Difficulty breathing, chest tightness

The busy urban life has put many people in a certain stressful environment, and many people have experienced heart and brain problems such as difficulty breathing and chest tightness. Previously, these problems mostly occurred in the elderly, but now they are gradually becoming younger. The occurrence of this type of disease is due to both physical and psychological reasons in addition to the disease itself. Different age groups require different treatments. Next, let’s take a closer look at the situations and problems associated with difficulty breathing and stuffiness in the chest.

Chest tightness is a subjective feeling of difficulty breathing or not having enough air. Those with mild symptoms will feel nothing serious, but those with severe symptoms will feel uncomfortable, as if a stone is pressing on their chest, and even have difficulty breathing. It may be a functional manifestation of the body's organs, or it may be one of the earliest symptoms of disease in the human body. The causes of chest tightness in people of different ages are different, the treatments are different, and the consequences are also different.

1. Functional chest tightness (i.e. chest tightness without organic lesions)

Staying in a room with closed doors and windows and poor air circulation for a long time, or encountering some unpleasant things, or even having quarrels or disputes with others, or being in a climate with low air pressure, will often cause feelings of chest tightness and fatigue. After a short rest, opening windows for ventilation or going outside to breathe fresh air, relaxing your mind and regulating your emotions, you will soon return to normal. This type of chest tightness can be said to be functional chest tightness, and there is no need to worry or seek treatment.

2. Pathological chest tightness (i.e. chest tightness caused by organic lesions)

Chest tightness can not only be physiological, but also be caused by diseases in certain organs in the body, that is, pathological chest tightness. Such as: 1. Respiratory obstruction: tumors in the trachea and bronchi, tracheal stenosis, external pressure on the trachea (thyroid enlargement, tumors in the mediastinum); 2. Lung diseases: emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, atelectasis, pulmonary infarction, pneumothorax; 3. Heart diseases: certain congenital heart diseases, rheumatic valvular heart disease, coronary heart disease, heart tumors; 4. Diaphragmatic lesions: diaphragmatic bulging, diaphragmatic paralysis; 5. Fluid metabolism and acid-base imbalance, etc. Pathological chest tightness can occur suddenly or slowly. Most of the sudden occurrences are due to acute traumatic or spontaneous pneumothorax, acute asthma, acute foreign body in the trachea, acute heart attack, acute pulmonary infarction, etc. Chronic chest tightness is a condition in which symptoms gradually worsen as the disease progresses. Chest tightness in children is mostly caused by congenital heart disease or mediastinal tumors; chest tightness in young people is mostly caused by spontaneous pneumothorax, mediastinal tumors, or rheumatic heart valvular disease; chest tightness in the elderly is mostly caused by emphysema, coronary heart disease, etc.