Breathing can be difficult due to physiological reasons, which include physical activity, and due to pathological changes in the body. What diseases can make breathing difficult?
Quincke's edema
This is an acute allergic reaction to various allergens, which is characterized by a very rapid (sometimes lightning-fast) development. Quincke's edema can occur due to allergens in medicines, food, household chemicals or plants. In this disease, breathing is difficult due to the fact that the patient, after contact with the allergen, begins to swell lips, cheeks and, most dangerous, the throat. If a person who has started Quincke's edema does not receive emergency medical care, then he may even die from asphyxiation.
If someone unexpectedly develops Quincke's edema outside the walls of a medical institution, it is necessary to call an ambulance first. Before the ambulance arrives, it is necessary to give the victim antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine or suprastin, and open the airways.
Bronchial asthma
Difficulty breathing due to bronchial asthma is due to a spasm of small bronchioles and their blockage by a viscous secret. Exhalation of a patient during an attack of bronchial asthma is accompanied by characteristic wheezing and whistles. Also, with bronchial asthma, it is difficult for some patients to breathe in the cold.
Most patients with chronic bronchial asthma constantly carry inhalers with bronchodilators. In order for the airway passage to expand and the patient can breathe calmly, you must either inhale from a special inhaler or make an injection of any bronchodilator. If it is simply difficult for the patient to breathe in the cold, then you should go into a warm room for some time, and then you can continue the path, breathing should be restored.
Inhalation of foreign bodies
Accidental inhalation of foreign bodies is characteristic of young children who play without parental supervision. If a healthy baby suddenly begins to cough, suffocation and difficulty breathing, then most likely he was trying to swallow a small object that "got into the wrong throat."
First of all, it is necessary to help the child independently cough a foreign object that has fallen into the throat. To do this, it is necessary to press the baby's chest and abdomen to a hard surface and several times with force to strike between the shoulder blades. If this method does not help, then you can turn the child upside down and shake. If it was not possible to get the object, then it is urgent to take the child to the hospital, while minimizing his movements, so that the foreign object does not go down deeper.
Altitude hypoxia
At very high altitudes, breathing is almost always difficult, it is due to the fact that many climbers gathering on high mountains, for example, Everest, always take breathing cylinders with them. When initially located at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters above sea level, a person begins to experience symptoms such as chest pain, cough, hypoxia, and vomiting. Usually after a couple of days a person will fully adapt.
In order to minimize the manifestation of pathological symptoms of altitude hypoxia, it is necessary to gradually adapt to altitude, that is, make long stops at each new mark.
Pneumonia
With pneumonia, breathing difficulties can begin completely unexpectedly. In addition, the disease may be accompanied by fever, cough, or chills. Characteristic signs of pneumonia are the swelling of the wings of the nose, and the retraction of the ribs during breathing.
Inflammation of the lungs must be treated in a hospital under the supervision of specialists (although in some cases it is possible to undergo a course of treatment at home). With the right approach to treatment and the absence of complications, this disease passes quickly enough.
The article lists only part of the diseases that are accompanied by difficulty breathing. In fact, there are many more, so in each case of respiratory dysfunction, it is urgent to seek medical help!