long time may lead to unconsciousness, or pneumothorax caused by lung perforation. Therefore, we should not treat cough lightly, but should find out the cause as soon as possible and pay close attention to treatment.
Etiology of cough
1. Chronic pharyngitis: the patient's throat is dry, itchy and uncomfortable, which stimulates his cough. When he opened his mouth in front of the mirror, he could find that the mucosal surface of the posterior pharyngeal wall was rough and there were many dilated small blood vessels. In severe cases, there will be transparent white bubbles, which are simple and common.
2. Chronic laryngitis: If the patient has a dry cough, hoarseness, dry and itchy throat and burning pain, it may be laryngitis.
3. Chronic bronchitis: People over middle age often cough, coughing up more or less phlegm, which is aggravated after waking up in the morning, attacks in winter and spring every year, and relieves or lightens in summer. Patients with severe or long-term thoracic widening should be suspected of chronic bronchitis.
4. Bronchial asthma: If the cough recurs and the throat is like a saw when panting, the patient feels chest tightness and dyspnea, and cough can be induced every cold season or when exposed to certain allergic substances. You should check whether you have bronchial asthma.
5. Tuberculosis and lung cancer: The patient has a low cough, expectoration with blood or hemoptysis, feeling weak, eating less, losing weight, rising body temperature in the afternoon and at night, sweating more when sleeping, sometimes flustered, and accompanied by redness on both cheeks.
6. Infectious cough: respiratory diseases such as upper respiratory virus infection or bacterial infection can also cause cough.
7. Cough caused by other reasons: diseases such as tracheal foreign body, pleurisy, pleural effusion and many physical and chemical factors can also cause cough.
Family first aid
1. Patients with cough should avoid inhaling irritating gases as much as possible, such as cigarettes, gas, automobile exhaust, ammonia and chlorine.
If cold air is the cause of cough, you should wear a mask to avoid inhaling cold air.
3. Let patients rest quietly, drink more warm food and reduce cold stimulation. Hot compress the throat with a warm towel to encourage patients to cough up phlegm as much as possible.
4, symptomatic treatment:
(1) If cough is caused by upper respiratory diseases, you can take Ganmaoqing or Xiao Su Ganmao Capsule 1-2 capsules, three times a day, or you can take Kebiqing or Kekuaihao, Banlangen Granules and Folium Isatidis mixture.
(2) Those with dry cough or scanty phlegm can take cough pills or cough syrup, such as Kebiqing and Kekuaihua.
(3) For those who cough and spit, ammonium chloride and tourmaline can be used to eliminate phlegm. People with excessive phlegm should not use simple antitussive drugs, let alone narcotic antitussive drugs (such as codeine), so as to avoid sputum staying in the respiratory tract, stimulating the respiratory tract and aggravating cough and infection.
(4) If cough is caused by other serious diseases, such as tuberculosis, lung abscess, pleurisy or tracheal foreign body, it should be taken and treated under the guidance of a doctor.
Formation of Sputum and Its Influencing Factors
Breathing fluid is a substance composed of many components. Its high liquid content is the result of ion and water transport by epithelial cells, and its macromolecules mainly come from the products of blood leakage or local secretory cells. Albumin mainly comes from blood. Mucous cells secrete glycoprotein, while serous cells secrete antibacterial proteins (such as lysosomes and iron transferrin) and protease inhibitors. Signal molecules (neurotransmitters) activate receptors on the cell surface, and then activate signal transduction pathways that lead to the increase of intracellular calcium ions, leading to exocytosis of secretory granules. After the particles are released, mucin forms polymer gel through intracellular entanglement. Serous cell products and molecules from blood interact with mucin to adjust the viscosity of the gel. Mucus, combined with the mechanical activity of epithelial cilia, plays the role of transporting samples and transports dirt out of the airway at a speed of 10~20μm per minute.
When inflammatory lesions appear in the respiratory tract, the composition of the respiratory fluid will change to form sputum. Sputum contains mucus, foreign bodies, pathogenic microorganisms, various inflammatory cells and necrotic mucosal epithelial cells. The liquid in sputum is mainly secreted by mucous glands and goblet cells of bronchial mucosa epithelium. Gland secretion is controlled by vagus nerve, and stimulating vagus nerve can promote gland secretion. Besides being controlled by vagus nerve, goblet cells also secrete more after being directly stimulated by inhaling dry air and irritating gas.
In chronic tracheitis and other diseases, glands in trachea and bronchus are enlarged, goblet cells are increased, secretion is significantly increased, and its viscosity is also greatly increased, while the cilia movement of tracheal mucosa is weakened, which leads to the obstruction of expectoration and the difficulty of mucus discharge.
The increase of sputum viscosity is mainly related to the increase of acidic glycoprotein content in sputum, because glycoprotein molecules are crosslinked by different bonds (such as disulfide bonds and hydrogen bonds) to form gel networks. Sputum contains electrolytes, among which Ca2 ++ content is high, which can increase the viscosity. During respiratory tract infection, the DNA produced due to the nuclear destruction of a large number of inflammatory cells also significantly improves the viscosity of sputum, forming so-called purulent sputum, which is not easy to discharge. The pH of sputum will also affect its viscosity. The viscosity of sputum increases in acidic liquid, but decreases in alkaline liquid.
In addition to the viscosity of sputum, the amount of sputum, the movement of cilia, and the composition ratio of gel layer and water sample layer on the surface of respiratory tract can all affect the discharge of sputum.