Breathlessness

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Why I am breathless?

Many things, some of which need immediate medical treatment, can cause breathlessness. If you don't know why you are breathless or you haven't had the reason confirmed, you need to see a doctor.

In a physically fit person, exercise can cause breathlessness, as soon as the exercise is stopped the breathing rate returns to normal within a short period of time. If however you feel breathless when you don't expect to you need to go and get checked out by a doctor to find out what is causing this breathlessness.

Our bodies rely on the lungs to supply the oxygen it needs to function. As we breathe in we take in oxygen from the air that surrounds us. In the lungs the oxygen is passed into the blood and then taken around the body.

The body uses the oxygen and produces carbon dioxide that is then transported back via the blood to the lungs for us to breathe back out into the air. This process is repeated continually and requires the both healthy lungs and a healthy heart for the process to run smoothly.

During exercise the muscles need more oxygen to be delivered and need the carbon dioxide they produce to be taken away. The brain and the heart are stimulated to speed up the process of breathing.

The person exercising uses their lungs to breathe quicker and their heart beats faster to transport the oxygen and carbon dioxide to and from the muscles.

Causes of breathlessness

Being overweight and not exercising can cause breathlessness. Breathlessness can also be caused by an underlying medical condition affecting either the lungs or the heart or possibly both which is why it is you have to go to the doctors and get yourself checked out.

Diseases affecting your lungs include asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis, bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, pneumonia and cancer.
A heart condition or anaemia can also be causes of breathlessness.

Physical problems caused by breathlessness

The physical problems caused by the breathlessness depend upon the severity of the symptoms. These can range from people who only experience some breathlessness during strenuous exercise to those people who find it impossible to get dressed on their own because they are too breathless. For these people leaving the house is very difficult because their mobility is so limited and often they require extra oxygen even when resting in the house. For most people however there breathlessness is somewhere in between these scenarios. 
Howsme have experts who can help you manage breathlessness, tell us how it affects you and see if we can help.

Psychological problems caused by breathlessness

Anxiety can cause us to feel breathless without any underlying physical problem. This type of anxiety is sometimes referred to as a panic attack. Breathlessness can cause anxiety because it can be a frightening symptom and so it can become a cycle of breathlessness causing anxiety causing breathlessness or rather confusingly a cycle of anxiety causing breathlessness causing anxiety!

Treatment of breathlessness

For breathlessness to be effectively treated the cause needs to be found and treated.

Updated: 15th September 2009