What to do if shortness of breath occurs. Shortness of breath: a variety of manifestations and pathologies. Shortness of breath with pathology of the respiratory tract

Many people suffer from a fairly common phenomenon - shortness of breath when walking, the reasons for which are inexplicable at first glance. Sometimes it is enough just to speed up the step and an unpleasant sensation arises in the chest, it becomes difficult to breathe. Quite often you can hear the opinion that only aged people suffer from it, but this is not the case. Young people are also prone to dyspnea, the causes of which are different. The phenomenon of lack of air is a symptom of any disease, therefore it is very important to consult a doctor in a timely manner.

Symptoms

At the initial stage, cardiovascular lesions and shortness of breath when walking (causes in the elderly and young people may be associated with the presence of organ disease) occurs during any other physical activity, for example, walking up stairs. If the disease progresses, then dyspnea is noticed even with a slow step or tying shoelaces. The following symptoms may appear:

• tightness in the chest;
• difficulty inhaling or exhaling;
• suffocation;
• strong squeezing in the chest area;
• lack of oxygen;
• The impossibility of carrying out a full exhalation and deep inhalation.

As evidenced by shortness of breath when walking

Shortness of breath when walking, the causes of which may be associated with problems of the respiratory and cardiovascular system, manifests itself infrequently or in a chronic form. The most common symptom of an abnormality is a sudden lack of air. In addition, the patient's respiratory rhythm may go astray, whistles and wheezing are heard, the skin turns pale, and the lips acquire a blue tint.

Chronic dyspnea can be determined by the frequency of breathing. Knocking down the rhythm of exhalations and breaths indicate the presence of pathology. Severe shortness of breath when walking, the causes of which are in the violation of the respiratory system, causes a sharp one.In addition to dyspnea, increased sweating may appear. This is usually noticed when the patient leaves the cold, at night, after eating and during exertion. Most often, shortness of breath occurs when walking up stairs. Causes - lung infection, pneumonia, viral disease. Manifestations are possible - severe pain in the chest area and loss of consciousness.

Dyspnea can appear even at night, when a person is at rest. This is due to insufficiency of the ventricle of the heart (left) or stagnation in the tissues of the heart. In this case, it is easier for the patient to breathe if he sleeps in a sitting position or on several pillows.

In cold weather, shortness of breath may also appear when walking. The reasons are the presence of abnormalities in the work of the lungs, anemia, insufficient body weight, an allergic reaction to low temperatures. Experts advise in this case to learn to breathe correctly without inhaling cold air through the mouth.

Possible causes and types of dyspnea

The most common causes of shortness of breath when walking are:

• Deformation of the chest.
• Deviations in the nervous system - panic attacks, neuroses, and hysteria.
• Inflammatory processes in the bronchi - asthma.
• Decrease in the amount of hemoglobin, erythrocytes.
• Inflammation of the lung tissue - pneumonia.
• Obesity.
• Disruption of the cardiovascular system.
• Shortness of breath is cardiac, central, pulmonary and hematogenous.

Pulmonary and hematogenous dyspnea

Quite often it is diagnosed when walking. The reasons, the treatment of which takes a long time - pathologies or complex diseases of the lungs. Pulmonary dyspnea is characterized by spasms and edema, which affects the respiratory process. The expiratory form occurs in bronchial asthma, the patient can hear wheezing and whistling.

In addition, inspiratory dyspnea when walking is common. "Reasons - treatment" - the main two components, which can only be dealt with by a specialist. Therefore, if you find irregularities in breathing, even with little physical activity, difficulties in pronunciation of speech, you should seek help from the hospital. This shortness of breath occurs due to diseases of the larynx, its edema and swelling.

Hematogenous - most often occurs when toxins enter the bloodstream. This shortness of breath is observed in patients with diabetes mellitus. Symptoms are noisy, heavy breathing.

Cardiac and central dyspnea

Cardiac dyspnea is associated with thinning of the vascular walls, stenosis, heart failure. Often, a heart defect is what causes shortness of breath when walking (severe oxygen deprivation). Signs of this type of dyspnea are polypnoea, as well as orthopnea. The first is characterized by rapid breathing due to excessive blood flow to the heart or heart failure. The second develops with failure of the left ventricle of the heart. With orthopnea, the patient tends to be in an upright position, since only then he gets better.

Central dyspnea with fast walking, the causes of which are the effect of neurotropic substances, deviations of the central nervous system, most often manifested by arrhythmia. This type of shortness of breath is not a manifestation of any pathology, central shortness of breath is itself the cause.

Diagnosis

Before starting the treatment of shortness of breath, the doctor must determine as accurately as possible the causes of the abnormalities that disrupt the breathing process when walking. Severe shortness of breath can be the result of many dangerous diseases. To identify them, the following methods are used:

• Visual examination of the patient.
• Tomography or chest x-ray.
• Analysis of the patient's blood.
• Test using a bronchodilator.
• Echocardiography.
• Spirometry.
• Pulse oximetry.

