Bronchitis

Bronchitis services offered in Canton, MA

A deep cough with mucus production and wheezing may be due to bronchitis, an infection affecting your airways. Muhammad Bajwa, MD, provides evaluations and treatment for your bronchitis symptoms at Canton Urgent Care in Canton, Massachusetts, so you can breathe easier. Call the office, book an appointment online, or walk in for immediate bronchitis care today.

What is bronchitis?

Bronchitis is an infection of your airways that causes inflammation and mucus buildup. Your lungs attempt to expel the mucus by coughing, so many people mistake bronchitis for a particularly severe cold. Acute bronchitis lasts two weeks and usually clears up on its own, but chronic bronchitis can last two years or longer.

While most bronchitis comes from a viral infection, you can also get bronchitis because of smoke exposure or chemical irritants that invade your airways. The illness itself isn’t contagious unless it comes from viruses or bacteria, which can spread to others’ airways via particles in the air. Bronchitis from smoking and other irritants is not spreadable.

Canton Urgent Care diagnoses bronchitis by listening to your lungs and ruling out other possible conditions, like COVID-19, with targeted testing.

What are the symptoms of bronchitis?

Bronchitis involves a persistent cough that feels like it comes from your chest and not your throat. Both acute and chronic bronchitis cause similar symptoms, which can include:

Clear, gray, yellow, or green mucus from your cough
Shortness of breath
Wheezing
Chest tightness
Fatigue
Runny nose

With chronic bronchitis, you may notice your symptoms worsening for short periods. This can happen when other infections, like the common cold or flu, affect you on top of your ongoing bronchitis.

How is bronchitis treated?

Bronchitis tends to go away eventually on its own if it’s acute. However, Canton Urgent Care can make you more comfortable as you recover.

Since acute bronchitis typically comes from viral infections and not bacterial infections, antibiotics are ineffective for treatment. Instead, your provider may recommend other strategies for managing or treating your bronchitis, such as:

Cough suppressant medications
A humidifier
A mask to shield you from irritants
Antiviral medications
Anti-inflammatory medications

You might benefit from taking medications for allergies, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other conditions that amplify bronchitis symptoms. For severe and chronic bronchitis, Canton Urgent Care may refer you to a pulmonologist for pulmonary rehabilitation.

If you have a chest cough, call Canton Urgent Care, book an appointment online, or walk in for immediate bronchitis care today.