Suffocation

The state of suffocation or asphyxia is a life-threatening condition in which there is an acute shortage of air, a person cannot breathe normally. This pathological phenomenon is always accompanied by a panic state, fear of death. This state is really frightening, especially for those who feel it for the first time. In addition to mechanical asphyxia, in which lack of oxygen is associated with a physical blockage of the air movement path or the inability to perform respiratory movements due to external restrictions, there is suffocation associated with various diseases and pathological conditions. It can manifest itself at night in a dream, or during the day, for no apparent reason, at work or in transport, and it’s great to scare both the patient himself and those around him.

Choking: what it is, how it manifests itself

Suffocation or asphyxia is a feeling of lack of air, it can last as an attack or a long-term background condition that develops gradually or suddenly. Often this feeling is accompanied by fear of death and panic rolling over a person.

Why does suffocation appear, and how is it expressed? The state of asphyxia accompanies some diseases, mainly for the pathology of the bronchopulmonary and cardiovascular systems, as well as allergic edema of the upper respiratory tract. In case of lung disease, their ventilation capacity decreases, which leads to a decrease in the supply of oxygen to the body, and in case of obstructive diseases, obstruction or blockage of the bronchial tree by the inflamed bronchial mucosa occurs and air permeability is sharply limited. With bronchial asthma, a sharp spasm of the bronchial wall occurs, which also disrupts the flow of air into the lungs and suffocation develops. With a lack of air, a person begins to suffocate, since breathing is a basic, vital process. Accordingly, if the process of oxygen supply to the body is disturbed, it begins to signal a mortal danger with a sense of fear, panic attacks.

In fact, suffocation is the highest degree of shortness of breath, a serious pathological condition that leads to excessive accumulation of carbon dioxide. As a result, there is a violation of the work of the whole organism. Subjectively, the condition is a sharp limitation of inhalation and a pronounced feeling of lack of air. A severe degree of asphyxia is sometimes called apnea – a pathological process leading to respiratory arrest.

In the International Classification of Diseases ICD-10, asphyxia is identified under the code R09.0.

The main causes of suffocation

Why can a person develop suffocation? Choking does not occur just like that, without a good reason. It is always a symptom of some serious disease, pathological condition. Therefore, there is no need for urgent medical attention.

Choking can develop as a manifestation of:

• bronchial asthma;
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease;
• pneumothorax;
• oncological diseases of the upper and lower respiratory tract;
• pneumonia;
• ingress of foreign bodies into the respiratory tract;
• allergic reaction with Quincke’s edema;
• injuries of the chest and respiratory organs;
• acute coronary syndrome;
• chronic heart failure.

A newborn child, as well as a fetus in the womb of a future mother, can also develop hypoxia, lack of oxygen, and, as a result, intrauterine asphyxia of the fetus.

The pathogenesis of asphyxia: the mechanism of manifestation

Asphyxiation attacks can have a different nature. Depending on the causes of asphyxia, there are:

• bronchial type of pathology (associated with impaired bronchial patency);
• cardiac: develops due to stagnation in the pulmonary circulation;
• mixed: the condition is characterized by a complex dysfunction of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

The state of suffocation occurs when a section of the respiratory tract narrows, and a distant respiratory noise is formed – stridor due to the turbulent passage of air. It can be inspiratory or during inhalation, expiratory – on exhalation or mixed. Against the background of developing respiratory failure during the period of suffocation, stridor is accompanied by cyanosis.

The classic type of bronchial obstruction involves the appearance of a sudden attack, which gradually increases and develops from several minutes to several hours. The patient is forced to take a sitting position, breathes often and noisily with an open mouth, his nostrils swell, there is a pulsation and swelling of the cervical veins on inspiration. At the end of the attack, a strong cough appears, mucous sputum is abundantly separated.

Asphyxiation in cardiac asthma also appears suddenly, due to the massive release of transudate into the lung tissue and a sharp violation of gas exchange. The patient is forced to take a sitting position, because in a horizontal position breathing is extremely difficult, he has frequent bubbling breathing, cyanosis, cough with foamy bloody sputum. At the same time, inhalation and exhalation can be very painful.

Similar to asthmatic bronchospasm is observed in patients with carcinoid syndrome. In a state of suffocation, a person has flushing of the skin of the face, rumbling in the abdomen and its swelling.

