Nervous shortness of breath as a sign of mental imbalance

Content:

1. Features of the effect of alcohol on the heart
2. How much do you need to drink for your heart to fail?
3. How to establish a violation
4. Symptoms indicating destruction of cardiac tissue by ethanol
5. What to do to restore heart function
6. How to protect your heart from alcohol

For the human body, ethyl alcohol is a dangerous poison.
It affects all organs and tissues and disrupts nerve conduction. Drinking especially damages the central nervous system. The heart muscle suffers no less.

In this article we will talk about how alcohol affects the heart. Perhaps, having learned this information, someone will decide not to spoil their health.

Support from family or friends

Not everyone is able to become their own narcologist. Therefore, the initiative needs to be taken by caring and close people: relatives, friends, neighbors, and finally, those who care about the drinker and whom he trusts. “Stop drinking” and other similar formulations are unacceptable, as well as intimidation with the dire consequences of alcoholism. It would be a big mistake to call a spade a spade: forget the words “alcoholic and alcoholism.”

It’s better to describe the favorable prospect of sobriety - freedom and independence from a glass of vodka, try together to remember the brightest, most joyful and happiest moments of a person’s life before the period of addiction.

The goal of home psychotherapy is to set a person up for complete abstinence from alcohol.

Features of the effect of alcohol on the heart

Scientists have proven that long-term consumption of strong drinks provokes a dangerous disease - cardiomyopathy. In this condition, specific changes in the structure of the heart muscle are observed, and the likelihood of acute heart failure, thromboembolism, and severe rhythm disturbances increases.

This proves that alcohol has an extremely negative effect on the heart. Drinkers are at risk for developing cardiac complications:

• middle aged;
• male;
• smokers;
• in a state of prolonged stress;
• with weakened immunity.

Alcoholic cardiomyopathy is
a life-threatening pathology .
Its likely complication is ventricular fibrillation, due to which the heart stops contracting normally and stops. Even if a person manages to avoid death, he will most likely face a stroke, myocardial infarction, and necrosis.

Development mechanism and distinction criteria

Each activity, including breathing, is regulated by a specific part of the brain. In a state of stress and nervous overstrain, the central and peripheral nervous systems fail. Control over the breathing center in the brain is lost, overexcitation spreads, resulting in faster breathing.

The lungs become overfilled with air, causing hypocapnia, that is, the amount of oxygen in the blood increases excessively, and carbon dioxide decreases below normal. This imbalance of gases causes an attack of psychogenic shortness of breath.

Despite the fact that the symptoms of its manifestation are similar to true shortness of breath, there are still some criteria that allow it to be differentiated:

How much do you need to drink for your heart to fail?

Cardiomyopathy occurs in response to regular drinking of large amounts of alcohol.

- the equivalent of 100 ml of pure alcohol every day - for ten years or longer. Statistics show that this condition occurs in every second alcohol addict.

It’s just that someone finds out about a deadly disease right away. Then he has a chance to recover. Some patients completely ignore the symptoms of cardiac failure. For them, the outcome of alcoholic cardiomyopathy is always unfavorable - death.

Psychogenic asthma

In general, bronchial asthma refers to a pathology of the respiratory system. Its development is associated with changes in the structure of the bronchi against the background of immune failures, that is, it is a very specific disease, the etiology of which is not related to mental factors.

People suffering from this disease may develop a condition called psychogenic asthma. This happens when attacks of suffocation, the main symptom of the disease, are provoked by nervous overstrain, both positive and negative, whereas in normal cases this occurs under the influence of cold, infections or physical exertion.

Under the influence of super-emotions, histamine is released. This is one of the main mediators of inflammation. It causes bronchospasm. The result is a dry cough, shortness of breath and an attack of suffocation.

Psychogenic asthma often develops in women during the menstrual period and in children, whose psyche is still quite unstable and very sensitive.

How to establish a violation?

Every person who drinks alcohol for a long time should undergo a comprehensive medical examination. There is no other way to understand the state of the heart.

A cardiologist or internist is usually responsible for carrying out diagnostic measures. The doctor may prescribe:

• Submission of laboratory tests.
  Blood tests are taken from a finger and a vein.
• Electrocardiography.
  This is a basic instrumental study showing the stability of the heart rhythm, reflecting the condition of the myocardium. If necessary, ECG is combined with 24-hour Holter monitoring.
• EchoCG.
  Indicated if you need to study the condition of the coronary arteries and the operation of the valve apparatus. The technique indicates hypertrophy and dilatation of the myocardium. With its help, it is possible to establish a slowdown in the speed of blood flow and measure the pressure in the heart chambers.
• Chest X-ray.
  In the images, the doctor can see the increased volume of the heart, the expansion of the lumen of the ascending aorta, and evaluate the structure of the valves.

All these techniques are safe and painless. If the doctor told you to go through them, you need to listen to him.

Gradual reduction in the dose of alcohol

Surround the person with attention, but not total control. An alcoholic will never tell about all his stash, and looking for and liquidating it is a big mistake.

However, it happens that a person struggles with addiction one-on-one. Before leaving the binge at home, this is the most important advice from a narcologist: clearly define the permissible dose in the morning and spread it out throughout the day. For example, 200 g - and not a gram more from the stash.

Stick to this dose for 2 days, then reduce it by half for another 2 days. On the fifth day, there is a high chance of completely quitting alcohol without serious consequences for the body.

