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Shortness of breath - causes and therapy
contents
- symptoms
- difficulty in breathing
- Diseases
- Cause: funnel chest
- Shortness of breath in lung cancer
- asthma
- heart failure
- Wrong breathing
- Imagined shortness of breath
- anxiety disorders
- traumatization
- breathing techniques
- What can you do?
Patients should definitely consult a doctor, because shortness of breath almost always accompanies serious illnesses. Most are diseases of the lungs, the bronchi and the heart cause, sometimes rheumatic complaints or nerve damage. Obesity is also often associated with shortness of breath, and the more obese a person is, the more he suffers from it.
No air, wheezing and panting: signs of shortness of breath. (Image: nandyphotos / fotolia.com) symptoms
Shortness of breath often begins unnoticed, and increases as the underlying disease progresses. Those affected initially notice that they are "out of breath" faster. But this can also be due to lack of training, unhealthy diet and excessive consumption of alcohol and narcotics.
Many sufferers get used to a lifestyle in which they avoid stress and thus barely notice the symptoms. In addition, at first the problem of breathing only becomes apparent during intensive efforts, and the work of many of today's people does not physically require them.
But if the disease is advanced, the problems can not be repressed. When climbing stairs, the victims are in need of air, after long walks they wrestle for oxygen. Breathing now causes pain.
Breathing is easily confused with breathlessness. Shortness of breath is perfectly normal under certain circumstances. When a trained athlete runs 5000 meters at the highest possible speed, his muscles need much more oxygen than at rest. The body produces carbon dioxide to a great extent and must excrete it again through increased respiration. An untrained person with a weak condition is already in respiratory distress, if he runs instead of 5000 maybe only 500 meters.
difficulty in breathing
Shortness of breath is not a medical diagnosis, but a feeling. The body breathes increased, because those affected do not get enough oxygen. Such shortness of breath differs from chronic shortness of breath in the fact that those affected initially breathe deeply, only with increased respiratory rates, the breaths flatten - people breathe shorter, because they breathe faster.
Inhaling transports the air into the lungs, where the oxygen gets into the blood and into the air sacs.
The oxygenated blood pumps the heart into the circulation. Atumgssystem, heart, blood vessels and blood work together so.
Each of these "building blocks" is impaired if it gets too little oxygen. Receptors in the body detect the undersupply, notify the brain and that sends the information breathlessness and the order to increase the respiratory rate.
Shortness of breath also arises from stress. Our body switches to alarm condition. This increases the heart rate and respiratory rate. In addition, we pay less attention to our breath and do not breathe deeply. The respiratory system is by no means disturbed, nor in pregnant women whose body needs more oxygen than in normal mode.
Diseases
The list of illnesses associated with shortness of breath is long. These include disorders of metabolism as well as anemia, deformities of the ribcage, but also bone diseases. Injuries, such as badly healed rib fractures, can also cause an increased respiratory rate, as well as poisoning or numerous chest discomfort.
Late pregnancy also causes shortness of breath, diphtheria and hives, vocal cord disorders such as lung cancer, pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, tuberculosis or pleurisy. There are funnel chest, diseases of the diaphragm or disorders of the nerves, muscles and skeleton.
Cause: funnel chest
The inward growing sternum pushes the heart to the left. Although the chest is large enough that the heart can pump undisturbed, cardiac arrhythmia problems can be associated with a funnel chest.
A pronounced funnel chest compresses the right side of the heart, exactly where the blood flows. This restricts the right main chamber, which carries the blood to the lungs. Patients with severe deformity breathe quickly, that is, they increase their heart rate to compensate for decreased cardiac output.
The lungs are now constricted by the heart, but the affected person generally does not notice, however, adults with an extreme funnel chest more often bronchitis than people without this condition.
The deformed chest wall itself is not associated with pain, but the resulting malposition of the body leads to the following complications: Affected hang the shoulders forward, the thoracic spine forms a "hump", and the abdominal wall occurs like a flabby balloon forward.
The psychological consequences put the physical complaints in the shade: Affected do not dare to the pool and shy body contact, they feel like "freaks" and lose the joy of life.
In adolescents, the physical increase mental health problems and vice versa. You suffer from shortness of breath, a tightness in the body, their performance in sports is limited. In addition, they avoid sports because they are embarrassed that the classmates see their chest. Some sufferers isolate themselves socially, they become lonely and the risk of suicide increases.
Shortness of breath in lung cancer
Lung cancer is also because of a "killer cancer", because there are hardly any early warning signs. For example, while a person affected by skin cancer soon realizes that skin discolorations are spreading, becoming dark or hurting, the person affected by lung cancer usually goes to the doctor when it is already too late.