Effective treatment

With shortness of breath, a person feels an acute lack of oxygen, the most extreme stage is suffocation. Shortness of breath is divided, as mentioned above, into expiratory (problems with exhalation), inspiratory (difficulty in inhaling) and mixed. The latter is accompanied by both heavy inhalation and exhalation. Regardless of the type, the deviation should be treated immediately. The most common way to deal with an illness is to identify the disease that provoked breathing difficulties and follow-up treatment. If ischemic disease or heart attack is diagnosed, therapy should include only medication. With asthma, inhalers help get rid of the disease.

Together with the main prescribed course of medications, another way to forget about shortness of breath when walking can help. The reasons, the treatment of folk remedies of which is slow, but also effective, are gradually disappearing. However, do not forget that alternative therapy should not be separated from the prescribed doctor's recommendations. Oxygen therapy is an effective way to reduce shortness of breath. The bottom line is the use of special oxygen concentrators, which contribute to the constant "extraction" of oxygen required by the body from the air.

Oxygen therapy

If the patient has shortness of breath associated with lung cancer, bronchitis, or pulmonary fibrosis of an idiopathic nature, treatment should be based on the use of concentrators. In addition, oxygen therapy is used for heart failure. effective even when drugs cease to provide the proper therapeutic effect, and the patient, due to severe shortness of breath, can not only move normally, but also eat, dress and carry out hygiene procedures. Oxygen therapy helps in the following:

• Extend life in severe pathologies for several years (about 10).
• Reduce heart rate at rest and when moving.
• Cheer up, get rid of insomnia.
• Reduce discomfort with shortness of breath.

Traditional medicine

Undergoing drug therapy and trusting the means tested by people for centuries, you can get rid of the unpleasant sensations that shortness of breath gives when walking. The reasons, treatment with folk remedies which gives a visible effect, may stop bothering the patient, since complex therapy helps to get rid of not only the symptoms, but also "extinguish" the focus of the excitation of the disease. An effective way to combat shortness of breath from traditional medicine is a decoction. It is required to pour one spoonful of the plant with 250 ml of boiling water. Such a decoction is infused for an hour in a place inaccessible to sunlight. Drinking this medicine should be several times a day for 1/3 cup.

Oat grains help relieve shortness of breath when walking. Half a glass of cereals is poured into 2 liters of milk. In order for the dish to be fully cooked, it must be simmered for about 2 hours in the oven at a low temperature. One to two hours before bedtime, consume a portion of porridge (150-200 g). To achieve the desired effect, it takes about 14 days to eat such porridge.

Prevention of shortness of breath

Preventive measures for the onset of shortness of breath include:

1. Regular physical activity and proper nutrition in order to maintain a normal weight.
2. Training the respiratory muscles by swimming, daily walks in the fresh air.
3. Complete rejection of tobacco products.
4. Respiratory gymnastics, carried out according to various methods.
5. Avoiding contact with dust, feathers, animal hair - active allergens that can provoke bronchial spasm.
6. Complete treatment of the underlying disease.

It is important to regularly consult a doctor who can conduct a full examination in order to exclude the progression of chronic diseases and the development of new abnormalities.

Probably, almost everyone knows the feeling of lack of air when the elevator stops working and you have to go up to the ninth floor, or when you run after the bus because you are late for work ... But breathing problems can occur even at rest. What are the symptoms and causes of shortness of breath? What if there is not enough air?

Why is there not enough air when breathing?

Difficulty breathing, called shortness of breath or dyspnea, has many causes, affecting both the airway and the lungs and heart. Shortness of breath is caused by various factors - for example, increased physical activity, stress, respiratory diseases. If your breathing can be characterized as rapid and noisy, the depth of inhalation and exhalation changes periodically, if sometimes there is a feeling of lack of air, then it is necessary to understand the situation, since such symptoms can be dangerous to health and indicate serious illnesses.

The most common causes of air shortage are:

• Unhealthy Lifestyle;
• poorly ventilated room;
• pulmonary diseases;
• heart diseases;
• psychosomatic disorders (for example, vegetative-vascular dystonia);
• chest trauma.

Let's consider each of the reasons in more detail.

Shortness of breath due to lifestyle

If you do not have heart or lung disease, the difficulty in breathing may be related to an insufficiently active lifestyle. Here are some tips for preventing shortness of breath symptoms.

• When shortness of breath occurs with physical activity, such as running or walking for a long time, it indicates that you are not physically fit or that you are overweight. Try to exercise and reconsider your diet - when there are a lack of nutrients, lack of air is also not uncommon.
• Shortness of breath is a common occurrence in smokers, as the respiratory system is extremely vulnerable when smoking. In this case, it is possible to breathe in deeply, only by eliminating the bad habit. Also, doctors recommend doing an X-ray of the lungs once a year - regardless of whether there are health problems or not.
• Frequent alcohol consumption can also provoke shortness of breath, since alcohol negatively affects the cardiovascular system and increases the likelihood of a heart attack, heart rhythm disturbances and other diseases.
• Do not exclude the possibility of shortness of breath and emotional upheaval or frequent stress. For example, panic attacks are accompanied by the release of adrenaline into the blood, after which the tissues require more oxygen and the person suffocates. Frequent yawning also indicates health problems - it is a sign of brain hypoxia.

