Acute Medicine | Breathlessness 13 knowledge A for GPs

Diagnosis and treatment of breathing pattern disorders
Session overview
Description
This session reviews the diagnosis and treatment approaches for patients with breathing pattern disorders.

Learning objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• recognise the typical presentation of patients with breathing pattern disorders
• list discriminating tests required to enable diagnosis
• recognise important discriminating symptoms in the differential diagnosis and be aware of 'red flag' symptoms which suggest more serious pathology in the breathless patient
• formulate a management plan

Breathing pattern disorders, also known as dysfunctional breathing, is a broad term that encompasses various breathing abnormalities, one of which is hyperventilation. It is easier to explain 'breathing pattern disorder' to patients who may not accept that their breathing is 'dysfunctional'.

Chronic hyperventilation syndrome (HVS) specifically refers to a prolonged and excessive breathing rate that results in low CO2 levels, leading to symptoms of dizziness, numbness and anxiety.