RESPIRATORY DIFFICULTY

Respiratory difficulty (or dyspnoea) is a symptom, and as such, it is treated as a subjective sensation. The dyspnoeic patient feels uncomfortable when breathing, and may use many different expressions to say it. He may refer to it as "being fatigued", having "lack of air" or "being closed".

Once the patient has been diagnosed with dyspnoea, it is very important to define the circumstances in which it occurs and assess the accompanying symptoms. It is of great importance to ask the patient about Anterior medical history, which in many cases gives a clue about the dyspnoea: ask the patient about Anterior heart and breathing problems, recent respiratory infections…Find out about toxic habits (smoking, alcohol, drugs), current medication, etc.

The management of respiratory difficulty is different depending on its cause. If the episode is caused by foreign body aspiration try to remove it (refer to Chapter 1.3). In any other possible causes, ask for MEDICAL ADVICE VIA RADIO as necessary.