There’s no cure for either COPD or CHF, so treatment aims to slow the progression of the diseases and manage symptoms.īecause smoking can contribute to COPD and CHF, quitting smoking will improve your health, regardless of your condition. CHF doesn’t lead to chest tightness, but you may feel your heart beating irregularly or rapidly in your chest. Sputum is mucus that may also contain blood, pus, or bacteria.ĬOPD can also cause tightness in the chest. People with CHF also tend to have a dry cough that produces sputum. The cough can sometimes bring up mucus from your diseased airways. As COPD and CHF worsen, shortness of breath or wheezing may occur with little physical effort.Ī chronic cough is one of the main symptoms of COPD. Breathing difficulties are usually experienced after physical activity and tend to develop gradually.Īt first, you may notice feeling out of breath after simple activities such as climbing a set of stairs. Shortness of breath and wheezing are symptoms of both COPD and CHF. When blood backs up or pools in the heart, the heart beats more rapidly and expands to handle the greater volume of blood. When blood isn’t pumped out of the heart effectively, fluid levels build up or become congested. With bronchitis, the airways that extend from your trachea into your lungs become irritated.Įmphysema occurs when serious damage is done to the tiny air sacs in your lungs where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged.ĬHF occurs when your heart becomes too weak to pump blood through your body. These diseases leave your lungs unable to work at full strength, making it difficult to breathe. The two main COPD conditions are chronic bronchitis and emphysema. You may also be asked to perform a breathing test.COPD is a term for several types of serious respiratory conditions that block airflow to the lungs. epiglottitis, which is a condition where the tissues surrounding your windpipes are inflamedĪ doctor may use a chest X-ray to diagnose what’s causing your wheezing when it occurs for the first time.bronchiolitis, which is an infection that causes inflammation in the smallest air passages in your lungs called bronchioles.chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a group of lung diseases that can affect your breathing and airflow.respiratory tract infection, such as pneumonia.bronchitis, which is inflammation of the lining of the bronchial tubes.Most of these conditions have a spectrum of severity from mild to life threatening.Ĭauses that can potentially be more severe may include: The whistling sound occurs when air is pushed through narrowed airways. Wheezing is often caused by inflammation in your throat or lungs. Like wheezing, it can occur when you breathe in, out, or both. Stridor, a higher-pitched sound, can indicate an obstruction in or below the voice box. When inspiratory wheezing is heard over the neck, this indicates a narrowing in the large, upper airways in the neck. Inspiratory wheezing often accompanies expiratory wheezing when heard over the lungs, specifically in an acute exacerbation of asthma. To diagnose the type of wheezing, a doctor typically uses a stethoscope to hear if it’s loudest over your lungs or neck. You can have either expiratory wheezing, inspiratory wheezing, or both. Inspiratory wheezing occurs when you inhale. If the airway is very reduced, breathing may be silent and not produce a wheezing sound. Your peak expiratory flow rate measures how fast you can exhale. It commonly occurs with conditions like asthma but can have other causes.Įxpiratory wheezing may indicate that your peak expiratory flow rate is reduced. If wheezing is loud enough, you may be able to hear it without using a stethoscope.Įxpiratory wheezing often indicates narrowing in the small airways or a mild blockage in all or part of your airway, known as an airway obstruction. Some wheezing may require a stereoscope to detect. There are two types of wheezing - inspiratory (when you inhale, or breathe in) and expiratory (when you exhale, or breathe out).
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