I miss your breath: what should I do?
Written by:In the majority of cases, the lack of breath is a symptom of very serious diseases, not only the respiratory. Prof. Riccardo Pellegrino , an expert in Pneumology, explains why we sometimes short of breath and why you should not underestimate this problem
The shortness of breath is a disease?
The shortness of breath is always a serious problem, a problem to be reckoned with.
The difficulty in breathing, in fact, indicates that there is some problem, possibly including severe respiratory. It could also indicate a few of the lung or chest disease, a cardiovascular disease or a systemic disease, such as anemia. They are extremely important issues. For this reason, it is necessary, both on the part of the doctor by the patient, never underestimate this symptom.
Shortness of breath is a serious problem?
Dyspnea is a medical term, perhaps little known by the common people, which indicates the difficulty in breathing. Dyspnea is one of the most important symptoms and vital, so much so that when it happens you tend to seek medical attention immediately.
The symptom is due to certain receptors in the periphery of the brain, sending signals as a result of a disease that develops in the lungs or the heart. These signals travel through a nerve, to the brain and give rise to difficulties in breathing.
Because sometimes short of breath?
There are many causes that make the patient goes from doctor, to the emergency room or specialist because he misses his breath. Typically, the lack of breath is 8 times out of 10 due to lung diseases, which are mainly of two types.
The first type is represented by those diseases which cause a reduction in the caliber of the bronchial tubes, such as for example the 'asthma, emphysema or chronic bronchitis in smokers. These are diseases that eventually cause difficulty breathing more and more.
However, there are also other causes which determine the difficulty in breathing and that have nothing to do with the bronchi. The problem is the reduction of the size of the lung, which occurs, for example, in the course of pleural effusion, in the presence of a chest disease, a pneumonia or bronchitis. Are all conditions where the lung and its sensors are "crushed" and encouraged to send signals to the central nervous system, interpreted, then, as difficulty in breathing.
What to do when short of breath?
The patient who suddenly and unexpectedly missing your breath usually decides to go to the emergency room, in the emergency department, where they will be carried out blood tests, radiological and cardiological examinations.
When the symptom occurs less violently and chronically, however, the patient decides to go to the doctor and, later, to consult a specialist.
The specialist will look for signs and symptoms of the disease, and will make the examinations on the respiratory function of the patient, to check what is the starting point of the disease (bronchi, lungs, etc.). You will then receive additional investigations, for example, the chest X-ray, CT scan, blood tests, and oxygen.
Editor Karin Moscow