Typical symptoms of the disease

Choking in bronchial asthma

Bronchial asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease accompanied by bronchial hyperreactivity associated with immunopathological mechanisms and the main symptom of which is an asthma attack due to inflammatory edema of the bronchial mucosa, bronchospasm and mucus hypersecretion. If the disease lasts for a long time, its inflammatory nature leads to irreversible morphological and functional disorders in the tissues.

Difficulty breathing occurs as a result of increased excitability of the bronchi, to which the airways react by developing spasm and restricting the flow of air into the lungs.

Why does a person develop asthma? The root cause of the condition is the ingress of an allergen into the body, in response to which the patient develops bronchospasm of different levels, and a violation of gas exchange processes. Non-allergic asthma attacks are much less common. The problem may lie in a brain injury, in developing endocrine disorders. The infectious-allergic type of asthma is formed as a result of a chronic infection of the respiratory system, therefore this form of the disease is diagnosed in adults, and much less often in children. Pathogenic microorganisms and inflammatory processes lead to the pathology of the bronchi, their anatomical structure and functions change. The non-infectious form occurs due to other allergens – it can be wool, food, drugs, dust, chemicals.

A sick person during an attack has severe wheezing, shortness of breath, dry cough. Especially often attacks overtake the patient at night, during sleep. To provide assistance, it is necessary, first of all, to stop an asthma attack, as well as to determine the cause of the disease, for which it will be necessary to undergo a complex of appropriate examinations.

obstructive pulmonary disease

This is a disease that develops as a result of an inflammatory reaction to the action of certain environmental stimuli, which is manifested by a progressive decrease in the air flow rate in the lungs, an increase in respiratory failure. The main provoking factors are smoking and occupational hazards, namely work in hazardous industries, for example, in a coal mine, in a cement factory. Predisposing risk factors contributing to the development of COPD:

• second hand smoke;
• the level of nutrition and the socio-economic component of life;
• prematurity;
• hereditary factor.

The patient has a cough with increased mucus secretion, as well as a malfunction of the ciliated epithelium lining the respiratory tract. Against the background of obstructive lung disease, the lumen of the pulmonary vessels narrows, pulmonary hypertension occurs, which leads to expansion of the right heart (cor pulmonale) and the addition of heart failure.

Due to violations of pulmonary gas exchange, the main symptom occurs – shortness of breath, especially aggravated by movement and walking.

How to diagnose obstructive syndrome in a patient? First of all, the pathology is characterized by the presence of an ever-increasing cough. During a cough, a large amount of mucous sputum is separated, and when an infection is attached, purulent sputum is released. Shortness of breath in this disease is gradually increasing, aggravated by physical activity, and develops over time into suffocation.

Pneumothorax

It is formed as a result of a violation of the tightness of the lungs, as a consequence of a chest injury, when a certain amount of air accumulates in the pleural cavity. If after a while the air stops flowing into the cavity, then we are talking about a closed pneumothorax. The open type of pathology implies that the air in the pleura constantly and freely communicates with the air of the environment. Valve, or tension pneumothorax develops when air is sucked into the pleural cavity during inhalation, but during exhalation it cannot go out without closing (decreasing) the defect.

Difficulty in breathing occurs due to the difference between the air pressure inside the pleura and atmospheric air. In this case, without the provision of emergency medical care, a person is threatened with death both from suffocation and from traumatic shock.

Tumor lesions of the larynx, trachea, bronchi

In the respiratory organs, as in any other, both benign and malignant tumors, as well as tumor-like formations, can form – these processes cause mechanical injuries, harmful production factors, overstrain of the ligaments, and their improper use during singing. So, for example, the appearance of tumors of the vocal cords is accompanied by hoarseness of the voice, rapid fatigue of the vocal cords. A neoplasm on the threshold of the larynx is manifested by a sensation of a foreign body, a feeling of a lump in the throat when swallowing. Sometimes the presence of a tumor gives off a sharp shooting pain in one or both ears. The appearance of ulcers on the tumor is accompanied by putrid, bad breath, as well as the release of ichor in saliva.

Tumors of the larynx are very difficult to detect in the early stages, since they practically do not manifest themselves in any way. Only with time there is difficulty in breathing and hoarseness in the voice. If a neoplasm appears on the trachea, with it a person begins to suffer from coughing with sputum. Blood is visible in the discharged mucus.

