Tag Archives: The Doctors 101 Chronic Symptoms & Conditions

Men's Health, Women's Health

THE DOCTORS 101 CHRONIC SYMPTOMS & CONDITIONS #2: NASAL CONGESTION

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Chronic nasal congestion, the constant condition of not being able to breathe through your nose, can be a major problem, interferes with sleep (often via sleep apnea), undermining one of the 4 pillars of health (sleep, diet, exercise and intellectual stimulation). Well, maybe a second one as well, since it is hard to function intellectually when you are sleepy all the time.

Chronic nasal congestion in kids is often due to allergy and associated ADENOID (located at the back of the throat) ENLARGEMENT. Adenoids can cause sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension, ear infections and sinusitis.

If left untreated, the bones of the face don’t grow properly, and the constricted bony structures can lead to later problems. Nasal polyps can be a factor in nasal airflow blockage, and their removal may benefit the blockage.

If associated with sinusitis and aspirin (aspirin is rarely used in children anymore because if Reyes’ Syndrome) sensitivity, the combination is known as “sampters’ triad. Regrowth of the polyps is common and aspirin desensitization may be helpful.

ALLERGIC RHINITIS is treated by avoidance, medication and desensitization. SINUSITIS can cause chronic nasal blockage. Both medical and surgical treatments are useful.

One-sided nasal blockage raises a red flag. One of my young patients had pushed a rock into his nose, which I then removed. Nasal polyps can be on one side, and can be removed, NASAL SEPTAL DEVIATION can cause one-sided nasal blockage, and if severe can be surgically corrected.

The nasal tissues are “erectile tissues” I have a nasal septal deviation to my left side. I SLEEP ON MY SIDE to CONTROL my SLEEP APNEA (more when I get to that subject, which certainly qualifies as a chronic problem), When I sleep on my right side, I don’t breathe as well since my “good side” is down and becomes study.

Those lucky people who breathe freely on both sides, and who sleep on their sides, may possibly be aware that the DOWN SIDE (my good side, above) blocks up. It seems that the nasal tissues are “erectile tissues” body wants to REST one side at a time, and the down side is easier, since gravity pools the blood there.

Nasal tissues are under the control of the autonomic nervous system, decongest (nasal passages are open) with the alarm (fight or flight, “sympathetic”) reaction, and do the opposite (tissues congest, nasal passages close) when the “parasympathetic” takes over after a meal, when you are “vegetating”. in front of the TV

Men's Health, Resources, Women's Health

THE DOCTORS 101 CHRONIC SYMPTOMS & CONDITIONS #1 – THE “CHRONIC COUGH”

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In my 88 years, I have had at least a dozen medical problems. Some have gone away on their own, some have been removed surgically, and a few have become CHRONIC, lasting for years, ultimately becoming a part of my life.

I have compiled a list of these and other SYMPTOMS & CONDITIONS I have seen as a physician. Over the next year, I will discuss them one by one, appending these vetted articles for further reading.

The ‘CHRONIC COUGH’ will be the first discussed.

As an Allergist, I was involved with coughing all of my adult life. If my patients did NOT have asthma, they usually coughed from mucus pouring down the back of their throat (post-nasal drip), from their allergic nasal condition (allergic rhinitis), or sometimes from the associated SINUSITIS drainage.

Asthma was a much more common cause of Chronic Cough for my Patients, sometimes theIr main problem. All asthmatic have a chronic inflammation of their breathing tubes(bronchi), and the resulting BRONCHITIS irritates the airway nerve endings, causing Cough.

Without enough narrowing of the airways to cause wheezing, this is called “cough equivalent asthma”. With the addition of airway narrowing (constriction) to the above situation, ASTHMA results.

There is added shortness of breath (dyspnea), and the cough becomes the “tight” wheezy cough of full-blown Asthma.

COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) may be a residue of long-term asthma, but commonly results from cigarette  smoking. Where loss of alveolae (air sacs) predominates, dyspnea (shortness of breath) is more common.

Where bronchial tube inflammation is more prominent, mucus and cough result. This cough is useful in clearing the mucus; a USEFUL COUGH (although my Patients did not always appreciate their friend, which could be bad enough to cause hernias or incontinence). 

Gastro-esophageal reflux is a chronic condition where stomach contents are not retained in the stomach by the G-E Sphincter ( a type of “purse-string” Gate), but spill(reflux) up, when not restrained by gravity, at NIGHT. The ACIDIC STOMACH CONTENTS burn the esophagus on the way up(heart burn), and are often aspirated into the airways during sleep, causing inflammation and COUGH.

There are many other less common CHRONIC LUNG ( pulmonary) DISEASES (conditions) such as sarcoidosis, bronchiectasis, interstitial pneumonitis, TB, and cancer, that can be diagnosed by imaging (X-Ray, etc.). Heart failure can also cause cough, as can blood pressure medication (ACE inhibitors). 

Smoking is an obvious cause; chronic smoking, chronic cough. Smokers know what is causing their cough, and usually don’t bother coming to the Doctor unless they cough up some blood, or develop one of the myriads of diseases caused by their habit.

If you have a chronic cough, check with your Primary Care Doctor, who may refer you to an Allergist or Pulmonologist. The following article will be useful to your understanding of cough, and will provide a LIST OF QUESTIONS the DOCTOR will likely ask you.

—Dr. C.

Further reading #1

Further reading #2