Common causes of feeling short of breath are: lung problems, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) heart problems, such as a cardiovascular disease and heart failure. infections in the airways, such as croup, bronchitis, pneumonia, COVID-19, the flu and even a cold.
About shortness of breath
It's normal to get out of breath when you've overexerted yourself, but when breathlessness comes on suddenly and unexpectedly, it's usually a warning sign of a medical condition.
Shortness of breath is often a symptom of heart and lung problems. But it can also be a sign of other conditions like asthma, allergies or anxiety. Intense exercise or having a cold can also make you feel breathless.
While there are many causes of shortness of breath, the most common causes are lung disease, heart disease, or deconditioning (lack of exercise, especially in people who are overweight or obese).
Key Facts. If your breathing has become labored and difficult for no obvious reason, it may be the sign of a more serious medical problem. If chest pain or pressure, fainting or nausea accompanies shortness of breath, you should treat it as a medical emergency.
If shortness of breath happens when you're clearly not exerting yourself, when you're doing something you normally could do without feeling winded, or comes on suddenly, those are warning signs that a heart issue could potentially be to blame.
People can experience shortness of breath while walking for a number of reasons. Sometimes, this occurs as a result of conditions such as anxiety, asthma, or obesity. Less commonly, shortness of breath signals a more serious underlying medical condition.
"Chest pain, rapid heartbeat and breathlessness may result when an insufficient amount of blood reaches the heart muscle," says Tung. (See "Symptoms" below.) One of the key distinctions between the two is that a heart attack often develops during physical exertion, whereas a panic attack can occur at rest.
Extra fat on your neck, chest, or across your abdomen can make it difficult to breathe deeply and may produce hormone that affect your body's breathing patterns.
Diagnosis. To find the cause of your shortness of breath, your doctor may order a chest X-ray or an electrocardiogram (ECG). During this test, your doctor will have you lie down so your heart can be monitored. The ECG machine makes a picture called a tracing that shows your heart's electrical signals.
Weaker muscles need more oxygen to work. Over time you feel more and more breathless. This is called the cycle of inactivity, or the cycle of breathlessness.
Even if you consider yourself "in shape," it's still normal to feel out of breath after climbing stairs. That's because you're transitioning from a resting state to a high-intensity exercise quickly, and your body needs more oxygen to deliver to your muscles (hence why you start breathing heavily).
Heart conditions such as angina, heart attacks, heart failure and some abnormal heart rhythms like atrial fibrillation can all cause shortness of breath. These conditions may cause breathlessness for different reasons.
Warning signs and symptoms of heart failure include shortness of breath, chronic coughing or wheezing, swelling, fatigue, loss of appetite, and others. Heart failure means the heart has failed to pump the way it should in order to circulate oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.
Electrocardiogram. An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a test that records the electrical activity of the heart. The ECG reflects what's happening in different areas of the heart and helps identify any problems with the rhythm or rate of your heart. The ECG is painless and takes around 5-10 minutes to perform.
Common, treatable heart conditions such as coronary heart disease (the cause of heart attacks), heart failure and abnormal heart rhythms like atrial fibrillation can all cause breathlessness. It's important to take breathlessness seriously and talk to your doctor as soon as possible.
1) Acute, intermittent or paroxysmal, and chronic dyspnea. 2) Dyspnea at rest and exertional dyspnea. 3) Orthopnea, which refers to dyspnea occurring in the recumbent position and improving when sitting or standing. 4) Platypnea, which refers to dyspnea increasing in the sitting or standing position.
When your body experiences anxiety, it goes into fight-or-flight mode to protect itself from an immediate threat. It releases adrenaline, a hormone that pumps blood to your muscles and causes your body temperature to rise. It also sends most of your oxygen to your muscles, which is why you may feel short of breath.
Check their breathing by tilting their head back and looking and feeling for breaths. When a person is unresponsive, their muscles relax and their tongue can block their airway so they can no longer breathe. Tilting their head back opens the airway by pulling the tongue forward.
"Shortness of breath is a symptom that can be associated with many conditions, primarily heart and lung conditions. Both of these are incredibly important organs, so it's never a good idea to ignore shortness of breath or treat it lightly," says Dr. Zeenat Safdar, pulmonologist at Houston Methodist Lung Center.