Breathing difficulties - first aid - Symptom

Difficulty breathing - first aid; Dyspnea - first aid; Shortness of breath - first aid

The following symptoms are often associated with difficulty breathing:

Gurgling, wheezing, or whistling sounds
Using chest and neck muscles to breathe
Bluish lips, fingers, and fingernails
Cough (if the person also has phlegm/sputum, this may be pneumonia; a barking cough in a child is croup)
Chest pain (could be a heart attack or injury; sharp chest pain could be pulmonary embolism or collapsed lung)
Chest moving in an unusual way as the person breathes (may indicate an airway or chest injury)
Confusion, light-headedness, weakness, or sleepiness
Fever

Reviewed last on: 1/16/2007
Eric Perez, MD, Department of Emergency Medicine, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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