You’ve been coughing all day and you think it’s no biggie.  It’s probably just a cold.  You’ll take some medicine and be back in no time.  But by the next day the cough is just getting worse, and it’s happening more often.  You don’t know what it is or what you should do since regular cough medicine seemed to do nothing.  So what’s the deal?

You may be suffering from bronchitis.  While this is nothing to worry about in its acute form, if you have chronic bronchitis the sooner you get it treated the better.  Acute will go away on its own, but chronic can become a major problem for your everyday life and lead to serious lung damage in the future.

While the cough may stay for months after the bronchitis is gone, it is good to have it checked out.  Not only will your doctor know the best way to handle it, but if it is something serious, the sooner it is caught the better. 

Bottom line when it comes to bronchitis: QUIT SMOKING!  This is the number one cause of chronic bronchitis, and can make an acute case much worse.  Other things you can do to protect yourself are wash your hands regularly, get an annual flu vaccination, and try to minimize your exposure to air pollutants and other lung irritants.

So find out what this cough just might be, what bronchitis is and how it’s treated.  While you may just have a simple cold, you may have something much more serious.  If that’s the case, learn how to kick this cough before it gets the better of you.