Respiratory Symptoms

Functional disorders of the respiratory system ‒ these are various pathological symptoms that occur as a result of dysfunction of the respiratory organs. The most common are cough, shortness of breath, suffocation, hemoptysis, pulmonary bleeding. The causes of respiratory disorders are diagnosed using X-ray, endoscopic, functional techniques. Symptomatic therapy depends on particular manifestations and the totality of various symptoms, in all cases it cannot be uncontrolled and prolonged. Since the function of breathing is vital, any disorder of it requires face-to-face consultation with a doctor.

Disorders of respiratory function can be associated with a wide range of causes ‒ both physiological and pathological ‒ and have different mechanisms of development. Based on changes in the main parameters of breathing, the following types of disorders are distinguished:

1. Changes in respiratory rate. It includes tachypnea (more often 20 per minute) and bradypnea (less often 12-10 per minute), apnea (respiratory arrest).
2. Change in the depth of breathing. Shallow breathing is usually combined with increased respiratory movements, deep breathing – with a reduction in chest excursions.
3. Change in the rhythm of breathing. This group includes pathological types of respiration: Kussmaul, Grokko, Biota (ataxic respiration), Cheyne-Stokes and other types.
4. Mixed violations. They are represented by dyspnea (dyspnea) – a change in the respiratory rhythm and depth. Shortness of breath, in turn, may be accompanied by difficulty inhaling (inspiratory type) and exhaling (expiratory type).

Functional respiratory disorders can occur with pathologies and damage to the respiratory system at various levels: from the nasopharyngeal cavity to the brain. Depending on this criterion, functional disorders are distinguished:

• Upper respiratory tract. They may be represented by difficulty in nasal breathing, sneezing. Obstacles to the passage of air at the level of the larynx and trachea can cause difficulty in inhaling and exhaling, asphyxia (suffocation).
• Lungs and bronchi. It is more often manifested by coughing with or without sputum, shortness of breath, bronchospasm. Hemoptysis and hemoptoe (pulmonary bleeding) may occur.
• Diaphragms. Dysfunction of the diaphragm is manifested by shortness of breath with the participation of auxiliary muscles in respiratory excursions, orthopnea.
• The respiratory center. When the central nervous system structures involved in the regulation of the act of breathing are affected, respiratory apraxia, pathological types of breathing, apnea occur.