Asphyxia also occurs when tumors in the airways grow, causing mechanical obstruction with impaired airflow. To ensure free breathing, the patient needs emergency removal of neoplasms. It should be noted that such a measure brings only a temporary result, and gradually a new tumor may form in the patient.

The use of a stent (a mechanism in the form of a small mesh tube) makes it possible to eliminate choking and difficulty breathing. When folded, it is inserted through a bronchoscope, after which it straightens out in the airways, and creates an unhindered entry of air into the lungs.

Edema of the lungs and larynx

Swelling of the larynx accompanies some pathologies, and is not regarded as an independent disease. It usually occurs as a result of inflammation, after mechanical injuries, for example, burns from hot drinks and aggressive chemicals, due to suppuration in the pharynx, palatine tonsils, and the root of the tongue. Radiological burns appear after radiotherapy or radiotherapy of the neck and organs in this part of the body.

Another reason that provokes the appearance of laryngeal edema is acute or chronic infectious diseases:

• measles;
• diphtheria;
• scarlet fever;
• typhus;
• flu;
• syphilis;
• tuberculosis.

Edema of a non-inflammatory nature is formed as a sign of kidney, heart and vascular disease, general cachexia, due to a lack of protein, cirrhosis of the liver, circulatory disorders, and also due to a disease of the lymphatic system. In the case of an allergy, the edema is called angioedema, and usually extends to the face and neck.

Puffiness is especially pronounced in those parts of the larynx where loose connective tissue predominates – in the region of the epiglottis, posterior laryngeal wall, scoop-epiglottic folds, less often it manifests itself in the region of the vocal folds.

The sick person feels the presence of a foreign body inside, he constantly has difficulty in swallowing, voice disturbance, a feeling of squeezing of the larynx, which is characterized by the formation of a false croup. Stenosis of the larynx is especially often manifested at night, and the person wakes up from a sudden attack of suffocation.

Pulmonary edema is a deadly condition for the victim, as it is accompanied by a massive penetration of the liquid part of the blood into the lung tissue. May be accompanied by myocardial infarction, myocarditis, hypertension, cardiosclerosis, chronic and acute heart failure, accompanied by the formation of acute left ventricular failure, pneumosclerosis, chronic bronchitis, lesions of the nervous system. It can also develop with poisoning, with allergies.

In some cases, swelling of lung tissue is formed as a reaction of the body:

• for drug administration;
• to extract ascitic and pleural fluid;
• for transfusion of too large a volume of solutions.

The process of development of edema depends on the increase in pressure in the pulmonary circulation, on the increase in the permeability of the capillary walls. Such conditions are accompanied by effusion of the liquid part of the blood into the alveoli, as well as into the interstitial lung tissue.

The transudate accumulating in the alveoli has a high concentration of foam-forming protein. Foam helps to reduce the area of ​​the respiratory surface of the lungs, and the patient develops severe respiratory failure, accompanied by suffocation.

The danger of pathology also lies in the fact that it can develop even in a healthy person after too intense physical exertion, if as a result he has a rupture of the tendon chords in the mitral valve. Against this background, acute mitral insufficiency is formed. The patient, in addition to the acute state of asphyxia, has a cough with foamy sputum, dyed pink with blood.

Shortness of breath in pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory process in the lungs of an infectious nature, the causative agent of which can be varieties of pathogens, fungi, viruses, bacteria, developing independently or as a complication of other diseases. It affects the alveoli of the lungs, the main function of which is participation in gas exchange and the supply of oxygen to the blood of the body.

Most often, pneumonia occurs in people with weak immunity, the elderly and children. The disease usually begins acutely, with high fever, weakness, increased sweating, shortness of breath and, in severe cases, suffocation. If the development of the disease occurs gradually, the patient is worried about dry cough, lethargy, fatigue and headache.

Depending on the localization of the inflammatory process, pneumonia can be:

• focal: the disease occupies a small part of the lung tissue;
• lobar: the whole lobe of the lung becomes inflamed;
• segmental: occupies one or more segments of the lung;
• drain: in this case, inflammation begins with small foci, and gradually merges into larger foci;
• total: the most severe variant of pneumonia, when the pathological process extends to the entire lung.

Oncological processes in the lungs

They are the formation of malignant neoplasms that affect the walls of the bronchi and lungs, rapidly growing, metastasizing to nearby organs and tissues. Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Its symptoms are so characteristic that it is difficult to confuse it with other pathologies. Tumors in the lungs are more often found in middle-aged men, especially often in smokers and passive smokers.

