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Hyperventilation

Show Alternative Names
Rapid deep breathing
Breathing - rapid and deep
Overbreathing
Fast deep breathing
Respiratory rate - rapid and deep
Hyperventilation syndrome
Panic attack - hyperventilation
Anxiety - hyperventilation

Hyperventilation is rapid and deep breathing. It is also called overbreathing, and it may leave you feeling breathless.

Considerations

You breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Excessive breathing creates a low level of carbon dioxide in your blood. This causes many of the symptoms of hyperventilation.

You may hyperventilate from an emotional cause such as during a panic attack. Or, it can be due to a medical problem, such as bleeding or infection.

Your health care provider will determine the cause of your hyperventilation. Rapid breathing may be due to a medical emergency and you may need to get treated, unless you have had this before and your provider has told you that you can treat it on your own.

If you frequently overbreathe, you may have a medical problem called hyperventilation syndrome.

When you're overbreathing, you might not be aware you're breathing fast and deep. But you'll likely be aware of the other symptoms, including:

  • Feeling lightheaded, dizzy, weak, or not able to think straight
  • Feeling as if you can't catch your breath
  • Chest pain or fast and pounding heartbeat
  • Belching or bloating
  • Dry mouth
  • Muscle spasms in the hands and feet
  • Numbness and tingling in the arms or around the mouth
  • Problems sleeping

Causes

Emotional causes include:

  • Anxiety and nervousness
  • Panic attack
  • Situations where there is a psychological advantage in having a sudden, dramatic illness (for example, somatization disorder)
  • Stress

Medical causes include:

Home Care

Your provider will examine you for other causes of your overbreathing.

If your provider has said your hyperventilation is due to anxiety, stress, or panic, there are steps you can take at home. You, your friends, and family can learn techniques to stop it from happening and prevent future attacks.

If you start hyperventilating, the goal is to raise the carbon dioxide level in your blood. This will end most of your symptoms. Ways to do this include:

  1. Get reassurance from a friend or family member to help you relax your breathing. Words like "you are doing fine," "you are not having a heart attack," and "you are not going to die" are very helpful. It's very important that the person stays calm and uses a soft, relaxed tone.
  2. To help you get rid of the right amount of carbon dioxide, learn to do pursed lip breathing. This is done by puckering your lips as if you're blowing out a candle, then breathing out slowly through your lips.

If you have been diagnosed with anxiety or panic, see a mental health professional to help you understand and treat your condition.

  1. Learn breathing exercises that help you relax and breathe from your diaphragm and abdomen, rather than from your chest wall.
  2. Practice relaxation techniques, such as progressive muscle relaxation or meditation.
  3. Exercise regularly.

If these methods alone don't prevent overbreathing, your provider may recommend certain medicines.

When to Contact a Medical Professional

Contact your provider if:

  • You are having rapid breathing for the first time. This may be a medical emergency for which you should be taken to the emergency room right away.
  • You are in pain, have a fever, or are bleeding.
  • Your hyperventilation continues or gets worse, even with home treatment.
  • You also have other symptoms.

What to Expect at Your Office Visit

Your provider will perform a physical exam and ask about your symptoms.

Your breathing will also be checked. If you are not breathing quickly at the time, the provider may try to cause hyperventilation by telling you to breathe in a certain way. The provider will then watch how you breathe and check which muscles you're using to breathe.

Tests that may be ordered include:

Review Date: 7/23/2024

Reviewed By

Linda J. Vorvick, MD, Clinical Professor, Department of Family Medicine, UW Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.

References

Braithwaite SA, Wessel AL. Dyspnea. In: Walls RM, ed. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 10th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2023:chap 21.

Schwartzstein RM, Adams L. Dyspnea. In: Broaddus VC, Ernst JD, King TE, et al, eds. Murray and Nadel's Textbook of Respiratory Medicine. 7th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2022:chap 36.

Disclaimer

The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, timeliness, or correctness of any translations made by a third-party service of the information provided herein into any other language. © 1997- A.D.A.M., a business unit of Ebix, Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.

