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Sudden Respiratory Problems

My father is 70 and up until 2 weeks ago was breathing normally.  In the middle of the day last Tuesday he started suffering from labored breathing.  He was admitted to the hospital, but they could not figure out what was wrong and sent him home - still with breathing problems.  His doctor thinks/thought a flu bug was causing his breathing problems, but this isn't the flu.  He's not particularly nauseous, and the breathing problems have now persisted for more than a week.  Chest x-rays do not show a collapsed lung, heart is fine (although, his blood pressure is sometimes high (200/100 when hospitalized), sometimes normal (120's/70's) when I checked three times the other night.  Does anyone know what this might be?
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MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hello and hope you are doing well.

Inadequate oxygenation can produce symptoms of breathlessness, as the body tries in an effort to compensate for the decreased oxygen supply. The breathlessness could be due to cardiac or lung disorders. Breathlessness on exertion could be due to the decreased lung function. Again in cardiac disorders the heart is unable to pump the blood adequately, more so when subjected to stress like exercise. Certain systemic disorders like anemia, diabetes, vitamin deficiencies and thyroid disorders can cause these symptoms. So please consult your primary care physician who may ask for an EKG or a treadmill test to rule out a cardiac cause for the symptoms. He may even ask for blood tests. Lung function tests could further help in evaluation.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.
Helpful - 0
180749 tn?1443595232
Tell him to follow these techniques everyday, and let me know his progress at some point.
Bhastrika - Take a long deep breath into the lungs(chest not tummy) via the nose and then completely breathe out through the nose. Place your fists, with the thumb pointing up, on the the legs, above the the knee, and do bhastrika for two minutes.Repeat this  a) with the fists upside down, so that the thumb is pointing down, and resting on the legs, b) with the thumb pointing inwards  c) with the thumb pointing outwards. This will help very much as the lungs open up in different ways.
Repeat this 3 to 8 times during the day.

Anulom Vilom pranayam –
Close your right nostril with thumb and deep breath-in through left nostril  
then – close left nostril with two fingers and breath-out through right nostril  
then -keeping the left nostril closed  deep breath-in through right nostril
then - close your right nostril with thumb and breath-out through left nostril.
This is one cycle of anulom vilom.
Repeat this cycle for 15 to 30  minutes twice a day.
Children under 15 years – do 5 to 10 minutes twice a day.
You can do this before breakfast/lunch/dinner or before bedtime or in bed.Remember to take deep long breaths into the lungs.You can do this while sitting on floor or chair or lying in bed.
April 26 ,2012
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