The point here is to trick the brain. This is done in two ways: either by gradually reducing the dose of alcohol, which is difficult both mentally and physically, or by detoxifying the body using a drip. It's quick and painless, but it's up to you to decide anyway.

Of course, when quitting binge drinking on your own, diet and sleep patterns are of great importance.

Symptoms indicating destruction of cardiac tissue by ethanol

You can suspect that a vital organ is working at the limit of its capabilities based on a number of signs:

• increased fatigue, lethargy, asthenia;
• exercise intolerance;
• a frightening feeling of a sinking heart;
• the skin acquires an unhealthy bluish tint;
• pain in the occipital region;
• trembling hands;
• "flushes" of blood in the neck and face;
• periodic attacks of tachycardia.

These symptoms most often remind themselves during a binge or the day after a drunken feast. If a person stops drinking for a while, his health improves.

In advanced cases, the myocardium hypertrophies and dilatation develops.

The volume of the heart chambers increases. Then heart failure occurs. Blood stagnates in both circulation circles. The patient experiences constant shortness of breath, attacks of suffocation during night sleep, severe swelling of the legs, and an unproductive dry cough.

If left untreated, heart disease caused by alcoholism will progress. Then irreversible changes will occur in the organ, which can lead to death.

Psychogenic shortness of breath - where does it come from?

Dyspnea is a disturbance in the frequency, rhythm and nature of breathing. There are pathological and nervous types.

With pathological shortness of breath, the cause lies in the disruption of the internal organs.

Psychogenic or nervous dyspnea develops primarily against the background of mental and nervous disorders:

• acute or chronic stress;
• psychogenic childhood - perhaps in childhood a person witnessed the occurrence of an attack of suffocation for various reasons. For example, a picture of drowning is accompanied by a convulsive swallowing of air by the drowning person, a characteristic facial expression;
• neurasthenia, neurosis, hysteria;
• depression;
• phobias, anxiety disorders;
• disorders of the autonomic nervous system – neurocirculatory dystonia;
• sleep disorders.

The symptom is difficulty breathing. It becomes superficial, with complicated short inhalations and long exhalations. His pace quickens, and even if a person manages to take a deep breath, it does not bring him much relief. This work of the lungs is called the breathing of a driven dog.

After uncontrolled accelerated respiratory movements there is a pause, and after it, convulsive breathing returns. All this causes anxiety and fear of approaching death in a person. A panic attack often occurs.

Distortion of the respiratory rhythm causes hyperventilation of the lungs and tension of the intercostal muscles. Because of this, false signs of angina pectoris and cardioneurosis develop. The patient is accompanied by weakness and malaise, excessive sweating, dizziness, cold extremities and convulsions.

Naturally, such symptoms suggest a heart disease, but it’s all about nervous tension.

Other signs of neurotic shortness of breath include:

• feeling of constriction in the chest;
• feeling of lack of air;
• control over the breathing process;
• feeling of a lump in the throat;
• attacks of neurotic cough - it becomes dry and annoying;
• nervous yawning;
• pain in the intercostal spaces;
• reflex movements to open the chest, which should help you take a breath - swinging your arms, straightening your shoulders, but they do not bring results;
• fear of death.

Nervous shortness of breath worsens a person’s mental state. It can cause depression, hypochondria, and mood disorders.

What to do to restore heart function?

An alcohol addict is unable to correct the situation on his own. The first thing he should do is stop drinking alcohol

. If you don’t give up drinking completely, no cardioprotectors will help.

Drug course correction is effective in the early stages of alcoholic cardiomyopathy. In advanced cases, the patient has to take medications for the rest of his life. It is also possible that surgical intervention will be required.

The basis of therapy for cardiac pathology is:

Healthy lifestyle.

It involves giving up alcoholic drinks

textiles, cigarettes, narcotic compounds. The patient should take walks, perform physical therapy daily, and adhere to a therapeutic diet. It is important that the foods you eat contain large amounts of protein. But it is recommended to avoid spicy, fatty, salty and smoked foods. It is better for the patient to eat five times a day in small portions. The last meal should be no later than three hours before going to bed. It is also very important to maintain proper drinking regime. The optimal amount of fluid for an adult is about one and a half liters.

• Drug therapy.
  For cardiomyopathy caused by chronic alcoholism, it is necessary to use medications of several pharmacological groups. For high blood pressure, doctors use antihypertensive drugs, for heart rhythm disturbances - antiarrhythmics, for swelling of the extremities - diuretics, for high cholesterol levels in the blood - statins. In difficult clinical situations, cardiac glycosides come to the rescue. They prevent attacks of tachyarrhythmia. If the patient has a tendency to form blood clots, antiplatelet agents are indicated. All funds are selected strictly individually. It is unacceptable to drink them without a medical prescription.
• Surgical intervention.
  It is carried out if drug correction has not provided positive dynamics, the disease is rapidly progressing, and the patient’s life is at risk. The operation is very difficult. During this procedure, a heart transplant is performed. It is clear that not every patient can tolerate it. Finding a suitable donor organ also poses difficulties. Some patients simply cannot wait until surgeons find a new heart for them.

How to protect your heart from alcohol?

Drinking without harming your heart is impossible. There are no recipes that would allow you to drink alcohol frequently and stay healthy. Therefore, if your health is important to you, try to give up strong drinks. The less often you use them, the better it will be for your heart and the whole body as a whole.

If ethyl alcohol has already enslaved you, do not despair. Be sure to go through coding and start a health restoration course.