Shortness of breath due to poor ventilation

As you know, living quarters are a constant companion of bad moods and headaches. However, an excess of carbon dioxide also has more serious consequences - fainting, memory and concentration impairment, sleep disturbances and constant lack of air. To work productively, you need a constant flow of air from the street. that it can be difficult to regularly ventilate the house: in winter, for example, too cold air enters through an open window, so there is a chance of getting sick. Noise from the street or insufficiently clean air on the other side of the window can also interfere with your comfortable well-being. The best way out in such a situation would be with air purification and heating systems. It is also worth mentioning about, with which you can remotely control climatic devices and measure the level of CO2, temperature and humidity.

Shortness of breath due to impaired lung function

Very often, lack of air is associated precisely with pulmonary diseases. People with impaired lung function experience severe shortness of breath on exertion. During exercise, the body produces more and consumes more oxygen. The respiratory center in the brain accelerates breathing when oxygen levels in the blood are low or when carbon dioxide is high. If the lungs are not functioning properly, even a little effort can dramatically increase the breathing rate. Shortness of breath is so unpleasant that patients specifically avoid any physical activity. With serious pulmonary pathologies, air deficiency occurs even at rest.

Lack of air can result from:

• restrictive (or restrictive) breathing disorders - the lungs cannot fully expand during breathing, therefore, their volume decreases, and a sufficient amount of oxygen does not enter the tissues;
• obstructive breathing disorders - for example,. In such diseases, the airways are narrowed and, when breathing, requires significant effort to expand. For asthmatics with shortness of breath during an attack, doctors usually advise keeping an inhaler handy.

Shortness of breath with heart disease

One of the most common heart disorders that can negatively affect the depth and intensity of breathing is heart failure. The heart supplies blood to organs and tissues. If the heart doesn't transport enough blood (i.e., heart failure occurs), fluid builds up in the lungs, gas exchange is impaired, and a disorder called pulmonary edema occurs. Pulmonary edema is what causes shortness of breath, which is often accompanied by a feeling of suffocation or heaviness in the chest.

Some people with heart failure have orthopnea and / or paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. Orthopnea is shortness of breath that occurs while lying down. People with this disorder are forced to sleep while sitting. Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea is sudden, severe shortness of breath that occurs during sleep and is accompanied by the patient's awakening. This disorder is an extreme form of orthopnea. Also, paroxysmal nocturnal shortness of breath is a sign of severe heart failure.

Lack of air can occur with a sharp increase in blood pressure, if you are hypertensive. High blood pressure overloads the heart, dysfunctions and a feeling of lack of oxygen. Shortness of breath can also be caused by tachycardia, myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease and other cardiovascular pathologies. In any case, only an experienced doctor can make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe the appropriate treatment.

Shortness of breath with anemia (anemia)

With anemia, a person has a lowered hemoglobin level and a reduced number of red blood cells. Since hemoglobin and red blood cells provide the transfer of oxygen from the lungs to the tissues, when they are lacking, the amount of oxygen that blood supplies is reduced. Patients feel especially acute shortage of air during physical activity, because the blood cannot deliver the increased level of oxygen needed by the body. In addition to shortness of breath, symptoms include headache, loss of energy, impaired concentration and memory. The main way to get rid of a lack of air during anemia is to eliminate the root cause, i.e. restore the level of hemoglobin and red blood cells in the blood.

Shortness of breath with vegetative dystonia

Vegetovascular dystonia is a disorder of the autonomic nervous system. Usually, patients complain of a feeling of a lump in the throat, rapid breathing, a feeling of lack of air. Respiratory disorders are aggravated by conditions that require tension of the nervous system: passing an exam, interview, speaking in public, etc. The causes of vegetative vascular dystonia can be excessive mental, physical or emotional stress, hormonal disruptions, chronic diseases.

One of the most common manifestations of vascular dystonia is hyperventilation syndrome, which leads to "excessive breathing." Many people mistakenly believe that hyperventilation is a lack of oxygen. In fact, hyperventilation syndrome is a shortage of carbon dioxide in the blood. When a person with this syndrome breathes too fast, they exhale more carbon dioxide than they need to. A decrease in the level of carbon dioxide in the blood leads to the fact that hemoglobin is firmly combined with oxygen and the latter hardly enters the tissues. With pronounced symptoms of shortness of breath, doctors recommend breathing into a bag tightly pressed to the mouth. The exhaled air will accumulate in the bag, and inhaling it again, the patient will compensate for the CO2 deficiency.

Other diseases

Shortness of breath can be caused by a violation of the integrity of the chest. With various injuries (for example, with a broken rib), a feeling of lack of air occurs due to pronounced chest pain. Difficulty breathing can also be caused by other ailments, such as diabetes or allergies. In this case, a comprehensive examination and treatment by a specialized specialist is required. Getting rid of breathing problems is possible only if the source of the disease is neutralized.

