Breathing Hard - Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment

2024 Author: Rachel Wainwright | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 07:39

Breathe heavily

Breathing is difficult if you have difficulty breathing in, breathing out, or shortness of breath. Such problems can arise both in a healthy person and due to various diseases. It is possible to breathe hard due to a sedentary lifestyle, obesity, poor heredity, alcohol and nicotine addiction, frequent pneumonia, psychosomatic disorders.

Normal breathing is 15-16 breaths per minute - when such breathing is not enough to provide oxygen to tissues and organs, there is a need to breathe heavily.

Breathing hard: reasons

Most often it becomes difficult to breathe due to:

• Strong physical exertion - the muscles need more oxygen, the respiratory organs are forced to work harder to supply the blood with the necessary oxygen;
• Various stresses and nervous conditions - spasm of the respiratory tract makes it difficult for oxygen to enter the body;
• Chronic fatigue - anemia, insufficient blood oxygen saturation;
• Bronchial asthma - bronchial spasm, mucosal edema under the influence of various allergens;
• Vascular spasms of the brain - severe headache, respiratory failure;
• Lung disease - the lungs are one of the main respiratory organs, a failure in their work leads to difficulty breathing;
• Heart failure - disruption of the cardiovascular system forms a lack of oxygen in the blood.

In the case when it is difficult to breathe even at rest, urgent diagnosis is needed to determine the cause of the heavy breathing. The following studies are recommended:

• Heart electrocardiogram (ECG);
• X-ray of the chest area;
• Pulmonary examination of lung function.

When it is difficult to breathe due to a state of fear that is not associated with a specific disease, a psychiatrist consultation is necessary.

Breathing hard: lungs

With a sufficient amount of oxygen in the air, it must freely enter the lungs through the respiratory tract. Moreover, if it is difficult to breathe, the lungs cannot cope with the task of saturating the blood with oxygen. This can happen in cases of damage to a large amount of lung tissue:

• Damage to diseases - emphysema or other diseases;
• Infections - pneumonia, tuberculosis, cryptococcosis;
• Surgical removal or destruction - large blood clot, benign or malignant tumor.

In such a situation, the remaining amount of lung tissue is not enough to supply the blood vessels with oxygen that enters the body during inhalation. If a large lobe of the lungs is affected, it is difficult to breathe, breathing is rapid, with effort.

Breathing hard: heart

When there is enough oxygen in the environment and the lungs are in order, but the heart is not working properly, it will be difficult to breathe due to a disturbed blood supply and insufficient oxygen saturation of the body.

With the following disorders in the cardiovascular system and heart function, it is difficult to breathe due to:

• Heart disease - acute heart attack, coronary artery disease, heart failure, etc. As a result of diseases, the heart muscle is weakened and cannot push a sufficient amount of oxygenated blood through the circulatory system to organs and tissues;
• Anemia. Lack of red blood cells - erythrocytes that bind and transport oxygen through the cardiovascular system, or in the pathology of erythrocytes, in which the process of binding and releasing oxygen is disrupted.

Due to serious damage to the blood supply system and the heart, it becomes difficult to breathe due to the acceleration of the heart rate.

Breathing hard: cough

When breathing is hard, coughing is a concomitant manifestation of all of the above reasons. Rapid, heavy breathing irritates the laryngeal mucosa and receptors, the muscles of the airways contract, provoking forced exhalation through the mouth.

In a situation where it is difficult to breathe, the cough tends to clear the respiratory tract of obstructions so that the airways are clear.

Why is it hard to breathe in other cases - the reason may be a condition in which the body needs more oxygen than usual. High temperature, progressive oncological diseases, thyroid disorders, diabetes mellitus, intercostal neuralgia, etc. Any disease that accelerates metabolism and is accompanied by a strong rise in temperature requires more frequent breathing to increase the amount of oxygen supplied to tissues and organs. The increased stress on the respiratory system is the main reason why it is difficult to breathe.

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