Breathing difficulties can be described in several different ways. You may be short of breath, unable to take a deep breath, gasping for air, or feel like you are not getting enough air.

See also: Choking

Difficulty breathing - first aid; Dyspnea - first aid; Shortness of breath - first aid

If you are having difficulty breathing, it is almost always a medical emergency (other than feeling slightly winded from normal activity like exercise or climbing a hill).

Difficulty breathing has many potential causes. Some of the most common are:

• Collapsed lung , which can happen if you have emphysema or asthma, but may also happen spontaneously in young, healthy people
• Heart attack
• Heart disease , asthma , emphysema, chronic bronchitis, or heart failure
• High altitudes, which can be a problem even in young people
• Injury to the neck, chest wall, or lungs
• Life-threatening allergic reaction
• Pulmonary embolism , or a blood clot in the lung, which can cause very abrupt and severe difficulty breathing
• Sudden illness or infections like pneumonia, acute bronchitis, whooping cough, croup, or epiglottitis

Images

Collapsed lung, pneumothorax

Breathing

Epiglottis

Review Date: 07/08/2009
Reviewed By: Jacob L. Heller, MD, MHA, Emergency Medicine, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Washington, Clinic. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)