Want to know what a sore throat from smoking means? Well, this article will educate you on that issue and will even help you find some solutions. Therefore, do not waste a single second; read more to get help. Read more.
What Is Sore Throat?
Even before understanding what a sore throat from smoking means, we need to understand what a sore throat is. This will help us get a proper idea of the implications and the risks that are involved.
A sore throat can be best defined as a feeling of scratchiness and irritation of the throat that makes it difficult for a person to swallow. The most common cause of a sore throat is pharyngitis. Pharyngitis is a viral infection that is primarily because of a cold or flu. A sore throat due to viral infection can subside easily, on its own. However, in some cases, medications help.
Apart from pharyngitis, sore throat can also be caused by a condition called strep throat or streptococcal infection. This is a less common form of sore throat that is primarily caused by bacteria. This requires treatment using antibiotics.
Apart from these two, a sore throat can also be due to another very common reason, smoking. In fact, nowadays, a smoker’s cough is more prevalent than any other form of throat infection. This is partly due to smoking and partly due to abysmal AQI or the Air Quality Index.
Causes Of Chronic Sore Throat
A chronic sore throat is never a good sign. This is a very discomforting sensation that even makes the most basic tasks of swallowing and speaking a huge deal. The causes of chronic sore throat are quite varied and can be because of several different reasons. Here is a small list of all the primary causes of chronic sore throat.
Smoking
Whenever you inhale smoke, it irritates the lining of your throat. This irritation is because the smoke is dry, hot, and abrasive in nature. Over an extended period of smoking, the tissue lining of your throat gets worn down. This can result in chronic sore throat. This condition is called a smoker’s cough and must be treated in the early stages of detection. Otherwise, you might be leaving yourself vulnerable to throat or lung cancer. Smoking also leaves people with weakened immunity levels. As a result, you will be more susceptible to cold and flu viruses.
Air Pollution
Smog and air polution is one of the biggest banes of a city-dweller’s existence. Every day, we are supposedly inhaling 10 cigarettes worth of smoke. Therefore, this is one of the biggest reasons behind the sore throat of a majority of the population. Breathing in poor-quality air produces similar results as smoking cigarettes. In fact, breathing in smog on warm days can be particularly more harmful than smoking a cigarette:
- Chest pain
- Congestion’
- Coughing
- Other pulmonary issues
Cancer
This is probably not the answer you were looking for. However, we must not shy away from the worst-case scenario and try to analyze all the major causes of a persistent sore throat. If a person is suffering from cancer, he or she will have a sore throat for an extended period of time.
Throat cancer or laryngeal cancer is one of the worst-case scenarios you can imagine. As a result, people usually do not engage in conversations regarding this. Hence, people tend to overlook symptoms. The general symptoms include:
- Hoarseness of voice
- Constant coughing
- Pain while swallowing
- Labored breathing
- Loss of weight
- Lump in the neck
Acid Reflux
This is one of the most common reasons for sore throat. When the muscle at the top of our stomach weakens, the acid of the stomach leaks into the esophagus. This can lead to heartburn, a painful sensation when the acid burns out the esophagus. Even though this condition can be controlled perfectly, it can cause long-term damage to your esophagus. Hence, it must be dealt with as soon as possible.
Why Sore Throat From Smoking Mean Trouble?
The relationship between smoking and respiratory issues is a long and quite established one. Doctors have extensively studied all the things that smoking does to the human body. Remember one thing, each body reacts to smoke differently. As a result, do not treat this section as a blueprint.
Weakened Immune System
One thing smoking extensively does is that it weakens the immune system of the body. As a result, the smoker becomes more and more susceptible to viruses and pathogens. This also means that you will come into contact with more airborne and immunity diseases.
Pro-infection Environment
Smoking for an extended period of time badly damages the upper tissue lining of your throat. This is because smoke is an irritant. According to NCI or National Cancer Institute, cigarette smoke contains around 7,000 chemicals. And out of those chemicals, at least 250 chemicals are known to be fatal. Hence, you are making your throat a breeding ground for infections.
Increased Chance Of Infection
According to a study conducted in the late 1900s, sharing cigarettes is one of the most potent methods of transmitting saliva-borne diseases. Apart from pulmonary diseases, sharing cigarettes can also give way to other diseases as well.
Therefore, this is what a sore throat from smoking means in actuality.
Treatment
A smoker’s cough can be quite a detrimental condition if left untreated. Even though the best way to deal with a smoker’s cough is to abstain from smoking, there are other ways in which you can treat a smoker’s cough.
- Frequently use cough syrups, lozenges, salt water gargle, etc.
- Drink 6 to 8 glasses to keep the mucus of the throats and lungs thin
- Always rest your head higher than the rest of the body.
- Exercise at least 30 minutes a day.
- Avoid alcohol or coffee overconsumption.
Closing Thought
And that is all we have for Question Of The Hour: What Does Sore Throat From Smoking Mean? Even though we have tried being detailed and extensive about the whole deal, smoking as a phenomenon is much larger and detrimental than we can imagine. So, take a step and stop smoking.
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