Lung cancer is a possible cause. Image: lueringmedia - fotolia The patient's performance drops rapidly, shortness of breath sets in when climbing stairs or running continuously. He suffers from fever, irritable cough, at night his sweat breaks out, and when he coughs he throws out bloody secretions. In these symptoms, however, the tumor has long since proliferated and already forms metastases. In addition, the sufferer often does not take these symptoms seriously, because they are not a monopoly of lung cancer: a bronchitis and other diseases of the respiratory tract are in fact similar.
Cough of more than 3 weeks should therefore be clarified.
In advanced lung cancer, however, chest pain, acute respiratory distress and massive decline in physical performance are added. The person also loses weight and feels weak overall.
Even at this stage, however, the tumor can often not be detected in the X-ray image. A so-called "Lungenrundherd", which can be seen in the picture, could also speak for tuberculosis. It may also be a metastasis of a primary tumor located elsewhere. But also benign round herds come into consideration.
asthma
The respiratory distress is often due to asthma. In bronchial asthma, the airways become constricted, the exhalation is obstructed, the lungs over-inflate, the respiratory muscles cramp, the lungs produce mucus that clogs the airways, and the bronchial mucosa is hypersensitive to external stimuli.
Acute respiratory distress is a symptom of an asthma attack. Image: Artemida-psy - fotolia Those affected recognize seizures as having asthma. While shortness of breath as a result of strenuous efforts, for example, in obesity is not accompanied by other key symptoms, asthmatic patients suffer from severe cough and respiratory distress.
Not only physical exertion, but inflammation, pollen or animal hair can trigger a seizure. In allergic asthma, the doctor recognizes with a skin test, which allergy is present. For example, if the skin reacts to cat hair, it suggests a cat hair allergy.
Even room sprays, detergents or medicines can cause asthma.
heart failure
Heart problems are also a cause of respiratory problems. In heart failure, the heart muscle is responsible for the lack of oxygen. He lacks the power to pump oxygenated blood into the body.
Worse still, the blood jams back into the lungs, where liquid can accumulate, causing pulmonary congestion or even pulmonary edema, and the oxygen breathed in through the air hardly gets into the blood. Shortness of breath is the result, because the brain receives the information that there is too little oxygen.
Shortness of breath can even warn against imminent cardiac death. According to a study by the Cedars-Sinai Center in Los Angeles on 18,000 subjects, short breathed patients without any evidence of heart disease were four times more likely to suffer cardiac death than those without the condition. Moreover, the risk was twice as high as that of patients complaining of chest pain.
It is possible that physicians will send patients with chest pain more frequently for diagnosis, thereby preventing impending heart failure through stents or bypasses.
Wrong breathing
Shortness of breath may also be due to wrong breathing. The affected then do not breathe in the stomach, but only in the lower thorax. You pull the neck muscles up the chest. But so the lungs get only very little air, as a result, the affected increase the respiratory rate to get the necessary oxygen.
Imagined shortness of breath
Shortness of breath and shortness of breath are also among the typical sham symptoms of people suffering from hypochondria. A sufferer writes that he constantly has the urge to breathe deeply and still feel like he is not filling his lungs. He also feels pain in the heart and sternum and spine.
A lung function test and an ECG showed that everything was fine. Nevertheless, he was afraid of lung cancer. He does not dare to have an X-ray image made, for fear that this will show the tumor. Before, he was afraid of a brain tumor.
A fellow sufferer on the Internet Hypochondriac Forum, where the person revealed himself, replied, "Grade last night and tonight I felt similar to you. A feeling on my chest, as if it would crush my heart ... and shortness of breath. Now, as a hobby asthmatic, I know how to deal with something like this, in a fit, my reason switches on and takes over the action. Yesterday it did not work ... reason forbade it. "
In such cases, it is not shortness of breath, which has physical causes, but hypochondriacal anxiety disorder. Those affected scan their bodies for signs of illness. It can actually cause shortness of breath: if the imaginary patient is afraid, it leads to stress, and when we suffer from stress, the body switches to shortness of breath.
Here is not a specialist in respiratory problems asked, but a psychotherapist.
anxiety disorders
Fear is an existential feeling of our evolutionary development. There is no caution without fear, and he who is completely without fear does not pay attention to dangers. We are not afraid of a concrete threat, but of something indefinite. It is our ideas about what might happen, that cause us fear.
If this fear paralyzes those affected in everyday life, then we speak of an anxiety disorder. This can be general or refer to certain situations, objects or living beings: social anxiety, test anxiety, fear of spiders etc ...
