Managing dyspnea in lung cancer

Dyspnea is the medical term defining shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.

It is a common symptom of different lung conditions, including asthma and COPD, and it happens because of trouble inhaling or exhaling, sometimes leading to a feeling of suffocation. Dyspnea in lung cancer may also be common and requires proper treatment to assist a patient in his journey through the disease.

Causes of dyspnea

Shortness of breath may occur in several contexts: chronic lung diseases, pneumonia, and airborne allergies are among the most common. Other causes include anemia, excess weight, heart conditions, or pulmonary embolism.

Dyspnea may also be due to mental health issues like severe anxiety or panic attacks. Sometimes a state of anxiety or panic may be triggered by shortness of breath itself, making it even harder for a patient to breathe.

Finally, lung cancer or cancer that has spread to the lungs may also cause difficulty breathing because of tumor masses or fluids collecting in the lungs. It is also possible that cancer treatments in other areas of the body may damage the lungs, e.g. radiation to the chest or certain medications.

Diagnosing dyspnea

Though anyone can experience shortness of breath on specific occasions, when dyspnea becomes frequent it can be a cause for concern.

In order to diagnose it, your healthcare provider may ask you several questions, such as:

• Asking you to describe the severity of your difficulty breathing
• Asking how dyspnea is affecting your daily life and activities, such as your ability to work, sleep, or do physical exercise
• Asking you to pay attention to the situations in which you experience it to identify triggers or situations that make it worse

At that point, your physician may ask you to take lung function tests, like spirometry, in order to exclude potential underlying chronic conditions like asthma or COPD. If the response isn’t clear, blood tests may also be necessary.

Treatments for dyspnea in lung cancer

Dyspnea management in lung cancer is usually done by treating its direct cause: e.g. fluid drainage in case dyspnea is due to fluids collecting in the lungs. When tumor masses in the lung are making it hard to breathe, chemotherapy or radiation therapy aimed at shrinking the tumors are common ways to go. Antibiotics may be an addition if dyspnea is caused by an underlying infection.

In addition to these treatments, which can be quite aggressive to the body, other types of medication may be prescribed to alleviate the suffocating feeling deriving from dyspnea, like bronchodilators to open the airways.

Because of the intense pain deriving either from the illness itself or as a side effect of treatments, painkillers may also help.

Breathing exercises to manage dyspnea

Living with dyspnea, especially if cancer-related, can be challenging. Adjusting one’s lifestyle is sometimes necessary to better cope with the condition and keep other issues, like anxiety, under control.

An effective way of finding relief is through meditation, together with attention to postural needs as well as reduced physical activity.

Respiratory exercises may also help take control of one’s breathing process and strengthen the lungs. Here are two simple yet effective exercises you can dedicate yourself to for about 10 minutes every day.

Pursed-lip breathing

This is a basic exercise to control shortness of breath and anxiety-related issues, because of its capacity to slow down your breathing rate, giving you more control over the airways.

1. Sit down straight and relax your neck and shoulder muscles
2. Inhale slowly through your nose keeping your mouth shut, while mentally counting yourself
3. Purse your lips, as if you are about to whistle, and slowly exhale while mentally counting: blowing out should take at least twice as long as inhaling

Diaphragmatic breathing

This technique is very useful to gain consciousness of the respiratory process, improve lung capacity, and calm down the body. If you are a beginner, do the exercise while lying down. In time you will learn to do it by sitting or standing.

1. Relax your shoulders and place one hand on your belly and the other one on your chest
2. Breathe in through the nose, focusing on the air flowing into your body. Feel the air move down to your abdomen: your belly should inflate more than your chest as if a balloon is placed inside of it
3. Exhale through your lips without losing focus of the way the air moves: you can help the process by pressing your hand on your belly to push it out