Overview
Chest infections are very normal when dealing with colder weather. The good news is that most chest infections get better on their own. However, there are times in which chest infections can be life threatening and severe.
The Signs of a Chest Infection
When a person has a chest infection, they often have signs such as:
- Wheezing when breathing
- Chest pain or tightness in the chest
- Rapid heartbeat
- Fever
- Coughing of phlegm or blood
- Unable to catch your breathe
- Feeling confused or disorientated
- A cough that is persistent
Chest Infection Contributing Factors
When a person has a chest infection, they are often told that they have pneumonia or bronchitis. With bronchitis, the person has come into contact with a virus that has turned into this. With pneumonia, the person has this due to bacteria in the body. However, there are those people who are more prone to chest infections;
- Women who are pregnant
- Those who smoke
- Those who are elderly
- Infants and younger children
- Those who are overweight
- People who have low immune systems
Managing the Chest Infection at Home
For those who are treating this t home, they are going to want to help their recovery through:
- While sleeping, elevate the head to make it easier to breathe
- Stop smoking if you smoke
- Treat fever with over the counter medications
- Start drinking warm honey and lemon to ease the throat pain often associated with a chest infection
- Ensure you are drinking enough fluids to help thin the mucus
- Breathe in steam to help loosen phlegm
When to See a Doctor
There are times in which you are going to want to see your doctor. These cases include:
- You are over the age of 65
- You have a weak immune system
- There is severe difficulty breathing
- You have a fever that will not go away
- There are other long-term health conditions that you are dealing with
- You are pregnant
- You are seeing blood when coughing
- If the person is below the age of five years of age
- You are overweight
- The chest infection seems to be lasting longer than 21 days
Preventing Chest Infections
There are methods you can implement to help decrease your possibility of getting chest infections, and to avoid them from spreading to other people.
Good hygiene
Though chest infections aren’t usually as infectious as other common toxicities, like flu, you can transmit them to other people when you sneeze or cough. Therefore, it’s vital to shield your mouth when coughing or sneezing and to rinse your hands often. Throw used tissues away straightaway into the bin.
Stop smoking
If you do smoke cigarettes, one of the most important things you can do to avoid getting an infection on the chest is to quit. Smoking harms your lungs and deteriorates you’re your immune system.