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Causes. Most cases of shortness of breath are due to heart or lung conditions. Your heart and lungs are involved in transporting oxygen to your tissues and removing carbon dioxide, and problems with either of these processes affect your breathing.
Shortness of breath — known medically as dyspnea — is often described as an intense tightening in the chest, air hunger, difficulty breathing, breathlessness or a feeling of suffocation. Very strenuous exercise, extreme temperatures, obesity and higher altitude all can cause shortness of breath in a healthy person.
Problems breathing can come on suddenly or last for weeks or longer. Most cases are due to heart or lung conditions, but there are many other causes.
Symptoms include trouble breathing, a daily cough that brings up mucus and a tight, whistling sound in the lungs called wheezing. COPD is most often caused by long-term exposure to irritating smoke, fumes, dust or chemicals.
Pneumonia is an infection that inflames the air sacs in one or both lungs. The air sacs may fill with fluid or pus (purulent material), causing cough with phlegm or pus, fever, chills, and difficulty breathing. A variety of organisms, including bacteria, viruses and fungi, can cause pneumonia.
The most common cause of a sore throat (pharyngitis) is a viral infection, such as a cold or the flu. A sore throat caused by a virus resolves on its own. Strep throat (streptococcal infection), a less common type of sore throat caused by bacteria, requires treatment with antibiotics to prevent complications.
Causes. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the muscles in the back of the throat relax too much to allow for proper breathing. These muscles support the back of the roof of the mouth, known as the soft palate. The muscles also support the tongue and side walls of the throat.
Seek immediate medical attention if your child — or anyone at risk of severe RSV infection — has difficulty breathing, a high fever, or a blue color to the skin, particularly on the lips and in the nail beds.
An infection, growths in the sinuses, called nasal polyps, or swelling of the lining of the sinuses can cause chronic sinusitis. Symptoms might include a blocked or stuffy nose that makes it hard to breathe through the nose and pain and swelling around the eyes, cheeks, nose or forehead.
Learn more about the causes of common voice disorders, such as laryngitis and granuloma, and how Mayo Clinic diagnoses and treats them.