Gradually growing tumors displace the tissues of the lungs, affect their internal structure, make breathing difficult and cause a person to suffocate along with coughing, chest pain, as well as weight loss and lack of appetite.

Foreign bodies entering the respiratory tract

A similar problem is most relevant for young children, especially up to 3-5 years. Toddlers in the process of learning about the world around them like to put everything that comes to hand into their mouths – small coins, small toys, peas. With a sharp breath, for example, with laughter, fear, crying, these objects quickly and easily fall into the lumen of the larynx. The most common way foreign objects get in is during a conversation, in the process of eating. Closing the lumen of the trachea with itself, the element blocks the access of air to the lungs. When it enters the larynx, a foreign object provokes a coughing fit – a reflex cough helps to push the element through the oral cavity. However, in cases where a foreign body closes the lumen of the larynx or trachea completely, the victim experiences asphyxia, loss of consciousness, and then respiratory and cardiac arrest. The condition requires immediate first aid, otherwise a person dies in a matter of minutes.

When the bronchi are blocked, an inflammatory process develops in a person. Incomplete obstruction of the airways is accompanied by severe coughing fits, noisy breathing with wheezing, hoarseness. The patient feels panic, fear and anxiety. Against the background of insufficient air, cyanosis is noted, the skin of the face and upper body, the expansion of the wings of the nose, when a person tries to draw in air through the nose as intensely as possible, as well as the retraction of the intercostal spaces.

Complete blockage means that the patient is not able to breathe at all, he loses his voice, and very quickly loses consciousness due to oxygen deficiency and dies if qualified assistance is not provided in time.

Anaphylactic shock in allergy sufferers

Anaphylactic shock refers to the deadly conditions of allergic people, when the victim has an acute vascular collapse and lack of air. An allergic reaction of an immediate type develops in response to the ingestion of an allergen in large quantities.

The condition is accompanied by vascular collapse, inhibition of vital functions. The patient has noticeable intense redness of the skin, he is tormented by a feeling of tightness behind the sternum, a sharp suffocation and lack of air, as well as increasing swelling of the tissues.

Severe swelling of the upper respiratory tract leads to a complete complete disruption, to which the central nervous system reacts with a state of abnormal excitation, an attack of fear, and depression of consciousness. Further, the person falls into a coma, and dies if he does not receive medical attention.

If the patient has an allergic reaction and moderate anaphylactic shock, he also feels shortness of breath, shortness of breath, hoarseness, he develops a cough, and he also needs medical attention, but the life-threatening condition does not develop so rapidly.

Often the cause of the development of anaphylactic shock is an insect bite, injection of drugs by jet injection, ingestion of pollen, blood products, chemical elements and some food products.

Chest trauma, myocardial infarction

Asphyxia in this case occurs as a result of prolonged and strong compression of the chest or upper abdomen. In the body, a violation of the venous outflow from the upper half of the body is formed, venous pressure rises, as a result of which the victim has multiple small hemorrhages in the skin, mucous membranes, brain and internal organs. The skin becomes bluish in color due to impaired blood circulation.

Traumatic asphyxia is often accompanied by contusion of the lungs and heart, liver damage. In addition to petechial hemorrhages, the patient has alternating periods of excitation and lethargy, severe respiratory failure, swelling of the face, visual impairment, rapid breathing of a superficial type, sometimes even impaired coordination and orientation in space. Without medical assistance, such a victim stops breathing and cardiac activity, as a result, death occurs.

Myocardial infarction is a pathology that occurs as a result of obliteration or stenosis of the coronary arteries. Due to the fact that the blood from the clogged artery cannot flow normally to the heart, the heart muscle experiences acute hypoxia and undergoes a necrotic process. Normally, a specific part of the heart receives oxygen dissolved in the blood, which is brought to it by an artery. Blockage of this artery for 30 minutes provokes the death of heart muscle cells. In place of dead tissue, inelastic scars appear, due to which the organ cannot fully function. The heart, whose main function is pumping, as a result of a heart attack, begins to pump blood weaker. A patient during a heart attack has anxiety, pain in the heart and sternum, lack of air and suffocation. Pain can migrate from the sternum, and give to the jaw, arm, shoulder, back.

