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Suggest Treatment For Shortness Of Breath, Cough And Sweats
Question: I am 53 years old. I've been smoking since I was 15. Over the last couple of days, I have shortness of breath (can't walk ten feet without catching my breath), coughing, and sweats.
Brief Answer:
uhoh.
Detailed Answer:
Cannot say in your particular case which serious condition it is. And they all connect to cigarettes. Yikes.
So, the most obvious issue is lung irritation from cigarettes. There are several different ways this occurs. One is plain destruction. When there's no lung left, you can't breathe. The chest sounds like an empty oil drum. There is no sound, no airflow and no breath. Bad. Not treatable but at age 50's , potentially a transplant candidate.
Another possibility is plain asthma. Irritation of the tubes of the lung cause them to spasm. Wheeze. Can't let air out. Asthma medicines work on it. Beta-agonists (albuterol) within a minute or so.
Another related possibility (bad) is copd. In this inflammatory disorder, the lung has inflammation that destroys it. Fairly rapidly over years. It is characterized by a lot of gunk production.
There can also of course be gunk production in pneumonia. Fever might be in the initial presentation but certainly does not have to be.
Then, there are non-lung causes like heart disease which is an immediate emergency and could be really serious even without chest pain. If you had it you would need to be going to the nearest ER and I cannot diagnose/treat without being driectly there... so... cannot rule that out.
uhoh.
Detailed Answer:
Cannot say in your particular case which serious condition it is. And they all connect to cigarettes. Yikes.
So, the most obvious issue is lung irritation from cigarettes. There are several different ways this occurs. One is plain destruction. When there's no lung left, you can't breathe. The chest sounds like an empty oil drum. There is no sound, no airflow and no breath. Bad. Not treatable but at age 50's , potentially a transplant candidate.
Another possibility is plain asthma. Irritation of the tubes of the lung cause them to spasm. Wheeze. Can't let air out. Asthma medicines work on it. Beta-agonists (albuterol) within a minute or so.
Another related possibility (bad) is copd. In this inflammatory disorder, the lung has inflammation that destroys it. Fairly rapidly over years. It is characterized by a lot of gunk production.
There can also of course be gunk production in pneumonia. Fever might be in the initial presentation but certainly does not have to be.
Then, there are non-lung causes like heart disease which is an immediate emergency and could be really serious even without chest pain. If you had it you would need to be going to the nearest ER and I cannot diagnose/treat without being driectly there... so... cannot rule that out.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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