What Does Bronchitis Feel Like?
Key takeaways:
Bronchitis is inflammation of the airways to and from your lungs.
Some symptoms of bronchitis are cough, fatigue, and shortness of breath.
People who have had bronchitis say the cough that comes with it is painful.
When you’re sick, sometimes it’s hard to slow down and take a break from work.
When Barry Maher, a writer and motivational speaker from Santa Barbara, California, caught a cold a few years ago that eventually turned into bronchitis, rest was not his first choice. He wanted the show to go on.
“The problem with me is, as a speaker, you have to be able to speak,” says Barry. “And people really don’t like it when you’re coughing all over the place.”
Though his illness started as a normal cold, within a week he had a painful, persistent cough and fluid in both of his lungs. His doctor diagnosed him with acute bronchitis, which had infected his airways on both sides. Barry also had a fever and found that it was hard to stop coughing.
“Both lungs felt like they were filled with broken glass,” he says. “Especially when you cough, then you feel the broken glass effect all the way up through your throat.”
Barry got a prescription cough suppressant and used hot tea with honey to soothe his throat. His symptoms lasted for about 2 ½ weeks.
Though he did recover and breathes fine now, he still has scar tissue on his lungs from the bronchitis.
“It stays with you,” he says. “It’s not like the flu, and it’s not like the cold. It’s pretty serious.”
Breathing cold air hurts his lungs
Over the years, Carl Cunningham has had multiple bouts of bronchitis.
From the time he was a kid, he has associated cold, dry air with feeling bronchitis symptoms starting in his lungs.
“For me, when I have it, it’s a pain in my chest and a little bit in my throat,” says Carl, who’s 43 and lives in Aberdeen, North Carolina. Over the years, he has tried inhalers, nebulizers, and cold medicine to treat his symptoms, with varying degrees of success.
The most recent time he had bronchitis, last winter, Carl discovered another way to ease his symptoms.
“I would take a lot of hot showers, and I would let it steam,” he says. “I would breathe in that hot, wet air, and that would always make my lungs feel better.”
Painful coughs and sneezes
Ray Lancione, who’s 32 and runs a nonprofit organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ inclusion in gaming, says few things can stop him from working, but getting bronchitis was one of them.
Ray, who lives in Northridge, California, first got a cold, which progressed into a phlegmy cough that was painful enough for him to go to urgent care.
“It felt like burning, like when you drink water and it goes down the wrong way,” Ray says. “Another way to put it would be kind of like a stabbing. A stabbing pain for sure.”
His symptoms made it hard to concentrate on work, so he went home and rested. He remembers feeling pain every time he coughed, sneezed, or even exhaled.
Once he went to urgent care, he was prescribed a cough suppressant and antibiotics, because his bronchitis was bacterial. After that, his symptoms improved.
He says there’s no point in waiting to seek medical attention, because bronchitis will not go away on its own.
What does the doctor say?
Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH
Medical Editor
The bronchi are the tubes that move air in and out of your lungs. Bronchitis is a lower respiratory tract infection that inflames the bronchi and is almost always caused by common cold viruses. COVID-19 and the flu can also cause bronchitis.
When you have bronchitis, your airways get inflamed and swollen. This makes it harder to breathe and triggers a cough. Inflamed airways also produce more mucus, making it harder to clear that mucus out. This leads to chest congestion, which makes your cough worse and makes it even harder to breathe.
Constant coughing takes a toll on your chest wall muscles and your ribs. The mechanical force of coughing gives you chest soreness and pain, which also makes it harder to breathe. Most people end up in a vicious cycle of coughing leading to pain, leading to trouble breathing, leading to more coughing.
Since bronchitis is mostly a viral illness, antibiotics usually won’t help. But other prescription and over-the-counter medications can help relieve symptoms as you wait for your immune system to fight off the virus.
Cough suppressants can limit your cough so that your muscles and ribs get a break. There are many over-the-counter and prescription options that can help keep your cough under control, as well as home remedies like warm liquids and honey. Ibuprofen can relieve muscle soreness. Decongestants, warm air, and steam help break up mucus so you can breathe easier.
If you have a lung condition, such as COPD or asthma, your healthcare provider might recommend increasing your daily dose of inhaled medication or starting additional medication. These can keep your lungs safe while your body is fighting off bronchitis.
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