Dyspnea - first aid

Alternative names

Difficulty breathing - first aid; Breathing difficulties - first aid; Shortness of breath - first aid

Definition

Breathing difficulties can be described in several different ways. You may feel "winded," short of breath, unable to take a deep breath, "air hunger," not getting enough air, or like you are gasping for air.

See first aid for choking.

Considerations

If you are having difficulty breathing, it is almost always a medical emergency (other than feeling slightly winded from normal activity like exercise or climbing a hill).

Causes

Difficulty breathing has many potential causes. Some of the most common are:

• Sudden illness or infections like pneumonia, acute bronchitis, whooping cough, croup, or epiglottitis (inflammation of the epiglottis - the flap that closes the windpipe when you swallow)
  
• Ongoing medical problems like heart disease, asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, or heart failure (which causes shortness of breath because fluid backs up into the lungs)
  
• Heart attack
  
• Injury to the neck, chest wall, or lungs
  
• Collapsed lung, which can happen if you have emphysema or asthma, but may also happen spontaneously in young, healthy people
  
• High altitudes, which can be a problem even in young people
  
• Cigarette smoking or breathing secondhand smoke
  
• Pulmonary embolism, or a blood clot in the lung, which can cause very abrupt and severe difficulty breathing
  
• Life-threatening allergic reaction
  

Symptoms
The following symptoms are often associated with difficulty breathing:

• Gurgling, wheezing, or whistling sounds
  
• Using chest and neck muscles to breathe
  
• Bluish lips, fingers, and fingernails
  
• Cough (if the person also has phlegm/sputum, this may be pneumonia; a barking cough in a child is croup)
  
• Chest pain (could be a heart attack or injury; sharp chest pain could be pulmonary embolism or collapsed lung)
  
• Chest moving in an unusual way as the person breathes (may indicate an airway or chest injury)
  
• Confusion, light-headedness, weakness, or sleepiness
  
• Fever