Symptoms:

• Anxiety
• Cough
• Difficulty breathing
• Excessive sweating
• Feeling of "air hunger" or "drowning" (if this occurs suddenly, awakening you from sleep and causing you to sit up and catch your breath, it's called "paroxysmal noctural dyspnea")
• Grunting or gurgling sounds with breathing
• Pale skin
• Restlessness
• Shortness of breath
• Shortness of breath when lying down (orthopnea) -- you may need to sleep with your head propped up or use extra pillows
• Wheezing

Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease:

• Coughing up blood or bloody froth
• Decrease in level of awareness
• Inability to speak in full sentences
• Nasal flaring

Signs and tests:

The health care provider will perform a physical exam and use a stethoscope to listen to the lungs and heart. You may have:

• Crackles in the lungs or abnormal heart sounds
• Increased heart rate
• Pale or blue skin color
• Rapid breathing

Possible tests include:

• Blood oxygen levels -- low in patients with pulmonary edema
• Chest x-ray -- may reveal fluid in or around the lung space or an enlarged heart
• Electrocardiogram (ECG) -- to detect abnormal heart rhythm or evidence of a heart attack
• Ultrasound of the heart (echocardiogram) -- to see if there is a weak heart muscle, leaky or narrow heart valves, or fluid surrounding the heart