Common causes of breathlessness

Breathlessness

The medical term for breathlessness is dysponea. When a person is not able to breathe properly and has the feeling of shortness of breath, than he or she is suffering from breathlessness. Breathlessness is a pretty common symptom of various medical conditions that are connected with the heart, lungs and some other systems. There is almost not a person who will feel comfortable when he or she experiences breathlessness or even witnesses that someone is experiencing it. People need to know that if they experience breathlessness they need to go to the hospital in order for the doctor to discover the actual cause. Some cases of breathlessness are more severe than others and the doctors grade them according to the degree of activity that causes the symptoms. According to the doctors, there are four grades of breathlessness and the fourth is the worst. A person who is experiencing breathlessness while resting is considered to be suffering from the fourth grade of breathlessness. Breathlessness does not always have to be caused by some disease or condition and there are a lot of people who experience breathlessness due to the fact that they are out of shape. However, no matter what the cause is, people need not neglect breathlessness and should seek a doctor’s opinion. The development of breathlessness

According to the experts, there are four main mechanisms that lead to breathlessness. A person will be short of breath if the oxygen levels in the blood stream are decreased, if the levels of carbon dioxide in the blood stream are increased, if the ability of the lung to expand is decreased and if there is increased workload connected with normal breathing.

Common causes of breathlessness

There are a lot of possible causes of breathlessness and due to the fact that there are four different systems involved it is not an easy task for the doctors to determine the actual cause of breathlessness. However, thanks to the other symptoms a doctor will be able to determine the actual cause.

When respiratory causes are considered, people can experience shortness of breath due to airway obstruction, damaged or reduced amount of functioning lung tissue, impaired ventilator movement and pulmonary circulation. Heart failure, mitral valve disease, cardiomyopathy, pericarditis and various other cardiac problems are the common cardiac causes of breathlessness. It is not uncommon for the lung cancer to cause breathlessness, especially in its later stages. Anaemia is another common cause of breathlessness in people. Apart from these, there are a lot more causes of breathlessness.