Lack of air when breathing: causes, treatment

2024 Author: Curtis Blomfield | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 20:44

Dyspnea, or shortness of breath, is an unpleasant symptom that can occur with serious ailments. Especially if it happens all the time. Therefore, it is important to know the causes of lack of air and the rules of treatment. This will be discussed in the article.

Types of shortness of breath

Only by description, doctors are able to assume the presence of certain ailments. There are three types of shortness of breath:

1. Inspiratory. She has difficulty breathing. This usually indicates pathologies of the heart, panic attacks.
2. Expiratory. In this case, there is a difficult expiration, which appears with bronchial asthma.
3. Mixed. This type of shortness of breath involves difficult breathing with difficult inhalation and exhalation. Diseases can be different.

The success of treatment depends on the relief of the underlying ailment. First you need to determine the cause, and then begin treatment.

Why does this phenomenon appear?

What causes lack of air when breathing? This is manifested not only in the presence of pulmonary ailments and respiratory problems. Shortness of breath occurs due tostrong physical activity, after eating, with stress and psychosomatic disorders, during pregnancy and various ailments of the body.

Common causes of lack of air include:

1. Wrong lifestyle. This applies to smoking, drinking alcohol, being overweight.
2. Stress and emotional overload.
3. Insufficient ventilation in the room.
4. Diseases of various origins.
5. Injury to the chest - bruises, rib fractures.

Conventionally, the causes of lack of air and shortness of breath are divided into normal and pathological. In any case, the condition negatively affects the general well-being of a person, so it is necessary to be treated.

Probable ailments

Lack of air appears due to diseases of the lungs and heart, as well as due to the presence of psychosomatic diseases, anemia and problems with the spine. Depending on the disease, there may be different symptoms:

1. Bronchial asthma. In this case, obstructive respiratory failure is observed. With an attack, the airways narrow, causing less air to enter.
2. Pleurisy of the lungs. With this disease, there is a high temperature and restrictive respiratory failure. The volume of the lungs becomes smaller because they are not able to fully expand when breathing. This is what causes the lack of oxygen.
3. Heart failure. When the heart does not supply enough blood to the organs, pulmonary edema appears: fluid accumulates in them, and the deterioration of gas exchange leads to thiscondition.
4. Hypertension. An active increase in pressure causes an overload of the heart muscle. This serves as a violation of the functions of the heart, reduces the flow of blood to the organs and causes a lack of air. There is also discomfort and heaviness in the heart.
5. Anemia. The main function of hemoglobin is the transport of oxygen to tissues, therefore, when it decreases, a lack of oxygen occurs in the blood. This symptom usually appears after physical activity, when the blood cannot deliver the required amount of oxygen.

Other diseases

Another lack of air is observed with the following ailments:

1. Laryngitis. In adults, the disease manifests itself in the form of a sore throat, hoarseness, and a strong cough. The child develops swelling of the vocal cords.
2. Vegetative-vascular dystonia. The appearance of hyperventilation syndrome in this disease is associated with stress, emotional and physical overload, hormonal disorders. In this case, the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood decreases, and therefore oxygen is slowly supplied to the tissue. There is a rapid heartbeat and shortness of breath.
3. Diabetes. With the defeat of small vessels, oxygen will not enter the organs in the right amount, which causes oxygen starvation. Causes may be related to diabetic nephropathy - kidney damage that causes anemia.
4. Thyrotoxicosis. With this disease, there is an increased production of thyroid hormones, and this causes an acceleration of metabolic processes in the body. Oxygen is needed to complete them, and its former amount will not be enough.
5. Thoracic and cervicothoracic osteochondrosis. As the space between the vertebrae decreases, the pressure on the spinal cord and nerve roots increases. With osteochondrosis of the thoracic region, functioning is also impaired. This leads to lack of air.
6. Injury to the chest. The lack of oxygen appears due to severe pain in the chest from a fracture or contusion of the chest. Painkillers can help with this type of shortness of breath.
7. Allergy. Shortness of breath can occur after penetration into the body of an allergen - a component that provokes the production of antibodies. This phenomenon leads to swelling of the mucous membrane and expiratory difficulty in breathing - a person feels spasms, and therefore it is difficult for him to breathe.

Other factors

Lack of air can be associated with more than just illness. Some factors of this phenomenon are considered “normal”: they appear not due to diseases, but due to lifestyle, physiological characteristics and emotional state.

Shortness of breath and lack of air appears for the following reasons:

• Physical activity. The muscles at this time need more oxygen, and the person cannot take a deep breath. This is observed after a few minutes and occurs only in people who constantly play sports.
• After eating. During this period, there is blood flow to the organs of the gastrointestinal tract, so oxygen is supplied to other organs in a smaller amount. Toshortness of breath can be caused by overeating or chronic illnesses.
• Pregnancy. Shortness of breath appears in the 3rd trimester when the uterus is stretched and raised to the diaphragm. The level of shortness of breath is determined by the weight of the fetus and the physiological characteristics of the woman.
• Obesity. Visceral fat, which envelops the lungs, reduces air volume. In addition, with excess weight, the heart and other organs function intensively, so they need more oxygen. As a result, there is a feeling of lack of air.
• Smoking. For the body, this is a bad habit, because it causes a strong load on the lungs. Shortness of breath in a smoker is especially noticeable during physical exertion.
• Drinking alcohol. Alcoholic drinks affect the heart, blood vessels, increasing the likelihood of heart disease. Most of these ailments provoke shortness of breath.
• Stress. With emotional stress and panic attacks, adrenaline is released into the blood. Therefore, the tissues need more oxygen, and its lack causes a feeling of lack of air.
• Poor ventilation. If the room is not sufficiently ventilated, then a lot of carbon dioxide accumulates there. Oxygen cannot enter it, which leads to shortness of breath and frequent yawning, which serves as a signal of brain hypoxia.

