Symptoms Of Bronchospasm
The symptom of bronchospasm is common in childhood and in winter times. Anyway, we have to know that we are facing a sign that reveals the existence of some pulmonary mechanism that must be studied.
Except in children under two years of age, where bronchospasm is a clinical entity in itself due to the small diameter of the bronchi, in older people basic pathologies must be traced. It could be asthma, COPD, or a developing allergy.
Thus, there is a tendency to distinguish between infants and the rest of the population for the study of this symptom. Even up to two years, its repetition gives it a particular diagnostic name, which is recurrent bronchial syndrome or recurrent obliterative bronchitis.
On the other hand, for those over two years of age there are pre-existing triggers or pathologies that explain the symptom of bronchospasm. Here we include asthmatic children, older adults with emphysema or chronic bronchitis, seasonal fall or spring allergies, and environmental pollution.
What is bronchospasm?
Parents often know what a bronchospasm is because it is a classic symptom of pediatric age. They identify the wheezing that appears when breathing and immediately recognize it as such.
What happens to make that characteristic hiss audible is that the bronchus closes too much and makes the air whistle as it passes through it. It is pure physics that causes the noise.
The reasons for the bronchus to close too much are varied. Sometimes it responds to a reaction to the internal content of the duct, and other times it is an order that comes through the nervous system to contract.
An internal content capable of causing bronchospasm is mucus. The child sometimes starts with a cold with a cough; their glands make mucus that is deposited inside the bronchus and, in the effort to expel that substance, it closes too much. Then, the wheezing and shortness of breath occurs.
On the other hand, an external cause is an agent in the environment that is toxic, such as cigarette smoke. It enters through the nose and mouth, irritating everything in its path, and the nervous system sends the lungs the order to close the air passage so that the pollutant does not reach further inside. Then again, we have wheezing and shortness of breath.
A particular case is bronchospasm associated with exercise and sports. This is supposed to address a response from the internal muscle of the bronchi to mobilization. In asthmatic people, the beginning of sports practice can lead to bronchospasm.