What are the common causes of breathing difficulties?

Many people experience symptoms of chest tightness and difficulty breathing, but they don’t know the cause, and they are very anxious, worried and afraid. In fact, there is no need to be afraid when these symptoms occur. So what are the general causes of difficulty breathing?

1. Pulmonary dyspnea: caused by respiratory organ lesions, mainly manifested in the following three forms:

1) Inspiratory dyspnea: manifested by wheezing, and depression of the sternum, supraclavicular fossa, and intercostal spaces during inspiration - the three-depression sign. It is common in laryngeal and tracheal stenosis, such as inflammation, edema, foreign bodies and tumors.

2) Expiratory dyspnea: prolonged expiratory phase accompanied by wheezing, seen in bronchial asthma and obstructive pulmonary disease.

3) Mixed dyspnea: seen in pneumonia, pulmonary fibrosis, large pleural effusion, pneumothorax, etc.

2. Cardiogenic dyspnea: Common in cardiogenic pulmonary edema caused by left heart failure, its clinical characteristics:

1) The patient has a history of severe heart disease.

2) Mixed dyspnea, more obvious in supine position and at night.

3) Medium and small wet gong sounds may be heard at the bottom of the lungs and vary with body position.

4) X-ray examination: abnormal changes in the cardiac shadow; congestion in the hilum of the lung and its vicinity or signs of pulmonary edema.

3. Toxic dyspnea: Acidosis caused by various reasons can increase the carbon dioxide in the blood and decrease the pH, stimulate peripheral chemoreceptors or directly excite the respiratory center, increase respiratory ventilation, and manifest as deep and severe dyspnea; respiratory depressants such as morphine and barbiturates can also inhibit the respiratory center when poisoning, causing shallow and slow breathing.

4. Hematogenous dyspnea: Severe anemia can cause shortness of breath due to a decrease in red blood cells and insufficient blood oxygen, especially after activities. In case of massive hemorrhage or shock, ischemia and a drop in blood pressure stimulate the respiratory center and cause dyspnea.

5. Neuropsychiatric and myopathic dyspnea: Severe brain diseases such as encephalitis, cerebrovascular accident, brain tumors, etc. directly affect the respiratory center, resulting in abnormal respiratory rhythm and leading to dyspnea; myasthenia gravis crisis causes paralysis of the respiratory muscles, leading to severe dyspnea; in addition, hysteria can also cause dyspnea attacks, which are characterized by significantly rapid and shallow breathing, because respiratory alkalosis is often accompanied by tetany.