A system of practical medicine. By American authors. Vol. 3 : $b Diseases of the respiratory, circulatory, and hæmatopoietic systems
Science
A system of practical medicine. By American authors. Vol. 3 : $b Diseases of the respiratory, circulatory, and hæmatopoietic systems
Medicine -- Practice
SYMPTOMATOLOGY.--The symptoms of ordinary chronic catarrhal bronchitis
differ from those accompanying the acute form of the disease, chiefly
in the absence of general fever and the existence of much less pain or
feeling of soreness and oppression in the chest. The patient generally
complains of a rather harsh, full cough, usually more severe on first
retiring to bed at night and on rising in the morning, but occurring at
intervals through the day, and accompanied by a mucous or muco-purulent
expectoration varying much in its amount and tenacity. In the great
majority of cases occurring in young persons and in the first part of
adult life, the expectoration is simply a whitish or slightly opaque
mucus, more or less frothy from the intermixture of minute bubbles of
air, and easily dislodged, especially in the mornings. In old persons
and in cases which have continued a long time, the expectoration often
becomes more copious and more decidedly purulent, with slight
feverishness at night and some loss of flesh.
In all the cases except those last mentioned the general health of the
patient is but little impaired, the appetite and secretions usually
remaining nearly natural. Those who pursue indoor occupations or are
sedentary in their habits will be prone to constipation and imperfect
digestion--more, however, from the circumstances just mentioned than
from the effects of the bronchial disease. All cases of chronic
bronchitis are subject to temporary aggravation by exposure to a cold
and damp atmosphere, whether indoors or out, and are also very
susceptible to increase from the inhalation of air containing dust or
floating particles of solid matter or of irritating gases.
Cases of ordinary chronic bronchitis rarely prove fatal without the
intercurrence of some other disease, and yet there is no natural limit
to their duration. In many cases the symptoms almost disappear during
the warm months of summer, but return with the first period of cold and
wet weather of autumn. Such patients usually find permanent relief by
changing their residence to a mild and dry climate.
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