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Heart failure

Heart failure

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Heart failure

Heart failure

Animation

 
 
 
 

Heart failure - Animation

If you cough a lot, often feel weak, have lost your appetite, and need to urinate a lot at night, you might have symptoms of heart failure.

Heart failure is a long-term condition that usually comes on slowly. However, it can develop suddenly, for instance, after a heart attack. You have heart failure when your heart does not pump blood out of your heart very well, or when your heart muscles are stiff and do not easily fill up with blood.

When you have heart failure, your heart cannot pump enough oxygen-rich blood to the rest of your body, especially when you exercise or move around a lot. As the heart loses the ability to pump blood, blood backs up in other parts of your body, including your lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract, and your arms and legs. The most common cause of heart failure is coronary artery disease, the narrowing of the blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to your heart.

So, how do you know if you have heart failure?

Get to your doctor. You may have trouble breathing, an irregular heartbeat, swollen legs, neck veins that stick out, and sounds from fluid built up in your lungs. Your doctor will check for these and other signs of heart failure.

A test called an echocardiogram is often the best test to diagnose your heart failure. Your doctor can also use this test to find out why you have heart failure, and then monitor your condition going forward every three to six months.

Your doctor will talk to you about knowing your body and symptoms that mean your heart failure is getting worse. You will need to learn to watch for changes in your heart rate, pulse, blood pressure, and weight. You will also need to limit salt in your diet, stop drinking alcohol, quit smoking if you need to, exercise, lose weight if you need to, and get enough rest.

Your doctor will probably ask you to take medicines to treat your heart failure. These medicines can treat your symptoms, prevent your heart failure from getting worse, and help you live longer.

If you have heart failure, taking your medicines, changing your lifestyle, and treating the condition that caused heart failure can go a long way toward improving your health. But heart failure is a chronic, or long-term, illness, which means it may get worse over time. Make sure you call your doctor if you start coughing more, have sudden weight gain or swelling, or feel week. Have someone take you to the emergency room right away if you have trouble with fainting, a fast and irregular heartbeat, or feel severe crushing chest pain.

 

Heart failure - Animation

If you cough a lot, often feel weak, have lost your appetite, and need to urinate a lot at night, you might have symptoms of heart failure.

Heart failure is a long-term condition that usually comes on slowly. However, it can develop suddenly, for instance, after a heart attack. You have heart failure when your heart does not pump blood out of your heart very well, or when your heart muscles are stiff and do not easily fill up with blood.

When you have heart failure, your heart cannot pump enough oxygen-rich blood to the rest of your body, especially when you exercise or move around a lot. As the heart loses the ability to pump blood, blood backs up in other parts of your body, including your lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract, and your arms and legs. The most common cause of heart failure is coronary artery disease, the narrowing of the blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to your heart.

So, how do you know if you have heart failure?

Get to your doctor. You may have trouble breathing, an irregular heartbeat, swollen legs, neck veins that stick out, and sounds from fluid built up in your lungs. Your doctor will check for these and other signs of heart failure.

A test called an echocardiogram is often the best test to diagnose your heart failure. Your doctor can also use this test to find out why you have heart failure, and then monitor your condition going forward every three to six months.

Your doctor will talk to you about knowing your body and symptoms that mean your heart failure is getting worse. You will need to learn to watch for changes in your heart rate, pulse, blood pressure, and weight. You will also need to limit salt in your diet, stop drinking alcohol, quit smoking if you need to, exercise, lose weight if you need to, and get enough rest.

Your doctor will probably ask you to take medicines to treat your heart failure. These medicines can treat your symptoms, prevent your heart failure from getting worse, and help you live longer.

If you have heart failure, taking your medicines, changing your lifestyle, and treating the condition that caused heart failure can go a long way toward improving your health. But heart failure is a chronic, or long-term, illness, which means it may get worse over time. Make sure you call your doctor if you start coughing more, have sudden weight gain or swelling, or feel week. Have someone take you to the emergency room right away if you have trouble with fainting, a fast and irregular heartbeat, or feel severe crushing chest pain.

 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
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