Wheezing

Wheezing

PKGhatak,MD

Wheezing is a common symptom of asthma but asthma is not the only cause of wheezing. As more and more people are developing asthma. You need to pay attention if you begin to wheeze for the first time in your life.

What makes one wheeze?

When airways of the lungs (nose, throat, voice box, windpipe, bronchus and its smaller branches) become narrower relative to the airflow, the flow of air becomes turbulent and makes a sound. The sound then gets magnified in the chest because the air in the lungs acts as a resonator.

The airway has three layers, the innermost layer is moist and rich in blood supply, and the middle layer has smooth muscles laid down in a circular fashion and the outer layer has connective tissues.

Inflammation or infection of the airway makes the inner wall swell up making the passageway narrower; contraction of muscles of the middle layer narrows the airway. Any growth or swelling next to the outer layer of the airway can produce narrowing by compression of the airway.

When a person breathes with narrowed airway wheezing is heard; at the same time, the person feels difficult to breathe because he has to work harder to breathe. When one is exhausted from labored breathing airflow diminishes so much that only a faint sound of airflow is hard and wheezing disappears. It is now an emergency, without medical help life is in danger.

Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the bronchus and its branches resulting in swelling of the inner layer at the same time muscle layer contracts making airways still narrower. There are several effective medications available to treat asthma.

What about other causes of wheezing.

When heart muscles become weak and fail to pump blood adequately through the lungs the liquid part of blood sips out from the blood vessels into the lungs, constricting the airways from outside and also swelling the inner layer making it narrower.

Any foreign body lodged in the airway, any growth or accumulated secretion in the airway can make one wheeze. In addition, there are several other diseases, not so common, involving the airway and may produce wheezing.

The common cold and hay fever in a certain group of people can produce wheezing. Newborn infants and children have narrower airways, to begin with; as a result, any viral infection can produce wheezing.

In essence: if one begins to wheeze for the first time it must be checked out by a physician.

 

edited 2020.

 

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