Rapid breathing is an increase in the frequency of respiratory movements. In medicine, this condition is called “tachypnea.” An adult breathes up to 20 times per minute at rest, this is considered normal. In children, the normal frequency is up to 40 times. With the symptom of rapid breathing, the frequency of inhalations and exhalations in adults increases up to 30-40 times, in children up to 50-60. This phenomenon occurs in healthy people in stressful situations and during physical activity. But if tachypnea prevails for no apparent reason, you need to figure out why this is happening and what to do about it.
How is rapid breathing determined?
Rapid, shallow breathing, also called tachypnea, occurs when you take more breaths than usual in a single minute. When a person breathes quickly, it is sometimes called hyperventilation, but hyperventilation usually refers to taking quick, deep breaths.
On average, an adult typically takes between 12 and 20 breaths per minute. Rapid breathing can be the result of anything from anxiety to asthma, lung infection or heart failure.
Tell your doctor when you have rapid, shallow breathing so you can get treatment quickly and prevent complications.
Possible solutions
Saliva control
You can use a special saliva ejector. You and your caregiver can use it independently after proper instruction. You may need deep drainage at some point using a long catheter.
Help with expectoration
There are medications that your doctor may recommend to help reduce saliva production.
Find out more in the material “Salivation Control”
As already mentioned, you can use a special coughing device. However, to use such equipment it is necessary to undergo appropriate training, which is carried out by a specialist.
Types of ventilation
If you have this condition, you may benefit from additional ventilation methods, such as:
- non-invasive ventilation (NVL);
- invasive ventilation through a tracheostomy (IVL).
Find out more in the articles “Non-invasive ventilation for ALS” and “Invasive ventilation for ALS“
When to Seek Medical Help
Rapid, shallow breathing should always be considered a medical emergency, especially the first time you experience it.
Call 911 or get emergency medical help if you have any of the following:
- a bluish-gray tint to the skin, nails, lips, or gums
- fainting
- chest pain
- chest that sag with every breath
- rapid breathing that gets worse
- fever
Tachypnea can result from many different conditions. A proper diagnosis from your doctor will help determine the cause. This means you should report any instances of tachypnea to your doctor.
Treatment of pathological tachypnea
Since pathological tachypnea is a consequence, it is necessary to concentrate on the diagnosis and treatment of the underlying disease.
To diagnose the underlying disease, you must first consult a physician. After examination and questioning, the therapist can refer the patient for examinations to other medical specialists, such as a cardiologist, neurologist, allergist, psychiatrist and others.
If such a symptom occurs in a child, you must first contact a pediatrician.
What causes rapid, shallow breathing?
Rapid, shallow breathing can be caused by several reasons, including infections, choking, blood clots and more.
Infections
Infections that affect the lungs, such as pneumonia or bronchitis, can cause difficulty breathing. This can cause breathing to become shorter and faster.
For example, children 1 year of age and older with bronchiolitis may take more than 40 breaths per minute.
If these infections get worse, the lungs may fill with fluid, making it difficult to breathe deeply. In rare cases, these infections can be fatal if left untreated.
Suffocation
When suffocating, the airways are partially or completely blocked. Your breathing will not be deep or relaxed, if you can breathe at all.
In cases of suffocation, immediate medical attention is critical.
Blood clots
A pulmonary embolism is a blood clot in the lungs. It can lead to hyperventilation along with the following:
- chest pain
- cough
- fast or irregular heartbeat
- diabetic ketoacidosis
This serious condition occurs when your body does not produce enough insulin. As a result, acids called ketones build up in your body.
Diabetic ketoacidosis often results in rapid breathing, which can lead to fatal respiratory failure.
Asthma
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory condition of the lungs. Hyperventilation may be a symptom of an asthma attack.
Asthma often causes rapid, shallow breathing in children, which may worsen at night, after exercise, or when exposed to irritants such as allergens and cold air.
Anxiety attacks
Although anxiety is often considered a purely mental disorder, physical symptoms can occur during anxiety.
Anxiety attacks are a physical reaction to fear or worry. During an anxiety attack, you may experience rapid breathing or shortness of breath.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
COPD is a common lung disease. It includes chronic bronchitis or emphysema. Bronchitis is an inflammation of the airways. Emphysema is the destruction of the air sacs in the lungs.
Transient tachypnea in a newborn
Transient tachypnea is a condition unique to newborns. It begins immediately after birth and lasts several days.
Infants with this condition may take more than 60 breaths per minute; other symptoms include grumbling and nasal flaring.
Symptoms
Rapid breathing often acts as the first clinical manifestation, but it will almost never be the only one. Thus, additional symptoms may include:
- severe headaches and dizziness;
- increase in body temperature - at fever, profuse cold sweat is often observed;
- joint and muscle weakness;
- general malaise and decreased performance;
- darkening of the eyes;
- tingling in the fingertips or area around the mouth;
- cough and runny nose - when coughing, expectoration of sputum may be observed. It can be either cloudy or transparent. In addition, it may have a greenish-yellow tint, as well as admixtures of blood or pus;
- chills and dry mouth;
- pale skin;
- shortness of breath - appears not only during physical activity, but also in a horizontal position, in particular after sleep;
- speech impairment;
- pain and discomfort in the chest;
- numbness of the upper or lower extremities;
- attacks of loss of consciousness;
- heart rate disturbance;
- causeless anxiety and panic;
- decreased or complete lack of appetite;
- the appearance of sounds uncharacteristic of breathing, for example, wheezing, whistling or other noises.