Although anxiety is a feeling, it is psychic, but it shows itself physically: we sweat, we tremble, the muscles tense, we feel pains in the stomach and heart, suffer from diarrhea and shortness of breath. All of these symptoms can also indicate physical illness. Fear-affected people are constantly in this state of emergency.
Therefore, someone who suffers from chronic shortness of breath should also check if there is an anxiety disorder.
Affected persons can ask themselves the following questions:
1) If the shortness of breath occurs in situations, people, animals, or thoughts that I am afraid of?
2) Examinations of the body only bring the result that everything is fine?
3) have my family, friends, acquaintances before mentioned because of exaggerated fears?
4) I breathe normally, when I'm not afraid?
5) What thoughts and feelings do I have when I am short of breath??
In case of shortness of breath resulting from an anxiety disorder only psychotherapy is helpful.
traumatization
The post-traumatic stress syndrome is associated with shortness of breath. Those affected repeat their traumatic experience in the flash-back spurts. This experience was a mental emergency and the body switched to "survival mode".
In such extreme conditions, the organism tries to supply the body with as much oxygen as possible in order to increase its performance. He also increases the respiratory rate.
People who suffer from PTSD are aware of situations when they sit in the bar at the bar and need fresh air because they feel they are not getting oxygen. Often this is accompanied by dizziness, a buzzing in the ears and fragments of terrible associations. Some even hyperventilate.
breathing techniques
Respiratory training helps against almost all forms of shortness of breath, even if it is a symptom of serious physical illness. Those affected can attend yoga classes or do respiratory therapy.
However, simple exercises, as recommended by pulmonary physicians, are already helpful in everyday life. Dr. Konrad Schulz, Medical Director of the Clinic Bad Reichenhall of the German Pension Fund Bayern Süd writes: "In case of shortness of breath, e.g. under physical stress or after intense cough, the breathing technique of the dosed lip brake (...) can often be very helpful and complement the drug therapy effectively. "
Breathing techniques can be learned in speech therapy. Image: Dan Race "href =" https://de.fotolia.com/p/200874954 "> to Race The dosed lip brake slows down the air when exhaling with the lips slightly and thus builds up resistance, which creates some back pressure, this continues from the upper to the lower respiratory tract. The exhaled air can flow better from the lungs and therefore the affected people can breathe in more fresh air.
For the lip brake, the affected people put their lips together slightly exhale until they hear a faint "wind noise". They should not press the lips together and exhale as slowly as possible.
Patients should use the lip brake not only in an emergency, when the respiratory distress is acute, but in all situations that can cause the short-breathing. Schulz explains, "It will help many sufferers to keep their airways open and able to breathe better despite chronic contraction."
He continues, "Always use the lip brakes whenever you do something that will make you gasp, such as breathing. B. climbing stairs or shopping bags towing. It is crucial to use the lip brake preventively at the beginning of the exercise - not until the shortness of breath has already occurred. Practice this technique consistently and regularly so you can safely and automatically apply it to any form of stress. "
First, this training is preventative against shortness of breath, second, it allows to breathe properly in an emergency. Schulz discusses: "Those who regularly practice the metered lip brake can also ensure that they master this breathing technique in an emergency. Anyone who has ever suffered from a shortage of air knows how to stifle the accompanying, oppressive feeling of fear. However, it is important to avoid panic in such situations so as not to exacerbate dyspnea. Rather, it is an essential help to self-help to be able to perform the lip brake even in emergency situations, to effectively alleviate the acute respiratory distress.
What can you do?
Acute shortness of breath should be taken seriously. If you feel a sudden need for air, you should call a doctor immediately.
Yoga can help with mental and psychosomatic causes. Image: WavebreakMediaMicro - fotolia Take a posture that allows more air into the body. Stay calm. If you suffer from shortness of breath, it is important to limit smoking. Being overweight helps to reduce weight. Lightweight sport stimulates the respiratory flow, this also applies to obese people or patients with lung diseases.
Sport strengthens the cardiovascular system, the blood receives more red blood cells and transports more oxygen. The blood flows better and absorbs more oxygen. The cells have more mitochondria that convert energy sources into energy. Also, the body uses the oxygen more effectively, because the capillaries around the alveoli become denser, the more oxygen comes from the lungs into the blood. Sport strengthens the muscles and includes the respiratory muscles. Do a respiratory therapy. For example, yoga exercises help to control the breath. (Dr. Utz Anhalt)
Specialist supervision: Barbara Schindewolf-Lensch (doctor)