Breathing Issues

Pulmonology Specialists Helping You Breath Better

Challenges with breathing can affect many aspects of your daily life, and when untreated breathing issues can lead to more serious health concerns in the future. Often conditions that you may not expect to be related to respiratory conditions require the specialized training of our pulmonologists, such as sleep disorders or even critical care. Our team of specialists are here to help you understand the potential causes of your breathing issues to help you improve your quality of life.

Understanding Your Breathing Issues and Causes

Breathing problems can truly take your breath away, making you feel like you are not getting enough are or that you cannot breath deeply enough. Caused by a variety of conditions or circumstances, breathing issues can seriously impact your quality of live. Some symptoms are temporary, such as those brought on by a virus or allergy, but others are ongoing and need the care of a pulmonologist, or lung specialist. 

Some symptoms of breathing problems include:

• Shortness of breath
• Wheezing (a whistling sound while exhaling and sometimes while inhaling)
• A pale or grey complexion
• Flaring nostrils
• Blue fingernails or mouth
• Head sweat
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Tightness in the throat
• Pain or pressure in the chest
• A barking cough
• Heavy breathing
• Shortness of breath that keeps you up at night
• Shortness of breath that makes you sit up constantly

As with most diseases and medical issues, the sooner your problem is diagnosed and treated, the better the outcome.

Pulmonary Conditions We Treat

Understanding the cause of your breathing issues is an important step in developing a care plan that helps you manage your condition. Pulmonary diseases involve various respiratory system disorders and a clear understanding of what is causing your breathing issues allows our team to develop a specialized care plan in collaboration with your other providers. 

Some respiratory disorders we treat include:

• Asthma
• COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) includes both chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
• Cystic fibrosis
• Lung cancer 
• Lung infections
• Pulmonary embolism
• Sleep apnea
• Interstitial lung disease 
• Pulmonary hypertension