Such symptoms can be attributed to both adults and children, but it must be borne in mind that some of the above signs may be completely absent or fade into the background.
To alleviate the patient’s condition, you can use a regular paper bag, which will help slightly normalize gas exchange in the lungs. To do this, make a small hole in it, after which you breathe slowly, evenly and calmly into it for five minutes. After this time, the normal breathing rhythm is restored. However, this technique should not become an alternative to medical care every time you experience rapid breathing.
How is rapid breathing diagnosed?
Your doctor can prescribe treatment immediately to correct your breathing pattern and make it easier for you to take deep breaths. He will then ask questions related to your symptoms or your condition.
Your treatment may include receiving oxygen-rich air through a mask.
Once your condition has stabilized, your doctor will ask several questions to help diagnose the cause. Questions may include:
- When did you start having trouble breathing?
- Are you taking any medications?
- Do you have any medical conditions?
- Do you have breathing problems or lung diseases such as asthma, bronchitis or emphysema?
- Have you recently had a cold or flu?
After taking your medical history, your doctor will listen to your heart and lungs using a stethoscope. He will use a pulse oximeter to check your oxygen levels. A pulse oximeter is a small monitor worn on your finger.
If necessary, your doctor can check your oxygen levels using an arterial blood gas test. For this test, he will take a small amount of blood from your artery and send it to a laboratory for analysis. This test causes some discomfort, so your doctor may apply anesthesia (numbing agent) to the area before drawing blood.
Scanning Imaging
Your doctor may want to take a closer look at your lungs to check for lung damage or signs of disease or infection. Doctors usually use x-rays for this, but in some cases ultrasound may be needed.
In rare cases, a CT or MRI may be needed.
Prevention
The basis of prevention is the timely fight against all chronic diseases and infectious processes in the body.
It is necessary to strengthen the immune system, play sports and lead a healthy lifestyle, take courses of vitamins and restorative medications. Overweight people should adjust their weight.
Before an upcoming exciting event, it is better to take light sedatives based on herbal remedies the day before. If the cause of the attacks is mental disorders, then it is recommended to talk with a psychotherapist.
Shaykhnurova Lyubov Anatolyevna
How is rapid, shallow breathing treated?
Treatment options will vary depending on the exact cause of your breathing problems.
Lung infections
An effective treatment for rapid and shallow breathing caused by infection is an inhaler that opens the airways, as well as antibiotics.
However, antibiotics are not useful for some infections. In these cases, breathing procedures open the airways and the infection goes away on its own.
Chronic conditions
Chronic conditions, including asthma and COPD, do not go away on their own. However, treatment will help minimize rapid breathing. Treatment for these conditions may include prescription medications, inhalers, and oxygen tanks in extreme cases.
Diabetic ketoacidosis is a serious complication of diabetes and is also considered a medical emergency. Hyperventilation from diabetes requires oxygen therapy as well as electrolytes.
Anxiety disorders
If you experience rapid breathing as a symptom of an anxiety attack, your doctor will likely recommend a combination of therapy and anxiety medication.
Other procedures
If you are still breathing quickly and the above treatments are not working, your doctor may prescribe a beta blocker medication to help correct your breathing.
These medications treat fast, shallow breathing by counteracting the effects of adrenaline, a stress hormone that increases heart rate and breathing.
Children with neonatal tachypnea are treated with oxygen. This requires the use of breathing apparatus.
Diagnostics
The algorithm for diagnostic measures is extremely diverse, because patients with rapid breathing are encountered in the practice of doctors of completely different specialties.
An objective examination of such patients, as a rule, reveals a number of symptoms that indicate a particular disease.
Laboratory and instrumental examination includes the following procedures:
- blood and urine tests;
- biochemical blood test;
- chest x-ray;
- ECG;
- according to indications, they carry out: Echo-CG, SCT of the chest or abdominal cavity, ultrasound of the thyroid gland, bronchoscopy and others.
If necessary, consultation with specialized specialists is recommended: cardiologist, endocrinologist, psychotherapist and others.
How to prevent rapid, shallow breathing?
Preventive measures will depend on the cause of your rapid breathing. For example, if it is related to asthma, you should avoid allergens, exercise, and irritants such as smoke and pollution. You may be able to stop hyperventilation before it becomes an emergency. If you are hyperventilating, you need to increase your carbon dioxide intake and decrease your oxygen intake.
Sources:
Impulse follows strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, research institutions and medical associations. We avoid using insufficiently expert links.
- Asthma. (2019). niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/asthma
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). (2018). report.nih.gov/nihfactsheets/viewfactsheet.aspx?csid=77
- Chourpiliadis C, et al. (2019). Physiology, respiratory rate. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537306/
- Cough or difficult breathing. (2008). ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK143752/
- Jha K, et al. (2019). Transient tachypnea of the newborn. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537354/
- De Moraes AG, et al. (2019). Effects of diabetic ketoacidosis in the respiratory system. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6347653/
- Park SB, et al. (2019). Tachypnea. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK541062/
