What are the symptoms of bronchial obstruction?

Bronchial obstruction is extremely harmful to health, often causing shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, and symptoms such as wheezing. There are many reasons for bronchial obstruction, such as foreign objects or tumors. At this time, timely treatment should be sought, especially to control the infection. If there is sputum, it can also cause this phenomenon. It is necessary to promote sputum discharge in time, especially for the elderly.

What are the symptoms of bronchial obstruction?

1. Patients with tracheal obstruction have varying degrees of dyspnea and hypoxemia, and may even suffer from respiratory failure.

2. The clinical symptoms of tracheal tumors vary according to the location, size and nature of the tumor. Common early symptoms are an irritating cough with little or no sputum, sometimes with blood. When the tumor grows and gradually blocks more than 50% of the tracheal lumen, shortness of breath, dyspnea, and wheezing will occur. It is often misdiagnosed as bronchial asthma and treatment is delayed. Late-stage cases of tracheal malignancy may present with symptoms such as hoarseness, dysphagia, tracheoesophageal fistula, compression of mediastinal organ tissue, cervical lymph node metastasis and purulent lung infection.

3. Foreign bodies in the trachea: Patients often experience sudden coughing, violent paroxysmal coughing, and choking during eating, and may experience wheezing, hoarseness, cyanosis, and dyspnea. If the foreign body is small and smooth and active, such as melon seeds or corn kernels, when the patient coughs, a clapping sound of the foreign body hitting the glottis can be heard, and a vibration can be felt when the hand is placed in front of the larynx and trachea. If the foreign body is large and blocks the trachea or is close to the bulge of the tracheal branch, the ventilation of the main bronchi on both sides may be seriously obstructed, resulting in severe dyspnea, even suffocation and death.

People and their family members should pay attention to prevention and care.

1. Actively control infection: In the acute phase, follow the doctor's advice and choose effective antibacterial drugs for treatment. Commonly used drugs include: compound sulfa formaldehyde isoxazole, strong toxin, erythromycin, penicillin, etc. When treatment is ineffective, drugs that the patient has not used or has used rarely can also be used, such as midecamycin, spiramycin, and ceftriaxone. After the acute infection is controlled, stop using antibiotics promptly to avoid side effects caused by long-term use.

2. Promote expectoration: Patients in the acute phase should use antitussive and expectorant drugs while using antibacterial drugs. For elderly and weak patients who are unable to cough up sputum or patients with a large amount of sputum, expectoration should be the main treatment, and strong antitussive drugs should not be used to avoid inhibiting the central nervous system and aggravating respiratory inflammation, leading to worsening of the condition. Helping critically ill patients change their body positions regularly and gently massaging their chest and back can promote the discharge of phlegm.

3. Maintain good home environment hygiene, keep the indoor air fresh and with a certain humidity, control and eliminate all kinds of harmful gases and smoke, quit the habit of smoking, and keep warm.

4. Strengthen physical exercise, enhance physical fitness, and improve cold resistance and body resistance. In winter, it is helpful to wash your face and hands with cold water, and massage the soles of your feet and palms before going to bed.

5. During climate change and cold seasons, pay attention to adding or removing clothes in time to avoid catching a cold and prevent influenza. Pay attention to changes in the condition and understand the patterns of the disease so that you can take measures in advance. If the patient has difficulty breathing, purple lips and nails, edema of the lower limbs, confusion, and drowsiness, he should be sent to the hospital for treatment immediately.