Types of Respiratory Failure

Respiratory failure also can happen if your lungs can't remove carbon dioxide (a waste gas) from your blood. Too much carbon dioxide in your blood can harm your body's organs. Read more on MedlinePlus.gov.

With any asthma attack, you must start treatment right away, at the first sign of symptoms, either at home or in your doctor's office. If your symptoms are severe and don’t go away after you follow your asthma action plan and use your medications as directed by your doctor, then call 911 and get emergency medical help.

Respiratory failure happens when the capillaries, or tiny blood vessels, surrounding your air sacs can’t properly exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen. The condition can be acute or chronic. With acute respiratory failure, you experience immediate symptoms from not having enough oxygen in your body.

Chronic respiratory failure is an ongoing condition that develops over time. This condition requires long-term treatment that can include oxygen therapy and mechanical ventilation. Learn about chronic respiratory failure causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment.

Major symptoms include coughing for more than three weeks, coughing up blood and red phlegm, fever, and night sweats. Congestive heart failure (CHF): This happens when your heart isn’t effectively pumping blood to your body. In addition to pink or red-tinged sputum, you may also experience shortness of breath.

Chronic respiratory failure, however, is an ongoing condition. It gradually develops over time and requires long-term treatment. Chronic respiratory failure usually happens when the airways that carry air to your lungs become narrow and damaged.

Infections are a common cause of respiratory distress. Pneumonia in particular, may cause respiratory failure, even in the absence of ARDS. According to the Mayo Clinic, in some cases pneumonia affects all five lobes of the lungs.

“Pneumothorax” is the medical term for a collapsed lung. Pneumothorax occurs when air enters the space around your lungs (the pleural space). Air can find its way into the pleural space when there’s an open injury in your chest wall or a tear or rupture in your lung tissue, disrupting the pressure that keeps your lungs inflated.

Pulmonary hypertension is a life-threatening condition that gets worse over time, but treatments can help your symptoms so you can live better with the disease. It may take some planning, but plenty of people who have it find ways to do all the things they love, just as they did before they were diagnosed.

Pulmonary edema is a medical term for fluid buildup in the lungs. It is a serious condition that is often caused by heart disease or heart failure. Pulmonary edema may also be caused by exposure to high altitudes, lung damage, kidney failure, or taking certain medications. It can also be a life-threatening complication of surgery.

Pulmonary embolism in respiratory failure. Neuhaus A, Bentz RR, Weg JG. The occurrence of pulmonary emboli in 617 patients admitted to a respiratory intensive care unit was studied. Pulmonary emboli were found in 18 (27 percent) of 66 autopsies.

Pulmonary fibrosis is a lung disease that occurs when lung tissue becomes damaged and scarred. This thickened, stiff tissue makes it more difficult for your lungs to work properly. As pulmonary fibrosis worsens, you become progressively more short of breath.

Tachypnea (tachypneic) is a medical term for a rapid shallow breathing or an abnormally rapid respiration. Breathing problems in adults and newborns are caused by a buildup of carbon dioxide in the lungs. This buildup can be result of anything from a respiratory infection to a heart failure.

Acute respiratory failure occurs when fluid builds up in the air sacs in your lungs. When that happens, your lungs can’t release oxygen into your blood. In turn, your organs can’t get enough oxygen-rich blood to function.