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Pain when breathing
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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In most cases, the pain associated with breathing points to the mediastinum, the pleura or the near-cardiac region, as an alleged source of pain. Breathing movements can also affect the pain in the chest wall and not be symptoms of heart disease. Usually the source of pain is located in the right or left side, and its character can be as blunt or sharp.
[Dry Pleurisy
The emergence of pain during breathing in this case is due to inflammation, covering the lungs and from the inside lining the chest cavity, membranes. Usually the disease develops against the backdrop of other diseases, in most cases with pneumonia.
Characteristic features are: restriction of respiratory movements of the inflamed half of the chest, in connection with attempts of the patient to ease the intensity of pain, and also to reduce pain in the supine position on the side affected by the disease; subfebrile temperature, chills, weakness, night sweating.
Shortening of the inter pleural ligament
With this lesion, the patient is constantly coughing, gaining intensity during a conversation and physical exertion. Pain in breathing is pricking.
The inter pleural ligament is formed by the fusion of the parietal and visceral pleural sheets in the root of the lung, then descends and branches into the tendon of the diaphragm. Due to the process of inflammation, the ligament shortens the caudal displacement, which causes pain during breathing.
Pneumothorax
With pneumotorax, pain during breathing is acute, in most cases very high intensity. Pain is worse with respiratory movements. Cases of spontaneous pneumothorax without pain in general have been documented.
Lungs' cancer
In patients with lung cancer, respiratory pains are of a different nature, usually shingles, intensifying during breathing movements, sharp, stitching pains. Pain can be localized not only along the whole thorax, but also to cover either its half or some specific area, and also the irradiation of pain sensations to neighboring areas of the body is often observed. If the tumor grows into the spine and ribs, the pain of aspiration becomes incredibly agonizing.
Other causes of pain during breathing
Pain can occur due to limited movements of the chest, due to trauma and inflammation, with a fracture of a person, there is a very sharp pain in breathing. Also, problems with the spine, such as osteochondrosis, can cause pain.
The pain, arising in connection with intercostal neuralgia, has a sharp, shooting character, sharply increases with respiratory movements. Pain during breathing can also be caused by various cardiac diseases.
Diagnosis and treatment
If you feel pain while breathing, you should visit a doctor urgently, because, in most cases, pain of this kind does not bode well. Categorically it is forbidden to engage in self-medication, because because of the abundance of completely different causes that cause pain, you can only hurt yourself. Time diagnosed disease significantly increases the chances of success in its cure.