As we have found out, the way to get rid of shortness of breath depends entirely on its cause. Each of the diseases that can provoke difficulty breathing requires an individual approach, passing certain tests and passing various examinations. If you feel that, in addition to shortness of breath, you are worried about something else, then the therapy should be prescribed by a doctor and only a doctor - no need to self-medicate! If an attack of shortness of breath takes you by surprise, you should stop any physical activity. If the condition lasts more than 10 minutes, you need to call an ambulance.

The patient's appearance can provide a lot of information in terms of establishing a diagnosis. Shortness of breath, being a fairly noticeable symptom that is visible to the "naked eye", often directs the doctor to suspect that something is wrong with the lungs. However, other diseases (cardiovascular pathology, diseases of the endocrine and nervous system, etc.) cannot be discounted, since dyspnea, as such a disorder of respiratory function is also called, is characteristic of a very wide range of pathological conditions.

Shortness of breath shortness of breath - strife

Yes, indeed, the general name does not define the same nature of this disorder, therefore, clarification of individual "symptoms" of shortness of breath in most cases helps to clarify its origin at the first stages of the search. Thus, the following types of dyspnea have developed in clinical practice:

• If a breathing disorder is expressed in its increased frequency, then they talk about tachypnea... This type is widely known and familiar to many due to the fact that it is a constant companion of febrile conditions in any infectious process and hematological diseases. Frequent and deep breathing are denoted by the terms hyperpnea and polypnoea;
• Infrequent breathing movements are called bradypnea, which may indicate brain damage and hypoxia as a consequence of these lesions. Rare shallow breathing is called oligopnea;
• Apnea(respiratory arrest) can be recorded by observing a sleeping person who has a change in the functional properties of the respiratory system due to various acquired diseases, mainly age-related (COPD - chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). This is why snoring is not considered so harmless, since it is primarily the culprit of apnea. People with heart diseases do not tolerate a strictly horizontal position, some time after falling asleep they develop orthopnea(recumbency leads to difficulty breathing), so many people prefer to sleep half-sitting on high pillows.

symptoms of heart failure accompanying shortness of breath

A factor such as difficulty breathing in or out is the basis for dividing dyspnea into:

• Inspiratory dyspnea characterized by shortness of breath... It is characteristic (cardiac dyspnea) and lesions of the respiratory system (upper respiratory tract, trachea, large bronchi, pleura, diaphragm) and indicates their poor patency, which can be caused by:

1. bronchospasm,
2. swelling of the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract,
3. foreign body
4. accumulation of pathological secretions,
5. developmental anomalies
6. tumors that compress the airways,
7. abscesses, etc.

• Expiratory dyspnea, indicating obstacles that impede the patency of small bronchi and caused by bronchospasm caused by narrowing of the bronchioles, the accumulation of secretions in them and swelling of the mucous membrane. Expiratory shortness of breath accompanies diseases such as bronchial asthma, bronchiolitis;

the cause of noncardiac expiratory dyspnea is narrowing of the bronchial tubes, in particular in asthma

• Mixed type of shortness of breath is a characteristic sign of parenchymal acute respiratory failure (ARF).

Obviously, the most common cause of dyspnea is broncho-pulmonary pathology, ranging from childhood laryngospasm to acute respiratory failure and pulmonary edema. Of course, this list will also include other diseases (bronchitis, bronchial asthma, pneumosclerosis), leading to COPD and, accordingly, to chronic respiratory failure.

Treatment for each type of dyspnea should be aimed at eliminating or reducing the negative impact of the underlying disease, a symptom of which is shortness of breath.

Why is there not enough air if everything is normal with the heart?

Shortness of breath in heart failure is very characteristic and is mainly associated with organic lesions of the organs of the cardiovascular system, it is mainly inspiratory character, that is, it manifests itself on inhalation. Heart dyspnea, in general, is the prerogative of old age, although not only with severe, but also with, it can easily be present in a child. Especially if the child is vagotonic who is influenced by or.

In addition, the causes of shortness of breath can be hidden behind many other pathological conditions that give symptoms of choking and shortness of breath, but not associated with impaired cardiac activity. For example, a fairly common childhood disease - laryngeal stenosis (laryngospasm) causes significant respiratory distress (inspiratory dyspnea), which can be quickly fatal if medical attention is not timely. However, everything is in order.

Psychogenic and physiological factors provoking shortness of breath

Shortness of breath is often caused by psychogenic factors or physiological:

