Causes Of Respiratory Failure
Respiratory failure is an alteration that affects the lungs and whose main consequence is to harm them when performing their normal functions. Thus, the levels of oxygen (O2) in the blood decrease while those of carbon dioxide (CO2) increase.
In general, the patient begins to feel tired, confused, drowsy, and bluish in the skin (cyanosis). Other symptoms include high blood pressure along with an increase in your beats per minute (bpm).
We can differentiate two types of respiratory failure:
- Sharp The disorder develops in a short period of time and in a timely manner. Symptoms appear spontaneously and seriously.
- Chronicle. In this case, the disease progresses gradually and occurs throughout the life of the patient.
Causes of acute respiratory failure
It can appear if the person has any of the following problems:
- Sleep apnea. During this complication, the person stops breathing for a variable period of time while sleeping. As a general rule, being overweight or obese is a risk factor to consider because the lungs carry a load of added fat on them.
- Asthma crisis.
- Bronchitis or inflammation of the bronchi. The bronchi are part of the final branches of the respiratory system and contain the bronchioles and these contain the alveoli.
- Trauma or injury that affects the lungs or any region of the respiratory system in any way.
- Excessive use of toxic substances such as alcohol, drugs, or tobacco.
- Alveolar level alterations. There are certain infections of viral origin that can modify the membrane of these elements.
- Inhalation of fluids and certain foreign bodies that obstruct the bronchi or bronchioles.
- Other pulmonary diseases.
- Cardiovascular problems related to blood clots, strokes, or heart muscle failure.
- Visit this article: First symptoms of respiratory failure
Causes of chronic respiratory failure
- Chronic respiratory failure can develop as a result of smoking, alcoholism, and the use of other toxic substances, such as drugs. On the other hand, asthma is another cause of this condition of the respiratory system, as well as the following:
- The presence of pulmonary emphysema: the destruction of the walls that make up the alveoli.
- Surgical interventions in which the respiratory system has been altered or one of the patient’s lungs has been removed.
- Deformations that in any way modify the activities of the thorax or spine.
- On the other hand, it can be caused by diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis. In this case, the tissue around the lungs begins to deteriorate and heal. This modification produces alterations in the person’s breathing.
- Thus, tuberculosis, an infection caused by a class of bacteria, can lead to this disorder. During its development the patient presents different symptoms such as breathing difficulties, fatigue, fever, sweating, severe cough and expulsion of mucus or blood.
Treatment
Treatment can vary depending on the underlying cause of the problem in the alteration of gas levels. On the one hand, in acute respiratory failure , oxygen therapy and even ventilatory assistance are administered in the most severe clinical cases.
In chronic respiratory failure, the use of medications can be recommended together with the application of the aforementioned medical techniques. The MSD Manual also specifies the following:
Respiratory physiotherapy (increases the expulsion of mucus and blood to free the lungs) and tracheostomy can also be carried out in more complicated cases. In it, the patient’s trachea is connected directly with the external environment to facilitate the flow of air in the respiratory system.
There are many causes of respiratory failure, therefore the treatment of the patient is always personalized and it is intended to act on the process responsible for the disease. In this way, it is possible to improve symptoms and quality of life effectively. So do not hesitate to go to your doctor and follow the guidelines that he recommends.
