Often physical or emotional stress causes a person to feel a lack of air, while he has difficulty breathing. The reasons may lie in any beginning or existing pathologies. Today we will find out why such violations occur and what to do about it.
Why is breathing difficult?
- The reasons are sometimes hidden in a penchant for hysteria and neurosis. Constant psycho-emotional overstrain leads to an increase in the frequency of respiratory movements. Typically, this phenomenon is accompanied by dizziness, a feeling of lightheadedness, increased sweating and tachycardia.
- In pregnant women, a growing uterus that compresses the diaphragm can also cause shortness of breath. This is characteristic of the second half of pregnancy and if a woman has two or more fruits.
- Patients with cardiovascular pathologies also experience breathing problems: coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction, heart defects, etc. In addition to shortness of breath, they also complain of heart pain, dizziness, and heart palpitations.
- Tuberculosis, pneumonia, bronchial asthma, oncological diseases can also be attributed to pathologies in which breathing is difficult. The reasons for this lie in the disruption of the functioning of the organs responsible for this process.
- A severe allergic reaction also causes breathing problems (we are talking about Quincke's edema and anaphylactic shock).
- Dyspnea can be the result of liver pathologies, thyroid problems, kidney problems, or severe anemia.
How to determine the presence of shortness of breath?
To confidently understand that a person has difficulty breathing (the reasons for this were discussed above), you need to pay attention to individual signs of shortness of breath.
- Slowness in communication develops: a person hardly concentrates on what has been said, he perceives the meaning of the spoken words hard.
- Lack of air forces to take deep breaths periodically.
- The patient, as a rule, is difficult, or even impossible to sleep, lying on his back.
- The presence of a foreign body is constantly felt in the throat.
- Breathing becomes noisy: accompanied by whistling and wheezing sounds.
When these signs appear, a mandatory consultation with a doctor is necessary. Do not try to find out from friends and relatives what to do with difficulty breathing, but immediately contact a specialist. If shortness of breath is accompanied by a chronic disease, this usually signals a complication of its course. If the symptom manifests itself, you need a thorough examination by a therapist, cardiologist, oncologist or pulmonologist!
Difficulty breathing in a child: causes
In children, viral or bacterial infections can cause breathing problems. The most common causes include false croup, which develops as a result of damage to the mucous membrane of the trachea and larynx in cases of acute respiratory viral infections, measles, rubella, chicken pox, and diphtheria or scarlet fever.
In such cases, the lumen in the airways narrows, there is a feeling of lack of air, difficulty breathing. At the same time, the baby breathes noisily, his voice becomes hoarse, and the cough becomes dry and barking. This condition requires immediate medical attention! Before his arrival, make sure that the child has access to cool, moist air.