1. Neuroses, panic attacks, fears and anxieties, along with various autonomic disorders (sweating,), are accompanied by a feeling of "unexpected breath spasm." This phenomenon is called respiratory distress syndrome, in which patients are not happy with their respiratory system. They note shortness of breath when talking, when they are very worried, yawning, coughing and sighing, which they cannot get rid of, although they take some measures. However, it is obvious that until such people are able to withstand psycho-emotional stress, dyspnea will not disappear anywhere. Psychovegetative syndrome that occurs against the background of vegetative-vascular crises, which from time to time leads to the patient's VSD, can be stopped only by drugs aimed at treatment - vegetative-vascular;
2. Obesity (even alimentary-constitutional) can cause shortness of breath at a young age. And, if at first young, but obese people do not feel discomfort when walking (a young heart is still coping), then during physical exertion, excess weight will certainly affect, causing a feeling of suffocation and lack of air;
3. Fever of any origin is manifested by shallow, rapid breathing (tachypnea);
4. Post-viral asthenia syndrome, which is formed a month or two after the transferred viral infection;
5. Deformed chest as a result of curvature of the spine or for other reasons;
6. During pregnancy, especially in the later stages, of course, you can expect shortness of breath, because the woman's body starts working for two, and the load is still considerable, since you need to provide the baby with all the necessary nutrients. In addition, the weight gained due to the fetus does not add lightness, and the stretched uterus takes up considerable space and interferes with free respiratory movements, therefore pregnant women permanently feel a lack of air, know how it smells, and practically cannot be in stuffy, poorly ventilated rooms ;
7. Shortness of breath can occur after eating, which is not at all surprising, because a full stomach begins to press on the diaphragm and prevents it from participating in the act of breathing in full. Truth , in healthy people, this quickly passes, but patients should especially dwell on this point and take note that overeating during episodes of shortness of breath is harmful;
8. Being in high-altitude areas causes a feeling of lack of air, therefore climbers, who are so fond of mountains, are well aware of the influence of climatic conditions;
9. Respiratory disorders are also noted by meteorological patients, mainly people suffering from various autonomic disorders (NCD);
10. Excessive physical and psycho-emotional stress, running long distances without training and other sports and strength activities will inevitably end up with severe shortness of breath, which in some cases may require a considerable time to restore breathing.

Physiological conditions such as pregnancy, sports or overeating one way or another soon pass, but with psychophysiological factors everything is a little more complicated, since there is a possibility that such a condition can lead to psychosomatic diseases, which are often diseases of the cardiovascular system.

Heart disease and shortness of breath

Heart dyspnea can have a different mechanism of occurrence.

On the first path there are changes associated initially with the pathology of the respiratory system and later involvement of the circulatory system. The increasing hypoxia promotes the deposition of collagen in the lung tissue and the development of pneumosclerosis, which, in turn, leads to even greater hypoxia, which aggravates it. The vicious circle is closed with the formation of irreversible processes.

It becomes incredibly difficult for the right ventricle to push blood into the small circle under such conditions. First, the right ventricle of the heart, in order to somehow cope and compensate for blood circulation. However, since the cardiac and respiratory systems are inseparable, over time, the right section expands. As a consequence of such changes, the stage of decompensation of cardiac activity begins with the development of cardiopulmonary (right ventricular) inadequacies called "cor pulmonale". A similar condition is often a provocateur of rhythm disturbances with the development and atrial .

Second way the formation of dyspnea is directly related to diseases of the cardiovascular system. And in order for the reader to understand the mechanism, it can be displayed in the diagram:

Difficulty returning blood from the lungs to the left atrium

Increasing pressure in a small circle and development

Disorder of blood circulation in the lungs, which leads to stagnation of fluid, impaired ventilation and, consequently, respiratory activity ( left ventricular failure).

Shortness of breath is caused by heart problems

Almost all pathology of the cardiovascular system, leading to heart failure, is accompanied by dyspnea of ​​the inspiratory, and then of the mixed type:

• (AH) and (IHD) in the elderly, giving "small" signs of congestive heart failure in the form of shortness of breath and suffocation. And since there is a clear correlation between hypertension and overweight, in obese patients with constantly high blood pressure, shortness of breath occurs not only during walking and physical exertion, but quite often appears at rest and at night. Such people sleep anxiously, and their sleep is interrupted by apnea;
• The asthmatic variant of myocardial infarction (and the MI itself), as a rule, has all the manifestations of left ventricular failure and proceeds with noisy breathing, coughing, shortness of breath and suffocation;
• Valvular defects, myocarditis, chronic aneurysm of the heart and other heart lesions, complicated left ventricular failure accompanies dyspnea (paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea);
• Cardiac asthma, which causes the patient a lot of suffering;
• Pulmonary edema. Unfortunately, it is often fatal, and therefore requires emergency resuscitation measures;
• (pulmonary embolism) is a dangerous condition that even cannot exist without symptoms such as lack of air and suffocation, since it leads to the development acute respiratory failure, developing as a result bronchospasm.

How is shortness of breath treated?

Before starting the fight against shortness of breath, you should not run to the pharmacy and buy the pills that the neighbor advised. First you need:

1. Quit the bad habit of smoking if you smoke;
2. Reduce weight, if available in excess;
3. Adjust if present in abnormal numbers.

To establish the cause of the violation of respiratory activity, you will also need to undergo an examination, which includes:

• Biochemical blood test;
• R-graph of the chest;
• Analysis of the function of external respiration.

Unfortunately, not every type of shortness of breath can be cured, basically, it all depends on the reasons that gave rise to it. Of course, rapid shallow breathing at high temperatures (influenza, ARVI) will go away when the condition normalizes, although it is known that a frequent complication of influenza infection is bronchitis, which also gives impaired respiratory function and requires rather long-term therapeutic measures.