The risk group for the development of pathology is overweight people, smokers, hypertensive patients, as well as those who lead a sedentary lifestyle, the elderly. It is possible to recognize the approach of a heart attack by increasing attacks of angina pectoris with shortness of breath, pain in the heart, but such a prodromal period does not always develop.

A dangerous complication of a heart attack is acute left ventricular failure and postinfarction pericarditis. In patients in this case, there is a strong deterioration in well-being, accompanied by the following symptoms:

• swelling of the neck veins;
• severe degree of shortness of breath;
• ascites;
• swelling of the legs;
• clouding and loss of consciousness.

Shortness of breath in the fetus and asphyxia of the newborn

Obstetrician-gynecologists note that such pathologies are the most common in their practice in children, starting from the 28th week of pregnancy to the seventh day after childbirth.

Fetal hypoxia is characterized by an increasing lack of oxygen while in the womb, or during childbirth. The child develops a decrease in the supply of oxygen to the body, an increase in the concentration of underoxidized toxic metabolic products in the blood, as a result of which metabolic and redox reactions are disturbed. The irritation of the respiratory center increases in the baby, carbon dioxide accumulates, and the fetus has to breathe through the open glottis. With such breathing, all the elements and fluids that are around it enter the body – this is blood, amniotic fluid, mucus.

Fetal hypoxia can occur against the background of impaired fetoplacental circulation, diseases of the pregnant woman, intoxication, the presence of extragenital diseases, umbilical cord pathologies, intrauterine injuries and infections, and genetic disorders. This condition can be detected by the presence of arrhythmia and deafness of heart sounds in the fetus. In the early periods of the onset of hypoxia, active fetal movement is noted, after which the movements gradually become less frequent and slower. Asphyxia of the fetus and, later, of the child, becomes the cause of the development of intrauterine and birth disorders, defects, pathologies.

Suffocation of newborns is characterized by the presence of cardiac activity in the absence of breathing, or with the presence of unproductive respiratory movements. For infants, it is especially important to take timely measures to restore normal respiratory activity – artificial lung ventilation, correction of metabolic disorders and energy balance.

Panic attacks, nervous choking

It should be noted the likelihood of developing suffocation in the presence of mental and nervous diseases. So, for example, the state of suffocation is a characteristic symptom of panic attacks. Some doctors attribute panic attacks to manifestations of VVD – vegetative-vascular dystonia.

About 40% of the world’s population has experienced a panic attack at least once in their lives. Women are considered more prone to seizures than men, since the main cause of the formation of an anxiety disorder is a strong emotional overstrain.

Panic attacks can develop both as a result of chronic, prolonged overstrain, and because of a sharp sensation of emotional stress of an intense nature. The group of particular risk includes people with a suspicious and anxious character. Under the influence of external factors that traumatize the psyche, a person has a conflict between the unconscious and the conscious in the psyche, as a result of which the unconscious breaks through, including signs of a panic attack.

How to recognize a panic attack, and distinguish it from a simple attack of fear? It should be noted that the diagnosis of the condition mainly depends on the subjective perception of the patient himself. He has a rapid heartbeat and high rapid pulse, trembling in the limbs, severe dizziness, pain in the left side of the chest, numbness in the arms and legs, spasm in the throat, difficulty breathing and suffocation. All this is accompanied by a depressing feeling of fear. The attack occurs abruptly, suddenly, lasts up to half an hour. Treatment can be done both with medication and with the use of psychotherapy.

Nervous suffocation – this is most often called hyperventilation syndrome. The syndrome is a psychosomatic disease, due to which there is a disorder of the respiratory function. The disease is manifested by sharp attacks of lack of air and suffocation under the influence of stress and dangerous mental factors, and belongs to the forms of neurocirculatory dystonia.

In fact, with hyperventilation syndrome, a person, feeling the impact of stressful and dangerous factors, begins to breathe sharply and with effort. As a result, he develops a deviation from the norm of indicators of the acid-base state, as well as a change in the concentration of the electrolyte composition.

External manifestations of hyperventilation:

• dizziness;
• trembling in the body and limbs;
• chest pain;
• lump and sore throat;
• choking and difficulty breathing;
• convulsions;
• muscle stiffness.

A certain role in the development of the syndrome is played by the patient’s suspiciousness and anxiety – when hyperventilation occurs, such a person remembers them, and his body unconsciously reproduces them in subsequent stressful situations.

