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    Coughing, A Simple Guide to The Condition, Treatment and Related Conditions
    Coughing, A Simple Guide to The Condition, Treatment and Related Conditions
    Coughing, A Simple Guide to The Condition, Treatment and Related Conditions
    Ebook81 pages46 minutes

    Coughing, A Simple Guide to The Condition, Treatment and Related Conditions

    By Kenneth Kee

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    Coughing

    Everyone has coughed at least once in his or her lifetime.

    Cough is the medical term for reflex body defense mechanism meant to expel unwanted secretions, blood or foreign bodies from the airways.

    The cough act is spontaneous and activated by the irritation of the nerve receptors where the impulse travels to the cough center to effect the cough mechanism.

    The body adopts this mechanism to protect the airways unlike the digestive system which has an inlet (the mouth) and an exit (the anus).

    The lung has a common entry and exit point and adopts the cough as the method when foreign bodies are accidentally inhaled into the lungs or that other material such as infected mucus and phlegm needed to be expelled from the airways.

    The cough nerves are stimulated when the airway is inflamed as in infection by any forms of micro-organisms.

    What are the types of cough?

    1. Acute cough lasting up to 3 weeks
    2. Sub-acute cough between 3 to 8 weeks
    3. Chronic cough beyond 8 weeks

    What are the causes of cough?

    The causes are:

    1. Infections

    The most common cause is viral infections followed by infections by bacteria such as tuberculosis and fungi.

    2. Non infective causes such as bronchial asthma, bronchiectasis, cigarette smoking and lung cancers

    3. Aspirations of regurgitated materials and acid reflux of stomach contents (GERD) during periods of intoxications which may occur when a person is under the influence of sedatives

    4. Inhalation of irritants or foreign bodies

    5. Inhalation of poisonous fumes and toxic chemicals especially in metal or chemical industries

    6. Allergic conditions such as asthma or allergic bronchitis or allergic rhinitis

    7. Unusual and uncommonly causes which include auto-immune diseases and heart failure

    8. Other serious illnesses such as cancers

    9. Ultimately having excluded all pathology mechanism, the cough may be due to psychological stress.

    As a whole it is an important protective mechanism to protect the body.

    The most common cause of cough is in infection, cigarette smoking and allergic mechanism as in bronchial asthma.

    What are the symptoms or presentations of cough?

    1. Presence or absence of sputum and its nature

    This is typical of highly reactive airways as in infections and hyper-reactive airways.

    Bronchopneumonia and patients with bronchiectasis typically complain of copious expectorations which are usually colored.

    They may be yellow, green and blood stained occasionally.

    Dirty sputum with tinges of grey is common in chronic smokers.

    Bronchial carcinoma particularly alveolar cell carcinoma present with copious sputum production.

    2. Presence or absence of fever

    Fevers are present almost all the time in infective causes whether bacterial, viral, tuberculosis or fungal.

    Generally the doctor should aware of persistent high fevers over a period beyond 3 days.

    The persistent fever should alert the doctor of a possible pneumonia.

    3. Accompanying breathlessness

    Breathlessness with accompanying wheezing usually means a diagnosis of bronchial asthma in the younger patients.

    In the older patients (>60 years of age) with the likely history of heart disease, a diagnosis of heart failure (cardiac asthma) should be considered.

    Major airway obstruction occurs in cases of endo-bronchial tumors or in the very young foreign body’s inhalation.

    Moderate to large pleural effusions as well as pneumothorax will cause breathlessness.

    4. Chest pains

    The bronchial tree is a relatively painless organ.

    However pain is experienced when the pathology especially inflammation involves the parietal pleura.

    Deep seated pneumonic processes involving the parietal pleura usually cause severe pain which may restrict the breathing.

    Pleural tuberculosis however is relatively pa

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKenneth Kee
    Release dateJun 14, 2015
    ISBN9781310325595
    Coughing, A Simple Guide to The Condition, Treatment and Related Conditions
    Author

    Kenneth Kee

    Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

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      Book preview

      Coughing, A Simple Guide to The Condition, Treatment and Related Conditions - Kenneth Kee

      Coughing,

      A

      Simple

      Guide

      To

      The Condition,

      Treatment

      And

      Related Conditions

      By

      Dr Kenneth Kee

      M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

      Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

      Copyright Kenneth Kee 2015 Smashwords Edition

      Published By Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

      Dedication

      This book is dedicated

      To my wife Dorothy

      And my children

      Carolyn, Grace

      And Kelvin

      This book describes the symptom of Coughing, Treatment and Related Conditions or in vernacular terms

      What You Need to Know to Treat Coughing

      This eBook is licensed for the personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

      If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

      Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Introduction

      I have been writing medical articles for my blog http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Condition) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

      My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

      Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

      I then wrote an autobiolographical account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

      This autobiolographical account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Conditions into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://ken-med.com.

      From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 600 amazon kindle books and some into Smashwords.com eBooks.

      Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

      For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

      The later books go into more details of medical conditions.

      The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

      Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

      As I tried to bring you the latest information about a condition or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

      Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

      I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

      I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

      I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

      Chapter 1

      Coughing

      Everyone has coughed at least once in his or her lifetime.

      Cough is the medical term for reflex body defense mechanism meant to expel unwanted secretions, blood or foreign bodies from the airways.

      The cough act is spontaneous and activated by the irritation of the nerve receptors where the impulse travels to the cough center to effect the cough mechanism.

      The body adopts this mechanism to protect the airways unlike the digestive system which has an inlet (the mouth) and an

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