To treat children's laryngospasm, which the child usually "outgrows" by the age of 4, use distraction therapy (mustard plasters), antispasmodics (nosh-pa), anticholinergics (platifillin), antihistamines (claritin, fenistil, pipolfen) and glucocorticoids. The latter are used in emergency cases when the attack has gone too far.

To relieve shortness of breath with respiratory failure, medications that dilate the bronchi, expectorant and reduce the load on the heart help:

1. β-adrenergic agonists (salbutamol, clenbuterol, berotec);
2. M-anticholinergics (atrovent, berodual);
3. Sustained-release methylxanthines (aminophylline, theophylline) (theopec, theotard);
4. Inhaled glucocorticoids, which are used primarily to treat severe shortness of breath in cases of bronchial asthma;
5. Medicines that thin sputum and facilitate its evacuation (bromhexine, mukaltin, ACC, ambraxol);
6. Peripheral vasodilators (- nifedipine, nitrates - nitrosorbitol, ACE inhibitors, which are especially effective in pulmonary hypertension - captopril, enalapril);
7. (furosemide, veroshpiron, diacarb, hypothiazide), reducing congestion;
8. Antispasmodics (nosh-pa, papaverine).

In addition to drug treatment, oxygen therapy with humidified oxygen, physiotherapy, and breathing exercises are successfully used to regulate the respiratory function.

Dyspnea when walking, which is indicative of COPD, is very difficult to treat due to the irreversible changes that have occurred, the above schemes are also applied.

Treatment of cardiac dyspnea with folk remedies is very common among patients, since respiratory failure lasts for years, causes a lot of trouble, proceeds painfully and significantly reduces the quality of human life. Dyspnea is relieved by medications that grow in forests, vegetable gardens and meadows. The principle of action of medicinal herbs is similar to the effect of synthetic drugs (bronchodilator and expectorant), however, as you know, they are mostly harmless and do not have so many side effects. In addition, many pharmaceutical preparations are based on the medicinal properties of plants. So why not try to make a medicine at home, which at least for a while (at first!) Will help get rid of shortness of breath, so obsessive and unpleasant?

• The roots of cyanosis, licorice, lovage, herbs of peppermint and yarrow, bean pods are great for self-production of medicines.
• A little-known recipe from aloe leaves (you can take it on the windowsill), infused with vodka for 10 days, relieves any cough and shortness of breath. For this, a teaspoon of the taken infusion is flavored with a tablespoon of honey, a pause of 10 minutes is maintained and washed down with a glass of hot tea.

It is better to ask your doctor about the use of garlic with honey and lemon for the treatment of cardiac dyspnea, but if he gives his go-ahead, then you can try the following recipes:

• Make a gruel from 10 squeezed lemons (use juice) and 10 heads of garlic, add this mixture to a liter jar of honey, close and forget during the week. Take 4 teaspoons, savoring and swallowing slowly. They say that good results can be achieved in 2 months.
• And if you take the juice of 24 lemons, add garlic gruel (350 gr.), Insist for a day and drink a teaspoon after dissolving it in ½ glass of water? People who have tried the medicine on themselves claim that after 2 weeks you can run and dance, feeling a second youth.

Sadly, but folk remedies for heart shortness of breath will help for the time being, so you should not rely on them completely. The cause of shortness of breath still remains, the disease progresses and it will still have to be treated. And in such a case, you cannot do without the help of a doctor.

Video: shortness of breath in the program "About the most important thing"

Shortness of breath is an unusual sensation of breathing or the need to breathe more vigorously. Shortness of breath can be defined as respiratory discomfort, shortness of breath, uncomfortable or uncomfortable feeling of breathing on your own, or the awareness of difficulty breathing.

Shortness of breath as a sign of respiratory failure appears in the event of the inability of the human respiratory system to meet the body's needs for gas exchange. This situation occurs when the body's need for oxygen increases or oxygen delivery to tissues is impaired (in a number of cardiovascular and bronchopulmonary diseases).

Causes of shortness of breath when walking

Most often, the causes of shortness of breath when walking are pathologies in the work of the heart, diseases of the lungs and bronchi, throat and disruption of the circulatory system. It is worth noting that even with insignificant deviations for an outsider who is quite observant, it is easy to determine and diagnose shortness of breath. Shortness of breath manifests itself as shortness of breath, sore throat and blood vessels, pain in the heart and interruptions in its work, and in addition, sometimes a person may bleed from the throat or nose.

There are several groups of reasons that can cause shortness of breath:

1. Physical exercises;
2. Neuroses, panic attacks, fears and anxieties;
3. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease;
4. Obesity;
5. Lung disease;
6. Cardiac ischemia;
7. Congestive heart failure;
8. , or paroxysmal nocturnal shortness of breath;
9. Pulmonary embolism (clogging with blood clots).

The diseases and conditions listed above are the most common. If you develop shortness of breath, it is best to see your doctor to determine the specific cause of your shortness of breath.

It is very important to see a specialist immediately or call an ambulance if you suddenly have shortness of breath, especially if it is accompanied by chest pain, nausea, vomiting, or fever. These signs can indicate a very serious medical condition. In any situation, the doctor will be able to determine an individual examination plan to find out the cause.