For these reasons, no treatment is needed. Usually a lifestyle change is required. If there is poor ventilation in the room, then it will be enough to ventilate more often and be outside. Then this symptom will disappear on its own.

Kwho to contact?

If there is often a shortage of air, what should I do? You need to see a doctor. If breathing is intermittent, then the help of a therapist is required. The specialist performs an examination, analyzes are taken and studies are carried out. Depending on the symptoms of the disease, the therapist assigns a referral to:

1. Pulmonologist - for pulmonary ailments.
2. Cardiologist - with pathologies of the heart, blood vessels.
3. Hematologist - when anemia is detected.
4. To a neurologist - if the reason lies in psychosomatics, osteochondrosis.
5. Psychologist - with neurosis and stress.
6. Endocrinologist - with diabetes, with thyrotoxicosis.
7. Allergist - for allergies.

It will not work to determine who to contact on your own. The symptoms of many diseases that lead to dyspnea are similar. Therefore, it is better to contact a therapist, and he will give a referral to the right specialist.

First Aid

Dyspnea comes on suddenly, so it's important to read the tips that can help at first. Timely first aid will help prevent the death of a person. To eliminate shortness of breath, you need:

1. Call an ambulance.
2. Provide peace and relaxation to the patient.
3. Create fresh air.
4. Help the person into a sitting position.
5. Perform oxygen inhalation.
6. Give patient a nitroglycerin lozenge to dissolve over 10 minutes.

Sometimes you need to casttourniquets of medium fixation on the limbs. By tugging the veins, it will be possible to reduce the strong flow of blood to the lungs. Before this, it is necessary to check if the patient has varicose veins or thrombophlebitis. Seizures require an atmosphere of calm until the arrival of doctors who can help the person.

Diagnosis

To determine the causes of lack of air during breathing, the specialist performs diagnostic measures. Research methods include:

1. Examination and questioning of the patient.
2. Testing (blood for hormones, urine).
3. Research with ultrasound, X-ray, CT, ECG, spirometry.
4. Setting the cause, referral to a specialist of a certain profile.

Not all of these methods may be used to identify causes. After questioning and examination by a specialist, some diagnoses may be excluded. The full list of hardware procedures and analyzes will be less.

Treatment

How is shortness of breath treated? The method is determined by the cause. If this phenomenon occurs with diseases of the heart and blood vessels, then drugs are prescribed that improve the metabolism and functioning of the heart muscle. If it is difficult to breathe with inflammatory lung diseases, mucolytic drugs are prescribed. When the cause lies in nervous disorders, then psychological consultations are needed to eliminate stress and depression.

Medications

With a lack of air (a consequence of any disease), drugs of various groups are used. The most popular are the following:

1. Antihistamines. Used for allergic reactions. These are Claritin, Fenistil, Citrine.
2. Inhaled glucocorticoids. needed for the treatment of bronchial asthma. Appointed "Fluticasone", "Flunisolide".
3. Antibiotics. Effective in inflammatory diseases of the heart, blood vessels, respiratory system. Helps "Biseptol", "Erythromycin".
4. Mucolytic. They are prescribed for inflammatory diseases of the lungs. These are Ambroxol, Lazolvan.
5. Vasodilators. Means are prescribed for ischemia of the heart, angina pectoris, heart attack. Such drugs as Molsidomin, Apressin are in demand.
6. Antiarrhythmics. They are required for tachycardia. These are Quinidine, Propranolol.
7. Diuretics. Medicines help with hypertension. These include Furosemide, Diacarb.
8. Nootropic. With vegetative-vascular dystonia, drugs such as Phenibut, Piracetam are needed.
9. Sedatives. Novopassit, Persen, Glycine help to get rid of stress, panic attacks, heart pathologies.

Folk remedies

Effective are natural remedies. With the help of proven folk recipes, it will be possible to eliminate shortness of breath:

1. You will need honey (1/2 liter), lemon juice (from 5 fruits), garlic (5 crushed heads). A mixture is prepared from these products. Infusion is performed for a week, and then the remedy should be drunk for 4 tsp. per day.
2. To alleviate the condition of the elderly will help a remedy of garlic (150 g) and lemon juice (from 12 fruits). The components must be mixed, placed in a vessel and covered with a napkin. Infusion is carried out for a day. Every day you need to take 1 tsp. a product that is diluted in water (120 ml).
3. Sunflower tincture is needed to reduce shortness of breath. Yellow petals (300 g) insist on vodka (1 liter) for 3 weeks. The daily rate is 40 drops.

Although these recipes are effective, it is still advisable to consult a doctor before using them. This will eliminate negative he alth effects.

Helpful tips

To eliminate shortness of breath, as well as eliminate breathing problems that already exist, you must follow simple recommendations:

1. You need to be outdoors often, walk.
2. Therapeutic exercises, active movements are useful.
3. Don't overeat, have fasting days.
4. Ventilation should be done at least once a day.
5. It is necessary to correct the lifestyle, get rid of bad habits.
6. It is important to control your emotional state.
7. In case of unpleasant symptoms, you should consult a specialist.

Conclusion

If you constantly experience shortness of breath and lack of air, do not ignore it. The reason may not be serious, but a consultation with a doctor is still required: he will determine the diagnosis and provide assistance by ensuring free and easy breathing.