What should I do if I feel chest tightness, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing when sleeping at night?

Sleeping is a time for the human body to rest. What’s going on if you always feel chest tightness and shortness of breath when sleeping? This is actually a symptom caused by tracheal and lung diseases, and the patient cannot lie flat when sleeping. There may also be uncomfortable symptoms such as coughing, sputum, palpitations, etc.

What is the cough?

Coughing is a defensive reaction of the body. It is a complex and highly coordinated movement caused by the stimulation of nerves in the airways, which helps to clear respiratory secretions and harmful factors. However, frequent coughing can have a serious impact on the patient's work and life.

How do symptoms of chest tightness and shortness of breath occur?

Shortness of breath caused by tracheal and lung diseases is often accompanied by chest tightness, shortness of breath, limited movement, and inability to lie flat. When combined with pathogen infection, cough, sputum, palpitations and other discomforts may occur.

Dietary taboos

The diet of asthma patients should generally be warm, not too full, too salty, too sweet, and avoid raw, cold, seafood, greasy, spicy, tobacco, and alcohol. A small number of patients are allergic to certain foods. Common triggering foods include wheat, eggs, milk, and seafood. Some patients are also allergic to pork, tomatoes, chocolate, etc. Once it is confirmed that a certain food is the allergen that triggers asthma, it should be avoided immediately. It should be determined based on the actual situation of your own food allergies.

Nervous disorders, excessive tension and anger can cause chest tightness and shortness of breath. Self-psychological adjustment and paying attention to rest are very, very important. Chest tightness, pressure and shortness of breath are closely related to mood. You must maintain a calm mind and relieve stress. 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 disease): 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, often causes 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 can also be caused by diseases of certain organs in the body, i.e. pathological chest tightness. For example: 1. Respiratory tract obstruction: tumors growing in the trachea and bronchi, tracheal stenosis, external pressure on the trachea (enlarged thyroid gland, tumors growing in the mediastinum). 2. Lung diseases: emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, atelectasis, pulmonary infarction, and pneumothorax. 3. Heart disease: certain congenital heart diseases, rheumatic valvular heart disease, coronary heart disease, and heart tumors. 4. Diaphragmatic diseases: diaphragmatic expansion and diaphragmatic paralysis. 5. Disturbance of fluid metabolism and acid-base balance, 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 mostly indicates congenital heart disease or mediastinal tumors; chest tightness in young people mostly indicates spontaneous pneumothorax, mediastinal tumors, or rheumatic heart valvular disease; chest tightness in the elderly mostly indicates emphysema, coronary heart disease, etc.