Respiratory System Diseases

It has been proved that respiratory system diseases and disorders are the third cause of death among us humans today. It's not surprising, is it? With the increase in pollution, fresh air, rich in oxygen, is now a thing of the past. No matter where we are, whether at home or outside, we are constantly breathing in the poisonous gases. With the rate at which the air is getting polluted, pretty soon death will rank first on the list.

List of Respiratory System Diseases - Index

• Asthma
• Acute Bronchitis
• Sinusitis
• Common Cold
• Influenza
• Pneumonia
• Lung Cancer
• Tuberculosis
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Chronic Bronchitis, and Emphysema

Asthma
Have you ever seen people who are having an asthma attack? The breathing problem that they face, is painful to watch even. People with this disease have a hypersensitive respiratory system airways, that constricts sometimes, thus reducing the airflow which in turn causes problems to breathe in properly. Wheezing takes place when a person has asthma attacks, since the air is being forced to pass through smaller air passages.

Causes: Air pollution, tobacco smoke, emission from factories, pollens from flowers, cold air, exercises, chemicals and even certain medications. Some people are both allergic and asthmatic, which is a problem. But, not to worry as both are treatable and manageable.

Prevention and Treatment: To prevent anyone from getting asthma attacks,

• Remove allergens from your home
• Keep your house clean
• Discourage the growth of mold in your house
• Have a no - smoking area at your house
• See to it that the asthma patient stays away from any kind of dust and smoke.
• Drinking at least 8 glasses of water daily, reduces the mucus in the air ways of the respiratory system
• Do not work in places where there is too much of dust and smoke

Various drugs are also there for treatment. Bronchodialators and anti-inflammatory medications are used to treat asthma. There are some medications which are inhaled, thus delivering the drug directly to the system. Steroids can also be used to treat asthma, but to some extent. Thus, now you know about the respiratory system disease, asthma.

Acute Bronchitis
It is the inflammation of bronchial tubes which are the primary air ways to the lungs. Let us now see the causes, symptoms and the treatments of this disease.

Causes: It is caused due to viral or bacterial infections in the lungs. It usually occurs after a person has just got up from a bout of respiratory disease. The person's resistance power has been lowered down, thus they are more prone to this kind of disease.

Symptoms: Mucus or sputum is yellow or green in color, shortness of breathe, chest pain, fatigue, cough, etc. are all symptoms of acute bronchitis.

Prevention and Treatment: The prevention and treatments for acute bronchitis are:

• Use of respiratory medications like bronchodialators, antibiotics, decongestants
• Use of home humidifiers
• Increase in the intake of liquids.

Sinusitis
Each year, nearly 40 million people develop this respiratory system disease. It occurs due to the inflammation of the sinus cavity in our respiratory system, which usually occurs after we have just been cured from cough and cold or any allergic reactions.

Causes: When the sinus cavities are blocked, we have problems of sinus. Also, people who have had diseases of the immune system, are pre-disposed to sinus development.

Symptoms: The symptoms associated with sinus are usually headaches or facial pain, nasal congestion, cough and sore throat, fatigue, and production of green of yellow colored mucus.

Prevention and Treatment: For curative measures,

• Try to avoid cigarettes and any kind of air pollution
• Use humidifiers at home
• Increase the intake of liquid
• If you show signs or any kind of allergies, then get it treated immediately
• Use antibiotics to treat sinus
• You can also get a surgery done to drain the sinus cavities.

Do keep in mind, that there are various over-the-counter treatments for sinus. These nasal sprays should not be used for more than three times. They cause the nasal tissues to rebound, hence, you might have congestion.

Common Cold
These diseases are contagious and they usually spread through coughing and touching contaminated objects. Some recover on their own within two to three days, while some usually depend on over-the-counter treatments. Do not use antibiotics as they have no effect on the common cold viruses.

Symptoms: The common symptoms of common cold are usually sneezing, sore throat, low fever, congestion, runny nose, headaches, and muscle aches.

Prevention and Treatment: To prevent suffering, you have to

• Wash your hands after you touch an infected object
• Increase the intake of liquid
• Use pain relievers to get rid of the muscle aches
• Use decongestants to get rid of congestion.

Influenza
It is usually caused by the influenza virus and it is the most serious of all the respiratory system diseases. This disease is highly contagious and can spread through air or through contact.

Symptoms: Runny nose, sore throat, cough, body aches, nausea, diarrhea, fevers and chills and upper respiratory congestion.

Prevention and Treatment: Again the prevention is the same as the above diseases, such as intake of liquids, wash hands, etc.

• For medication you can use anti-vital medications or analgesics for the muscle and the joint aches
• You can also go for annual flu immunizations.

Pneumonia
This is an infection of the lungs and it is usually caused by virus or bacteria. This disease occurs to at least 1% of the population every year. This disease can be mild or it can also require intensive care in the hospital. Some recover within a week or two, while some might take more time. The elders should be taken care of as their immune system is pretty weak, and they might catch the disease very quickly.

Symptoms: Cough, shortness of breath, yellow or green bloody mucus productions, chest pains, fevers and fatigues are mainly the symptoms of pneumonia.

Prevention and Treatment: Again the preventions are similar to the above cases.

• Medications that can be used for pneumonia are, antibiotics or expectorants
• You can also go for respiratory therapy.

Lung Cancer
At least 160,000 cases of lung cancer has been reported and treated in the year 2001 alone, in United States. And guess what was the main cause of the disease? You are right, cigarette smoking, both active and passive. Lung cancer kills more people than any other type of cancer.

Treatments: For treating lung cancer, you have surgery, use of chemotherapy, radiation therapy or the combination of the all the three.

Prevention:

• Do not smoke
• Avoid passive smoking as much as possible
• Avoid areas where the smoke content is high

Tuberculosis
It is a common and deadly respiratory system disease which is usually caused by mycobacteria. Here, the lungs are the ones that are infected. But, it can also affect other parts of the body. Like common cold, it can spread through air. That is why, you will remember, if you read Somerset Maugham books, how the people suffering from TB or tuberculosis, were kept outside the city, and how they were not allowed to meet even their families for years.

Symptoms: Chronic cough along with blood tinged sputum, fever, night sweats, weight loss are the common symptoms of TB.

Prevention and Treatment:

• There is the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine which is used to cure TB
• Also stay away from people who is suffering from this disease
• Young children and old people are usually prone to this disease as their immunity is low. So be careful.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema
Causes: When we say, COPD, we generally mean chronic bronchitis and emphysema. In the former, there is inflammation and scarring of the main air passages known as the bronchial tubes and in the latter, the lung losses it's elasticity and there is permanent damage to the air sac's walls. This stops the air from flowing freely. Hereditary, passive smoking, air pollution, under-treated asthma, are some of the other causes of COPD.

Symptoms: A person suffering from COPD usually shows, shortness of breath, chronic cough and also production of chronic mucus. Cough, wheezing, yellow or bloody sputum, sleep difficulties, overall fatigues, forgetfulness, confusion or slurred speech are also some of the symptoms of COPD.

Prevention and Treatment: There are certain precautions which you need to take to prevent COPD.

• Say no to smoking
• Avoid irritants which cause respiratory problems such as pollen, dust, pollution, etc.
• Do cardiovascular exercises daily
• Follow a healthy diet
• Go for regular medical checkups
• Have home purifiers to purify the air at home
• There are medications like bronchodialators, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medications or corticosteroids, diuretics, which can be used to treat COPD.

Thus, there you have now, the common respiratory system diseases list and also what are their symptoms, prevention and treatments. If you are a bit careful and take the necessary precautions, you will not suffer from these diseases. So take care!