Shortness of breath can be caused not only by the virus but by some other health condition.
Asthma can suddenly make airways narrow, tightening of muscles around it , making airways swollen or inflamed and thicker mucus.
Asthma attack causes trouble breathing, wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath symptoms.
Besides other reasons, dust, pollen, smoke, exercise, freezing air, a cold or stress can trigger asthma attack. You may struggle for air, cough up mucus, or hear whistling when you breathe.
Allergies can be another reason for shortness of breath. What you breathe in can cause allergies, such as pollen, pet dander (cats and dogs), home dust, insect stings from wasps and bees, some food such as peanuts, milk and eggs.
The allergic reaction can also cause asthma and not only because of allergens you breath in. It can be something you touch, some food you intake.
Sometimes your body’s immune system reacts for an unknown reason and triggers allergic reaction. This is usually temporary, though it can some time before your body’s immune response goes back to normal.
Anxiety
An anxiety attack can happen when you’re scared or worried, it involves a fear of some specific occurrence or problem that could happen. It might get even worse if you have lung problems like COPD. Sudden stress, like a car accident, could trigger an attack if you have asthma.
Symptoms include worry, restlessness, and changes in heart rate.
A panic attack or anxiety can cause you to take rapid or deep breaths. This is known as hyperventilating.
Carbon Monoxide
Carbon Monoxide is a gas that can come from furnaces, fireplaces, water heaters, dryers, and car fumes. It can build up in the air and can cause serious complications, including brain damage and heart problems. That makes it hard for your red blood cells to send oxygen through your body. Severe carbon monoxide poisoning include can lead to breathlessness and dizziness.
Cold
A cold may cause lungs and airway irritation and bring a cough that can make it hard to breathe. It happens due to a virus that causes a runny nose, sneezing and fever. Irritation causes the upper airways to narrow, which makes it a little harder to breathe.
Cold can be caused by different viruses. Although fever is a key coronavirus symptom, it could be flu or a different infection. A high temperature is unlikely with a cold.
If you have a cold or flu you may well have a cough, along with other symptoms. You should get tested for coronavirus if you develop a new, continuous cough.
COVID-19
COVID-19 is a serious respiratory disease and it is caused by a type of virus called a coronavirus. The virus first attacks cells in your airways, but it can spread quickly to your lungs.
Along with fever and a dry cough, the most common warning sign is shortness of breath. However, if shortness of breath is your only symptom, without a cough or fever, something other than COVID-19 is the likely problem. But still cough and fever are the main warning signs of COVID-19.
Pulmonary Embolism
If a clot breaks loose and goes to your lung blocking blood flow, it can make it hard or painful to breathe. You could feel faint, and your heart might race with chest pain and coughing up blood.
If it happens, you have to get to the hospital since it can be life-threatening. If you have a sudden shortness of breath it’s usually a warning sign of a medical condition.
Pneumonia (lung inflammation) may also cause shortness of breath and a cough. It’s usually caused by an infection, so you’ll need to take antibiotics.
When a virus, bacteria, or fungus infects the air sacs inside your lungs, it makes it harder to breathe. You can also have chills and fever coughing up a thick, colored mucus.
COPD is a chronic bronchitis or emphysema. It stretches out the air sacs in your lungs making it tougher to breathe. You can feel tightness in your chest and have a cough, sometimes with wheezing.
If you have COPD, it’s likely your breathlessness is a sign this condition has suddenly got worse.
Lung cancer can cause shortness of breath. It can also cause a persistent cough, coughing up blood, an ache or pain when breathing or coughing, unexplained tiredness and weight loss.
Sleep Apnea
Sleep Apnea is a condition when breathing stops repeatedly during sleep. It’s a condition linked to abnormal breathing during sleep. The next day you might be tired and moody. It could cause high blood pressure and lead to heart disease and a stroke.
Extra weight is a risk. It may help to lose weight, but not all people with sleep apnea are overweight.
Heart failure can cause breathlessness. It is when your heart is having trouble pumping enough blood, usually because the heart muscle has become too weak or stiff to work properly.
That makes it harder to get oxygen where it needs to go. Blood backs up in your lungs. That can make you short of breath.
Anemia
Anemia is a condition when your body doesn’t have enough healthy red blood cells. Accordingly, you can’t get enough oxygen to your tissues. Shortness of breath is a part of anemia. Anemia makes your heart work harder, which makes you weak and tired.
It can also make you dizzy and pale, with cold hands and feet, and a fast heartbeat. However, shortness of breath can happen for many reasons, and usually, cardiac or lung causes.
Collapsed Lung
A pneumothorax is a collapsed lung. It happens when air gets into the space between the outside of your lung and the inside of your chest wall, your ribcage.
It can be because of an injury or disease causes air to leak from your lungs to the space between your lungs and the wall of your chest. The air pushes on the lung, making it fold in on itself.
You could have chest pain and be short of breath.
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