A - Z Encyclopedia
Understanding Bronchitis
the Basics | Symptoms | Treatment
Symptoms
What Are the Symptoms?
The symptoms for acute bronchitis are:
- Hacking cough.
- Yellow, white, or green phlegm, usually appearing 24 to 48 hours after a cough.
- Fever, chills.
- Soreness and tightness in chest.
- Some pain below breastbone during deep breathing
- Some shortness of breath
The symptoms for chronic bronchitis are:
- Persistent cough producing yellow, white, or green phlegm (for at least three months of the year, and for more than two consecutive years).
- Sometimes wheezing, sometimes breathlessness.
Call Your Doctor If:
- Your cough is so persistent or severe that it interferes with sleep or daily activities or leads to persistent chest pain; you could be damaging sensitive air sacs in your lungs.
- Your symptoms last more than a week, and your mucus becomes darker and thicker, increases in volume, or turns bloody.
- You display symptoms of acute bronchitis and have chronic lung or heart problems, or are infected with the virus that causes AIDS; respiratory infections can leave you vulnerable to more serious lung diseases, such as pneumonia.
- You have great difficulty breathing. This symptom, sometimes mistakenly associated with bronchitis, could signal asthma, emphysema, tuberculosis, heart disease, a serious allergic reaction, or cancer.
the Basics | Symptoms | Treatment
