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The hallmark symptom of chronic bronchitis is a heavy and persistent cough that brings discolored mucus up from the lungs. The amount of mucus increases over time and can be white, yellow, or green in color. In order to be diagnosed with chronic bronchitis, this mucus-producing cough must be present three months out of the year over two consecutive years, or most days out of a single month. As the condition worsens, the buildup of mucus in the bronchial tubes begins to restrict the sufferer\u2019s airflow, making it increasingly difficult to breathe. Additional symptoms include wheezing, fatigue, fever and chills, chest discomfort, a whistling or squeaky sound when breathing, sinus congestion, and bad breath.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In more severe cases of chronic bronchitis, the sufferer may experience weight loss, weakness in the lower muscles, and swelling in the ankles, feet, and lower legs. This swelling is known as peripheral edema, a condition that is most common in older adults and pregnant women. Low levels of oxygen in the bloodstream can also cause bluish skin and lips. Frequent respiratory infections are another symptom of chronic bronchitis, since sufferers often experience common colds and the flu, especially in the wintertime. In fact, upper respiratory infections are often what trigger COPD exacerbations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A COPD exacerbation, otherwise known as a flare-up, occurs when respiratory symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease suddenly become more severe. Signs and symptoms of oncoming COPD exacerbations include more coughing and wheezing than usual, increased shortness of breath, changes to the color and thickness of mucus, experiencing greater amounts of mucus when coughing, feeling tired for multiple days in a row, unusual swelling of the ankles or legs, trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, and lower than normal oxygen levels in sufferers who are on supplemental oxygen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Moving onto causes, chronic bronchitis is mainly caused by long-term exposure to lung irritants. The most common by far is cigarette smoke, which accounts for over 90% of cases. Approximately 15% of all smokers will be diagnosed with chronic bronchitis or another type of COPD. Other kinds of tobacco such as pipes and cigars can also cause chronic bronchitis. Apart from smoking, other lung irritants include smoke from fireplaces and wood stoves, secondhand smoke, smog such as engine exhaust, strong odors like perfumes and insect sprays, indoor and outdoor air pollution, toxic gases, dust and fine powders, and aerosol sprays. In addition, age and genetics can put individuals at risk for chronic bronchitis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Most people who develop symptoms of chronic bronchitis are above the age of 40, and as the human population ages, COPD is slowly becoming more and more recognized as a disease of the elderly. Children do not develop chronic bronchitis, though individuals below the age of 40 can develop symptoms as early as in their 20s and 30s. Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency is a genetic disorder that is known to cause lung disease or liver disease, one of which is chronic bronchitis. This condition runs in families and has no cure, but early treatment can slow down the damage done to the lungs and reduce one\u2019s risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Resources” _builder_version=”4.22.1″ text_font_size=”10px” vertical_offset_tablet=”0″ horizontal_offset_tablet=”0″ z_index_tablet=”500″ text_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” text_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” text_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” link_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” link_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” link_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” ul_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” ul_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” ul_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” ol_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” ol_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” ol_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” quote_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” quote_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” quote_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_2_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_2_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_2_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_3_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_3_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_3_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_4_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_4_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_4_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_5_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_5_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_5_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” header_6_text_shadow_horizontal_length_tablet=”0px” header_6_text_shadow_vertical_length_tablet=”0px” header_6_text_shadow_blur_strength_tablet=”1px” box_shadow_horizontal_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_vertical_tablet=”0px” box_shadow_blur_tablet=”40px” box_shadow_spread_tablet=”0px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Resources:<\/strong> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The hallmark symptom of chronic bronchitis is a heavy and persistent cough that brings discolored mucus up from the lungs. The amount of mucus increases over time and can be white, yellow, or green in color. In order to be diagnosed with chronic bronchitis, this mucus-producing cough must be present three months out of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthheron.com\/hh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthheron.com\/hh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthheron.com\/hh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthheron.com\/hh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthheron.com\/hh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/healthheron.com\/hh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthheron.com\/hh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthheron.com\/hh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthheron.com\/hh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
https:\/\/www.ucsfhealth.org\/conditions\/chronic-bronchitis\u00a0<\/a>
https:\/\/www.nhlbi.nih.gov\/health-topics\/alpha-1-antitrypsin-deficiency\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n