Wheezing

What is Wheezing?

Wheezing is when a person is having difficulty breathing because of a constricted airway and makes an audible sound with each inhalation as they are unable to draw air into their lungs normally. Wheezing is most often an associated medical condition that will come along with asthma or COPD, and the airway being constricted because of the inflammation that is at the root of either condition. Opening airway passages will relieve wheezing instantly, but this is often something that isn’t easy to achieve without the use of a bronchodilator.

What Causes Wheezing?

There are other possibilities with what may be the cause of a constricted airway sound, and they include allergic reactions, physical airway obstruction, or vocal cord problems. People with GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disorder) or emphysema may also wheeze, as may be the case for someone with pneumonia or respiratory syncytial virus.

Years of heavy smoking or regular exposure to smoke may lead a person to start wheezing at an older age. Cystic fibrosis may also be behind what causes wheezing, and people with sleep apnea may find they start breathing this way too.

Signs of Wheezing

A person making a high-pitched and coarse whistling sound when they breathe is the most primary wheezing symptom. Other signs of wheezing may include accelerated breathing or in cases of a severe COPD attack they may also have changes to skin color. If wheezing is related to exercise-induced asthma the whistling sound while breathing will come on during or after physical exertion during exercise.

Wheezing Treatment

The most conventional approach to wheezing treatment is to use a bronchodilator inhaler like the Accolate or Alvesco inhalers. These medications will suppress the inflammatory response that is causing the airway constriction so that people wheeze less often, and their breathing difficulties are not so bad if they have an asthma or COPD attack.

Other approaches to reducing wheezing are to use a humidifier in the room, drink warm beverages, avoid triggers, or to clean the air in an environment with a HEPA filter if it is allergens causing wheezing. Breathing exercises may also be helpful for wheezing, and the two most notable ones here are pursed-lip breathing and belly breathing.