Causes of Pulmonary Dyspnea

Pulmonary dyspnea is one that is caused by diseases and pathologies of the lungs.

1. Expiratory dyspnea- the most common form, which is determined by difficulty in exhaling and occurs when the lumen in the bronchi narrows due to their edema, spasm or blockage with sputum. To cope with this problem in the process of breathing, it is necessary to strengthen the work of the respiratory muscles, but this is not enough, and the exhalation cycle can be difficult.
2. Inspiratory dyspnea... The patient has difficulty breathing. This is due to the accumulation of fluid in the chest with tumor phenomena, laryngeal edema, fibrosis, pleurisy and others. A person cannot speak without repeated breaths. The appearance of such shortness of breath is possible even with little physical exertion. Inhale is accompanied by a hissing sound.

Shortness of breath with heart failure

There are also shortness of breath when. Its occurrence is directly affected by the thinning of the walls of blood vessels, septal defects, heart failure, stenosis. Also, one of the causes of cardiac dyspnea is heart defects. As a result, oxygen starvation appears, it is also the cause of shortness of breath when walking. Symptoms of this shortness of breath are orthopnea and polypnoea.

1. Polypnea. The condition is caused by excessive blood flow to the heart when the patient is in a horizontal position. This may be due to heart failure. Frequent and deep breathing is noted, sometimes to hyperventilation.
2. Orthopnea is a syndrome of cardiac dyspnea, which forces a person to stay upright all the time, as this relieves his condition. Orthopnea is associated with left ventricular and left atrial failure.

Central dyspnea

This type of shortness of breath occurs with pathologies of the central nervous system, with neuroses, and also under the influence of neurotropic substances. Central dyspnea is not a consequence of pathology, it is itself the cause. It manifests itself in different ways: hypernea, oligopnea, arrhythmia.

Hematogenous dyspnea

It is very rare, and is associated with the toxic effects of decomposition products during metabolism. It is characterized by very rapid and deep breathing. The causes are: anemia, endocrine disorders, and kidney or liver failure.

Symptoms

The main symptoms of shortness of breath:

• breathing quickens;
• pulse rises;
• suffocation is felt;
• breathing becomes noisy;
• the depth of inhalation and exhalation changes.

Shortness of breath begins in the following cases:

• while walking - this is due to cardiac activity;
• climbing stairs - speaks of an infection in the lungs, a cold;
• going out into the cold - the reason is an allergy to cold due to pathology of the lungs;
• during rest at night - stagnant process of the heart muscle;
• during sex - any reasons are possible, for example anemia, iron deficiency in the blood.

Shortness of breath when walking has certain reasons, and treatment with folk remedies is far from always able to cope with the source of shortness of breath. Therefore, do not self-medicate at home if you have this symptom.

How to treat shortness of breath when walking?

Before starting the fight against shortness of breath, you should not go to the pharmacy and buy pills that a friend advised. First of all, it is necessary:

1. Quit the bad habit of smoking if you smoke;
2. Reduce weight, if available in excess;
3. Adjust blood pressure if present in abnormal numbers.

To establish the cause of the violation of respiratory activity, you will also need to undergo an examination, which includes:

1. R-graph of the chest;
2. Ultrasound of the heart;
3. Analysis of the function of external respiration.

The most important method of dealing with shortness of breath is to treat the disease that caused the shortness of breath. As soon as the doctor finds out the cause, an effective treatment plan will be immediately determined.

For example, with ischemic heart disease and myocardial infarction - treatment with tablets. With COPD and bronchial asthma - regular treatment with inhalers. Since the main cause of shortness of breath in many cases is hypoxia and hypoxemia (low oxygen content in the body), oxygen therapy is one of the most effective ways to reduce shortness of breath.

At the present time, devices have been developed - oxygen concentrators, which make it possible to "extract" oxygen from the air around the clock. Inhalation of oxygen at an increased concentration allows you to eliminate hypoxia and hypoxemia.

Which doctor should you contact with shortness of breath

When the diagnosis is not yet known to a person, it is best to make an appointment with a therapist. After the examination, the doctor will be able to establish a presumptive diagnosis, if necessary, refer the patient to a specialized specialist.

If shortness of breath is associated with a pathology of the lungs, it is necessary to consult a pulmonologist, in case of heart disease - with a cardiologist. Anemia is treated by a hematologist, pathology of the nervous system - by a neurologist, diseases of the endocrine glands - by an endocrinologist, mental disorders accompanied by shortness of breath - by a psychiatrist.

The medical name for shortness of breath is dyspnea. International classifiers distinguish between two main types of such a condition:

1. Tachypnea is rapid, shallow breathing with a respiratory rate of more than 20 per minute.
2. Bradypnea is a decrease in respiratory function with a slowdown in respiratory rate to 12 or less movements per minute.

According to the time interval and intensity of the course of shortness of breath, there are three main subspecies of dyspnea:

1. Sharp (from a couple of minutes to hours).
2. Subacute (from several hours to a couple of days).
3. Chronic (from 3-5 days to several years).

