Dyspnea - Difficulty Breathing, Uncomfortable breathing, breathlessness, Common causes

Dyspnea is subjective experience of uncomfortable breathing. It is described differently as: intense tightening in the chest, air hunger, difficulty breathing, breathlessness or a feeling of suffocation.
Such differences in description is because, there is no objective criteria you can describe dyspnea, it is subjective experience. And simplest and broadest definition of dyspnea Is uncomfortable breathing.
Almost 85 % of cases are: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiac failure, asthma, ischemic heart disease, interstitial lung disease and psychological conditions
Almost half of dyspnea cases are caused by Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or Asthma.
Symptoms of Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases(COPD) include:
Frequent coughing or wheezing. Excess phlegm or sputum. Shortness of breath. Trouble taking a deep breath. COPD is associated with long term smoking.
COPD is diagnosed using a simple breathing test called spirometry.
COPD has exacerbations which can be treated with antibiotics.
Quite smoking, exercise and healthy diet is important for management of COPD.

Asthma: affecting both children and adults, and is the most common chronic disease among children.
Asthma characterized by asthma attacks, symptoms which can be any combination of cough, wheeze, shortness of breath and chest tightness. Asthma characterized diurnal variation of symptoms. Coughing at night is common characteristic of asthma.
Inhaled bronchodilator medication can control asthma symptoms and allow people with asthma to lead a normal, active life. Avoiding asthma triggers can also help to reduce asthma symptoms.
If cough and fever are accompanied with dyspnea, pulmonary disease, infection is the primary concern. Such as pneumonia or acute bronchitis.
Acute bronchitis also can be associated with dyspnea + wheezing.
Chest radiography is fairly sensitive and specific to assess heart failure caused dyspnea.
Interstitial lung disease is an umbrella term used for a large group of diseases that cause scarring (fibrosis) of the lungs. The scarring causes stiffness in the lungs which makes it difficult to breathe and get oxygen to the bloodstream. Lung damage from ILDs is often irreversible and gets worse over time.
shortness of breath is accompanied with a dry cough, chest discomfort, fatigue and occasionally weight loss. Interstitial lung disease is rare disease and more common in older ages.
To diagnose an interstitial lung disease a chest X-ray or CT scan is informative lung study.
Rapid onset of very severe dyspnea without any other symptoms, can indicate pulmonary embolism or pneumothorax. Such cases are rare.
Pulmonary embolism shoud be always suspected if person has new onset of dyspnea plus + Deep vein thrombosis risk factors such as: prolonged immobilization, surgery, estrogen therapy,. Or obesity, lower extremity trauma and cancer.
New onset of dyspnea can defined as 4 weeks or earlier.


Pulmonary lymphogenic carcinomatosis can be considered when patient has malignancy especially breast, lungs and gastric cancer.
If Patient reports prominent dyspnea without any other features it can be extrapulmonary causes, including: anemia, panic disorder, neuromuscular disorders.
COVID 19 also can cause dyspnea, after 10-14 days muscle weakness and dyspnea can be prominent.
If Dyspnea is worse while sitting and standing and, it is better in recumbent position, it can be caused intracardiac shunt or pulmonary vascular shunt.

[fraktel_]

To anyone experiencing this often I would like to tell you that in my case I have had asthma symptoms when I let allergies untreated. Once in 2018 I even had a breathing stroke caused by huge general inflammation.
With “untreated allergies” I mean that I didn’t fix the root cause of the problem and after 20 years of having allergies I have finally found that dairy, gluten, sugar, dust and my cats hair were the main causes of my asthma.

I have been working on changing my gut microbiome for 3 years in which I obviously stopped smoking (weed, cigarettes), i started to eat fermented foods, plenty of more living water, minerals, magnesium, more veggies (all that fiber has made me super strong), i obviously vacuum every 5 days and groom my cats every 3 days.
I became aware of how certain “modern foods” are highly inflammatory and I haven’t had any lung issues even with covid and other viruses.
I do lung work by holding my breath several seconds and diaphragmatic breathing has also made my lungs stronger.
To be honest I also realized that every time I had been so sick of respiratory problems they always relate to a very sad or depressed part of my life, but once you start getting rid of alcohol, sugars, gluten and all those things that are inflammatory I promise that even sadness goes away because we have this bridge called gut-brain.

Basically, if your gut is healthy and you’re eating lots of fiber every day, all your lung issues (and other diseases) will fade away.
Check also this herb called andrographis paniculata. Ive used it for pneumonia and other virsuses/bacterias its super potent and anti inflammatory.
If you lack of any herbal remedies chamomile will be your best friend because it opens the lung vessels.

[bfast]

I was breathless a no of times after meals & walking. I learned that I was dehydrated as I was drinking very little plain water but a lot of caffeine. Caffeine dehydrates the body. Doctors always tells to drink more plain water..

When I encounter breathless again, I slowly drank a cup of plain water with a pinch of sea salt on the tongue and I was ok.

Now, I drink a cup of water before every meal & any activity that perspires. I have not encountered breathless anymore.

[FlyingGreenTea]

Anybody reading this, please do a blood test called 'ABG', 'CBC', 'Uric Acid', and 'Lipid profile' test. You will know a lot about your body. Also, check your sitting posture because our posture can also make breathing problems. Lastly, do check out 'Blood type diet' and always remember to sleep on time, exercise and eat healthy food and drink water! God bless you all!

