Shortness Of Breath Called Dyspnea

When people get so short of breath that the very effort of breathing is difficult and when breathing is harsh and labored, anyone can tell that something is wrong. Since respiration is necessary to life difficult breathing creates serious anxiety. Usually people breathe eighteen to twenty times a minute, and regularly. The breathing is effortless and without any special sensation. If breathing becomes irregular or if a severe effort has to be made to get enough breath, pain may appear.

Anyone can get short of breath after severe work or exhaustive exercise. Shortness of breath occurs more often in fat people than in thin ones, in old people than in young ones, and in women than in

men.

When shortness of breath is not accompanied by extra effort, the trouble may be more mental than physical. Anyone can imitate shortness of breath. Allergic conditions and asthma which narrow the bronchial tubes bring on "wheezing." Damage to the diaphragm, the lining of the chest cavity or the lungs may bring about trouble in breathing. In pneumonia when a portion of the lung is inflamed and congested, the breathing is labored. Severe anemia, which lessens the supply of blood able to carry oxygen, may result in quickened breathing to get the necessary oxygen to the tissues.

The most important causes of shortness of breath are diseases of the heart and lung, and disorders which in any way prevent air from getting into the lungs. As with every other part of the body, damage

to the nervous system can also be reflected in serious difficulties with breathing.

Bleeding From The Lungs-Hemoptysis

Blood coming from the lungs is usually bright red and frothy whereas that from the stomach may be dark red, brown or black and mixed with scraps of food. Vomiting is usually preceded by retching and nausea, but a hemorrhage from the lung may come quietly and without warning. Blood in the lung may be associated with severe coughing and occasionally severe coughing may tear tissue so as to produce bleeding.

In the early stages of pneumonia a severe cough may bring up blood, because the lungs are at that time heavily congested. Such blood has a rusty or prone juice color, but may be bright red.

Among the commonest causes of blood from the lungs, in the absence' of tuberculosis, is the passing of a clot elsewhere in the body into the pulmonary artery, the large blood vessel that supplies the lung with blood. The small blood vessels around the area become congested and the irritation causes a cough which may bring up blood.

In chronic bronchiectasis the surface tissue of the bronchial tubes may be torn with severe coughing so that blood appears in the sputum.

The hemorrhage from the lungs in tuberculosis is due to actual erosion or destruction of blood vessels by the disease. Cavities form in the lung in tuberculosis due to destructive action by the germs. The blood vessels in the walls of these cavities may be eroded. One of the dangers is spread of the infection by inhaling and by forcible expulsion of germs in severe coughing.

Among young people with hearts that have been damaged by disease, especially with narrowing of the mitral valve of the heart, the backing up of blood into the lungs causes swelling of the large and small blood: vessels with occasional breaking and therefore a hemorrhage from the lungs.

Any time blood comes from the lungs the symptom should be taken as a warning that something serious has occurred.

Palpitation Of The Heart

Ordinarily we are not aware of the beating of our hearts. If you do become conscious of the heart's beating, the symptom may have significance but often is unimportant. Many letters come to doctors who write health columns from people who say they have noticed that their hearts were flopping, skipping, pounding, bumping or fluttering.

If you run too hard or engage in too much muscular activity an extra burden is put on your heart, and you may feel it pounding. As soon as you have "caught your breath," the sensation disappears. When the heart beats too rapidly, as it does in excessive action of the thyroid or in other disturbances, you become aware of it. People seem to be conscious of sudden alterations in the heart rate. Different people respond differently to various conditions that affect the body. Those who are placid may pass without noticing a situation that will seriously disturb a person who is sensitive to minor stimulation.

Palpitation may be due to sudden alteration of the heart rate, particularly in the cases when the heart beats too rapidly; this condition in turn may be due to excessive action of the thyroid gland. Anemia, hemorrhage, fever, and a lessened amount of sugar in the blood are other conditions in which palpitations occur. In such instances an excess of epinephrine secreted by the adrenal gland may be basically responsible. Many people who complain of palpitation constantly swallow air while eating too rapidly; when the stomach is distended they become conscious of the beating of the heart.

Many people described as nervous and who have nothing physically wrong complain of palpitations. These people have a cardiac neurosis in which their minds are centered on their heart action. The suspicion that one has heart disease may set up or intensify such a neurosis. A doctor can find out the facts, and thus cure both the neurosis and the palpitation which arises from it.