Sunday, February, 12, 2012

Breathing difficulty

Table of Contents

  • Breathing difficulty comes on suddenly or seriously interferes with your breathing
  • Someone completely stops breathing

See your health care provider if breathing difficulty starts suddenly or is severe, or if any of the following occur with breathing difficulties:

  • Chest discomfort, pain, or pressure
  • Fever
  • Shortness of breath after only slight exertion or while at rest
  • Shortness of breath that wakes you up at night or requires you to sleep propped up to breathe
  • Tightness in the thorat or a barking, croupy cough
  • You have breathed in or choked on an object (foreign object aspiration or ingestion)
  • Wheezing

What to expect at your health care provider's office

Your health care provider will take a detailed medical history and perform a physical examination.

You may be asked the following medical history questions:

  • Do you notice shortness of breath?
  • Do you make grunting or wheezing sounds while breathing?
  • Do you have to work hard to breathe?
  • How long have you had breathing difficulty?
  • Did it slowly progress over weeks to months?
  • Did it begin recently?
  • Did it begin suddenly?
  • Did it come on slowly (gradual onset)?
  • Is there a sequence of separate episodes? How long does each last, and does each episode have a similar pattern?
  • Has the breathing difficulty gotten worse recently?
  • Does breathing difficulty cause you to wake up at night (paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea)?
  • Does the amount of breathing difficulty change over time?
  • Does breathing difficulty occur while you are at rest?
  • How long does each episode last?
  • Is it worse when you lie flat (orthopnea)?
  • Is it worse when you change body position?
  • Did it develop within 4 to 6 hours after exposure to something that you are or may be allergic to (antigen)?
  • Is it worse after exercise?
  • Does shortness of breath occur only when you are wheezing?
  • Is your breathing pattern irregular?
  • Do you draw back the chest muscles with breathing (intercostal retractions)?
  • What other symptoms do you have?

The physical examination will include a thorough check of your lungs, heart, and upper airway passages.

Tests that may be performed include the following:

  • Blood oxygen saturation (pulse oximetry)
  • Blood tests (may include arterial blood gases)
  • Chest x-ray
  • CT scan of the chest
  • ECG
  • Echocardiogram
  • Exercise testing
  • Pulmonary function tests

If the breathing difficulty is severe, you may need to go to a hospital. You may receive many different medications to treat the cause of breathing difficulty.

If your blood oxygen level is very low, you may need to receive oxygen. High doses of supplemental oxygen may be hazardous for some patients, however. Oxygen is not always needed for shortness of breath.


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Review Date: 05/25/2011
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine. 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)