[ILikeBreadMoreThanYou]

Im only 11 and i have shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, uncomfortable breathing and i cant sleep because of it. And its been like this for a few days 😭

[marcelamedeiros]

I have to yawn to get breath in. I feel like the trachea or the bronchioles are super tight and when I yawn it expands giving me relief. Breathing through my nose isn’t easy either but I think the worst part of it is not getting what I breathed in the lungs. It’s really frustrating

[fatimahtimalia]

I don't know if I have dysponea or not but since years I need to take deep breaths often and sometimes it gets difficult to breath when I told my parents they told me it's just because I get that after doing some work but I read an article it says it increases with time and now I need to take deep breaths even when I'm resting

[orangemoon]

One day I became sick, I became so sick I couldn’t breathe and had to go to the doctors. They put me on a machine to breathe better. My breathing was fine for a bit but now my breathing has gotten worse again and it hurts sometimes to breathe. Sometimes I get so scared because I feel like I’m dying and I start crying because I can’t breathe well. I’m only 18.

[jusjwh]

I too don't know it 😭😭😭😭😭😭 wasting my tym and I'm psychological inactive😢😢😢 now I'm came to know it tq I'm suffering this sym without unknowingly for 2yrs

[lazokapanga]

Is it suitable for me to go for an x-ray scan😢

[punkyduckscn]

At last I can put a name to what’s going on. .. time to get help. Thank you

[AleeshZxLynnZx]

I have dysponea but i Don't have asthma is so weird right?

[pbjwitnocrust]

Man I’m scared and pissed at the same time. I just would like to live and not have trouble with the easiest thing in the world.

[jamesswain]

It's scary. I'm 45 and a smoker. I just quit. I woke up not breathing very well. I will never smoke again. I hope this is what it is

[josephwastaken]

I have a similar issue. I feel the need to take a deep breath constantly. I've seen a doctor for it, had blood work, a sleep study, chest x-ray, throat x-ray and everything came back normal for me. I smoked for 15 years and now I just vape too much. I've never been healthier though, recently lost a lot of weight and quit drinking alcohol. I still vape nicotine and thc and YES, I know there's no good in that but with blood results and a chest x-ray validating my health, I feel okay with it. But I still have this breathing issue? I feel like I cant comfortably lay or sleep on my back, so I sleep in a recliner chair for a few hours then I roll over into my bed and sleep on my left side for the rest of the night. I've read that not being able to sleep on your back is sign of heart failure, but I've had very healthy blood lab results for the past 5 years since vie been going constantly . I think I developed a strange anxiety disorder when I quit drinking alcohol. I think there's something wrong when I'm trying to fall asleep, but there's not. I'm scared to fall asleep sometimes because I worry how my body responds to this issue while I sleep. but I try to remember to breath calmly, and that it's just anxiety for me. I used to drink a lot, every single day for like 5 years and I just quit cold one day. never looked back. but the first few weeks that I quit, I had a really hard time adjusting to sleeping sober. I still struggle with this, not as much. and my breathing is normal most of the time. I can jog for over an hour, I exercise often and perform music in a band regularly.

[RohithSuthari]

Since 1 year iam suffering with. Difficulty in breathing. what can i do?it is so fustrating

[minnie]

I come here to see if it was really serious I actually had trouble breathing and chest pain and also coughing all day and have trouble at sleeping and I think I might have asthma, I got treated by medicine at my lungs and it's all done but now I'm still having this symptoms (btw the medicine I had lungs bacteria) I'm not good at English but hope you understand 😭 I'm really curious about my health right now at night I have trouble at sleeping because of my cough with plehgm and hard breathing.

[jennifervitale]

I need to know if this is bad because im pretty sure i have this and im going to the doctors office pretty soon because of this reason, and if it is bad at least i will be ready for whatever the doctor says

[janetjames]

I have similar symptoms. It seems to have connection with Covid as I noticed after contracting that disease. Possibly it was just a co-morbidity. It became more uncomfortable with age.

[phoenixreborn]

anyone here find difficulty breathing aftwr sometime of looking down- i am looking down when im studying, and after sometime it feels difficult to breath and i feel like something is in my throat

[ArtistTree-pjfi]

Ok. How absolutely positively bizarre. So I am having a panic attack because I cannot breathe. This never happened to me in my entire life. Now it has happened the passed 3 winters. This is absolutely insanely unbearable. The physical structure of my nose has swollen shut. It is not mucus. The nose itself is inflamed and swollen inside and has swollen shut. It is unbearable and I can't sleep and I will be awake for the next 3 days as that's what happened last time. It's odd. I was thinking to myself that this marks the 3 year anniversary of this happening to me. You know what else is on its 3 year anniversary of being introduced into our environment? It's odd. I came to this video which shouldn't have any association with their 3 year anniversary but incredibly they have placed one of their narrative control banners at the top of this video specifically calling out the hunch I had. How curious. What does this video even have to do with that? Why is that there in a video about this topic?
Oh nevermind I get it. Because that is supposed to be the cause of those symptoms. Clever. You could so easily cause it with something else and then just say it is that. So very clever. God is clever too. Hell is inescapable for some.