Shortness of breath is a typical symptom in heart failure - this clinical syndrome characterized by abnormalities in the work of the SJS, poor blood supply to the tissues / organs of the system and, ultimately, damage to the myocardium.

In addition to shortness of breath, a patient with heart failure feels severe fatigue, edema appears and physical activity is significantly reduced. Stagnation of blood due to a weakened heart muscle provokes hypoxia, acidosis and other negative manifestations in metabolism.

If you have a suspicion of heart failure, then you should immediately contact a cardiologist and take measures to stabilize hemodynamics as quickly as possible, from increasing blood pressure and normalizing heart rhythm to relieving pain - often HF causes.

1. Physiological - strong physical activity.
2. Cardiac - pulmonary edema, myocardial infarction, myocarditis, cardiac arrhythmias, myxomas, cardiomyopathy, heart defects, coronary artery disease, CHF.
3. Respiratory - epiglottitis, allergic reactions, bronchial asthma, atelectasis and pneumothorax, enphysema, tuberculosis, COPD, poisoning with various gases, kyphoscoliosis, interstitial diseases, pneumonia, pulmonary obstruction, cancer.
4. Vascular - thromboembolism, primary hypertension, vasculitis, arterial-venous aneurysm.
5. Neuromuscular - lateral sclerosis, phrenic nerve palsy, myasthenia gravis.
6. Other causes are ascites, thyroid problems, anemia, respiratory system dysfunction, metabolic spectrum acidosis, uremia, vocal chord dysfunction, pericardial effusions, pericardium, hyperventilation syndromes.
7. Other circumstances.

Symptoms

The symptoms of shortness of breath can be varied, but in any case associated with a violation of the normal rhythm of respiratory function. In particular, the depth and frequency of respiratory contractions change markedly, from a sharp increase in NPV to its decrease to zero. Subjectively, the patient feels an acute shortage of air, tries to breathe deeper, or vice versa, as superficially as possible.

In the case of inspiratory dyspnea, it is difficult to inhale, and the very process of getting air into the lungs is accompanied by noise. With expiratory shortness of breath, it is much more difficult to exhale, since the lumens of the bronchioles and the smallest particles of the bronchi narrow. Mixed type of dyspnea is the most dangerous and often causes complete respiratory arrest.

The main diagnostic measures are to assess the current clinical picture of the patient as quickly as possible, as well as to study the history of the disease. After that, additional studies are assigned (from X-ray and ultrasound to a tomogram, tests, etc.) and referrals to narrow-profile specialists are written out. Most often, they are a pulmonologist, cardiologist and neuropathologist.

Since shortness of breath can be caused by a huge number of a wide variety of reasons, its treatment is selected only after the correct determination of the exact diagnosis through a comprehensive diagnosis of possible problems.

Conservative and drug treatment

Below are the typical causes of shortness of breath and how to fix them.

1. In the presence of a foreign body, it is removed using the Heimlich technique; in extreme cases, a surgical method is used, in particular tracheostmia.
2. In bronchial asthma - selective beta-adrenomimetics (Salbutamol), intravenous administration of aminophylline.
3. Left ventricular failure - narcotic analgesics, diuretics, venous vesodilators (Nitroglycerin).
4. Lack of apparent reasons or the impossibility of differential diagnosis with severe shortness of breath at the pre-hospital stage - Lasix.
5. The neurogenic nature of the symptom is breathing exercises, intravenous Diazepam.
6. Obstructions - taking anxiolytics, direct oxygen administration, non-invasive respiratory support, surgical reduction (in case of enphysema), creating a positive vector of pressure on the patient's inhalation and exhalation.

Treatment of shortness of breath with folk remedies

The following activities can help reduce the frequency and intensity of dyspnea attacks:

1. Hot goat milk on an empty stomach - 1 glass with a dessert spoon of honey, three times a day for 1 week.
2. Boil dry dill in the amount of 2 teaspoons / glass with boiling water, strain, cool for half an hour and take warm ½ cup three times a day for two weeks.
3. Take a liter of flower honey, Scroll ten peeled small heads of garlic in a meat grinder and squeeze out the juice of ten lemons. Mix all ingredients thoroughly, place under a closed lid in a jar for a week. Drink the 4th tea. spoons once a day, preferably in the morning and on an empty stomach for two months.

What to do and where to go if shortness of breath appears?

First of all - don't panic! Carefully examine your condition for the presence of other symptoms - if dyspnea is accompanied by pain in the heart or an area close to it, and there is also a semi-fainting state, the skin turns blue, and auxiliary muscle groups, for example, intercostal, chest, cervical, are also involved in the breathing process, then an ambulance should be called immediately, since shortness of breath can be of a cardiovascular or pulmonary nature.

In other cases, try to temporarily avoid strong physical exertion and a long stay in direct sunlight, make an appointment with a physician or pulmonologist. Specialists will conduct an initial assessment of the state of health, write out directions for diagnostic measures, or ask additional doctors (cardiologist, vascular surgeon, oncologist, neurologist) to go through.

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