It is the annual peak of the cold, and wave after wave of coughing and sputum cough make parents headaches.
Phlegm purrs in the baby's throat, and the parents listen like fish in their own throat eyes. I really want to do something to get rid of the phlegm immediately. It was hard to hear the baby cough out, grunt and swallow again...
Oh, that doesn't matter, right? Mo panic, today we will pick up the soul torture of phlegm and ask: Who are you? What for? Where did it come from? Where to go?
What is "phlegm"?
Many people habitually treat the secretions in the throat as "phlegm", but in fact, these secretions are not all really "phlegm".
What flows down from the nose is the snot that flows backwards into the throat, and the secretions discharged from the lower respiratory tract are the real "phlegm". The vast majority of infants and young children cough and nasal discharge are upper respiratory tract infections, and most of the so-called "sputum sounds" heard in the later stages of the disease are also snot that flow backwards from the back nasal cavity.
The "sputum sound" of a baby
Parents will find that after the baby catches a cold, the phlegm in the throat will persist for a period of time, and sometimes it seems that the baby does not have any cold performance, that is, there is a phlegm sound when feeding or sleeping. In addition, the baby's spirit, appetite, and growth are normal.
This situation is related to the relative narrowness of the anatomical cavity of the nasopharynx of small infants, a small amount of secretions in the nasopharynx in the late stage of a cold, the residual milk after ordinary feeding, the residual saliva, etc. are not swallowed for a while, which will lead to the purring phlegm in the throat.
In the case of the baby in good condition, there is really no need to try sputum medicine because of the parents' own anxiety.
Real sputum production
True sputum production is seen in lower respiratory tract infections such as bronchitis, pneumonia, or non-infectious inflammatory diseases such as asthma.
When infection, allergies, foreign body stimulation and other factors occur, because of the inflammatory response, the goblet cells of the airway secrete more mucus, which wraps around the shedding epithelial cells, immune cells, immune substances, microbial remains, etc., forming sputum.
Whether it is snot or sputum, it is essentially mucus secreted by the respiratory tract.
Under normal circumstances, our body produces about 1 liter of mucus per day, which maintains the health and good functioning of all parts of the body.
Mucus helps the body destroy bacteria and viruses, but also captures particles, prevents moisture loss, lubricates substances entering the body, and protects all surfaces it covers from damage.
Specifically, the continuous secretion of mucus from the eyes protects our eyes; the digestive tract continues to secrete mucus to protect the gastrointestinal tract from damage from gastric acid, bile, and various digestive enzymes; the mucus secreted by the respiratory tract not only maintains the humidity of the airway, but also resists viruses, bacteria, and cleans out various dust particles that invade the lower respiratory tract.
(Pictured: There is protective mucus all over the body)
In this way, sputum is really a friend rather than an enemy.
What good does "phlegm" do us?
Immunoprotective effect
The lungs secrete protective immunoglobulins, which are an important component of mucus and usually protect our trachea, bronchi and lungs from germs.
This is also the reason why children have respiratory infections, and doctors repeatedly emphasize "humidifying the airway". Because the dry air and the destruction of the mucus layer of the airways, germs are more likely to invade our respiratory tract.
(Pictured: Mucus disrupts the formation of bacterial biofilms)
Cleaning effect
Large particles in the air are generally blocked in the nasal cavity, but there will still be small particles entering the trachea and bronchi, at this time, it depends on the ability to remove mucus.
These small particles are wrapped in mucus, and then under the transport of the upper cilia of the upper skin of the airway, they are gradually moved up to the upper airway, and finally coughed up to achieve the purpose of removal.
This is also why when the air is particularly bad, we will feel phlegm in the throat.
Can the different colors of sputum reflect what the infection is?
As we mentioned earlier, due to various reasons, the secretion of mucus in the airway increases, and sputum is produced, and most of the time we observe white thin or viscous sputum.
But sometimes parents observe yellow and green sputum, does this reflect whether it is a bacterium or a virus? Can you guide the use of antibiotics? Not really.
Yellow sputum, mainly because of its high white blood cell composition, is precisely the neutrophils of the white blood cell family, they are the main members of the fight against bacteria.
The phrase "yellow sputum is a bacterial infection" is not entirely unreasonable, because when a bacterium is infected, neutrophils will be recruited to the infected site in large quantities, fighting bloody battles, resulting in more cells, their products and bacterial debris in the sputum, and the sputum is easy to appear yellow or green.
But this is not absolute, such as in the later stages of viral infection, sputum is more viscous and more likely to appear yellow, while like prolonged bacterial bronchitis, there can be no yellow sputum, but it needs to be treated with standardized antibiotics.
Therefore, it is very arbitrary to judge whether it is bacterial bronchitis or pneumonia by yellow thick sputum.
If red sputum, bloody sputum, milky white, etc. are found, this is beyond the scope of parents' own observation and judgment at home, and it is necessary to timely assess the cause of respiratory treatment.
Why is it not recommended to use "expectorant/antiseptic drugs"?
At present, there are three common types of sputum drugs:
1. Disgusting expectorants and irritating expectorants: cause nausea by stimulating the gastric mucosa, reflexively promote increased mucus secretion in the respiratory tract, dilute sputum. For example, guaiacidine ether will be found in compound cold medicines;
2. Mucolytic agent: can decompose and liquefy the viscous sputum, reduce the viscosity and easy to cough out, such as acetylcysteine, ambroxol in ethanine;
3. Mucus thinner: Acts on the cells that produce mucus, prompting them to secrete less viscous secretions, and the sputum becomes thin and easy to cough up.
It is not difficult to see from this that these drugs do not make the sputum disappear, but only make it easier to cough up.
This is also why many parents will observe that after taking "sputum medicine", cough and sputum production will increase, and if it is a stimulant expectorant, it may also cause nausea.
In the end, these sputum still need to be discharged by the child through the self-protection function of coughing.
What does phlegm go through when swallowed?
Swallowing snot and phlegm, in addition to sounding disgusting, generally does not cause any harm to the body.
The constituents of sputum are, in the final analysis, proteins and nucleic acids, and they are digested by stomach acid and pepsin when they enter the stomach.
In addition, the mucus of the digestive tract also contains secreted immunoglobulins, and the digestive system has its powerful immune defense system, otherwise how can it coexist peacefully with such a huge and complex flora in the intestine.
Therefore, even sputum with bacterial debris and viruses entering the digestive tract is destroyed by the intrinsic immune system of the digestive tract.
With one exception, sputum from tuberculosis cannot be swallowed, as TB bacteria are more capable of carrying and may be king in the digestive tract, leading to intestinal tuberculosis.
It turns out that swallowing phlegm is also a "expectorant" method.
In short, there are many reasons why children cough up "phlegm". If a physician evaluates for bacterial pneumonia, bacterial sinusitis, or prolonged bacterial bronchitis, appropriate anti-infective drugs should be used as directed by a physician.
However, if it is a sputum cough in the process of disease recovery, the child's daily life, diet, sleep, and growth are basically not affected, and there is no need to feed the child "phlegm medicine" because he is uncomfortable listening. Even children who can't spit will expel phlegm by swallowing it.
Finally, please don't spit on the ground
bibliography
Chen Xinqian, et al. Chen Xinqian, New Ed. Pharmacology, 17th Edition, 505.
[2]https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/mucus-keeps-us-healthy/
This article was reviewed by Dr. Sha Xiaodan
This article is reproduced from Zhuozheng Science Popularization Health Express (ID: D-HealthExpress) with permission, if you need to reprint it for a second time, please contact the original author.