Why there is suffocation at night

Nocturnal suffocation and lack of air can be formed for several reasons. First of all, the problem lies in changing the tone of the autonomic nervous system, changing the position of a person lying in bed. As a result, there is an increase in the filling of blood in the lungs.

The state of nocturnal suffocation is usually difficult to tolerate by patients: in a dream they try to catch air with their mouths, the skin is covered with cold, sticky sweat, tachycardia is observed. Until a person wakes up, he may be accompanied by a nightmare. In the lungs, wheezing and ringing crepitus are heard.

Such symptoms are characteristic, mainly, of the initial stages of the development of pathology – it can only be heard in the area above the bases of the lungs. Most patients with nocturnal attacks also suffer from signs of heart failure – enlarged liver, edema of subcutaneous fatty tissue, increased venous pressure and swelling of the veins in the neck.

In the presence of left ventricular failure, the patient develops asthma attacks, alternating with coughing fits. The usual picture of the disease is when in the middle of the night a person wakes up abruptly from lack of air, and begins to suffer from coughing, strenuously grabbing air.

In severe cases, paroxysmal suffocation can turn into a threatening state – pulmonary edema.

First aid and treatment for choking

Basically, in situations that threaten a person’s life, doctors advise to disturb the patient as little as possible, not to change his position until the ambulance arrives. However, the state of suffocation, especially when foreign objects enter the respiratory tract, requires the mandatory intervention of others, otherwise a person may die within a few minutes.

How to provide first aid to a victim with suffocation from a foreign body entering the respiratory tract? He needs to be put on his feet, slightly tilt his head and chest forward, and then sharply, but not very hard, hit between the shoulder blades with his palm. The blow can be repeated several times – in simple cases, this is enough for the foreign object to come out of the respiratory tract. If the described technique did not help, you need to apply a different technique: they approach the victim from the back, wrap their arms around them, folding them into a fist in the region of the diaphragm, between the stomach and chest, and sharply squeeze the lower part of the ribs. Due to this movement, an intensive reverse movement of air from the respiratory tract towards the oral cavity is created, due to which a foreign object can be rejected by the victim.

If this does not happen, you need to understand that after a sharp squeeze, a person will take a deep reflex breath of air, due to which a foreign object can again enter the airways.

If the patient is in the supine position, he is turned over on his back, after which he is sharply pressed with his fists on the upper abdomen, creating a movement of the diaphragm in order to push out the foreign object.

The unconscious is laid on his stomach on his knee, his head down. No more than 5 times you can hit it with your palm between the shoulder blades to remove the foreign body.

It should be noted that even if breathing is restored, the victim still needs qualified medical assistance, because the methods described above can sometimes lead to damage to internal organs, ribs. Of course, all these actions should be carried out after or simultaneously with calling an ambulance.

The ingress of a foreign object in a child requires mandatory first aid to remove it. The baby is laid upside down, sharply and not very strongly clap the palm on the back in the scapular part. Children under 3 years of age must hold their head while clapping, as sudden movements can damage their cervical vertebrae.

If the lack of air and suffocation appeared due to the tongue falling into the throat, the victim is laid on his back, his head is turned to the side, the tongue is pulled out of the oral cavity, fixed to the lower jaw in any way, including those associated with injury to the tissues of the tongue.

The unconscious state of the victim, along with the absence of a pulse and breathing, requires urgent resuscitation measures – heart massage, artificial respiration, but they can be carried out only with experience and skills in such events.

Asphyxiation in bronchial asthma, swelling of the larynx and lungs, requires the mandatory provision of access to fresh air for the patient. You need to open the windows, unbutton the collar of the clothes, cut the neck, remove the tie.

Treatment of the condition of suffocation can only be carried out by qualified physicians, since its causes are often deadly to humans. Therapy is developed depending on the cause that provoked asphyxia.

The state of lack of air and suffocation is felt by a person as very unpleasant, and even terrible. It is often accompanied by the appearance of fear of death, panic excitement. In the process, the victim may have slightly shortness of breath, while the person can breathe, but with some difficulty. If complete suffocation occurs, for example, when the trachea is completely blocked by a foreign object, a person can die in a matter of minutes due to acute respiratory failure.

Asphyxiation is not a disease in itself, and is usually considered as a symptom of a specific pathology, which helps the doctor to establish a diagnosis and determine treatment.

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