What Is Wheezing?

Many people with respiratory allergies know that bouts of wheezing almost always come with the arrival of hay fever season. Mild wheezing may also accompany respiratory infections such as acute bronchitis and may be experienced by patients in heart failure and by some with emphysema (COPD). But the characteristic whistling sound of wheezing is a primary symptom of the chronic respiratory disease asthma.

A variety of conventional and alternative remedies can alleviate wheezing. However, you should be regularly monitored by a conventional physician if you have asthma, severe allergies, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or COPD. It is often worthwhile to be evaluated at least once by a lung specialist (allergist or pulmonologist).

What Causes It?

The whistling sound that characterizes wheezing occurs when air moves through airways that are narrowed (much like they way whistle or flute make music). In asthma, this airway narrowing is due to inflammation and spasms of the muscles in the wall of the airways.

In some people, wheezing is the result of asthma or allergic reactions to pollen, chemicals, pet dander, dust, foods or insect stings. People with acute or chronic bronchitis also produce excess mucus in the respiratory tract, which can cause the lungs' passageways to become blocked. Wheezing may also (less commonly) be caused by cystic fibrosis, obstruction from a foreign body which has been inhaled (such as a coin), a tumor in the lungs (rare in non-smokers), congestive heart failure (usually in older adults), or a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot which has moved from the legs to the lungs).