What Causes Difficulty In Breathing?

Posted on Mon, 27 Feb 2017

Question: Hi Doctor, I am 36 years old. For last one month i have been suffering from shortage of breath. Need to take deep breath frequently. It is worse in nights. Today, I consulted pulmonologist. Took PFT and xray test. PFT came positive. Upon looking the x-ray, he told there is a scar in the lung.
He prescribed Mondeslor, Shelcal, Levolin inhalor. Upon looking in the internet on the scar in lungs it says it is Pulmonary Fibrosis and it has no treatment. The life span is also less. After reading I am dying as what will happen to me.

Please let me know the next steps. Will the scar increase and will have severe health issues going forward.

Answered by Dr. Divakara (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Need to see your reports.

Detailed Answer:
Hi

Greetings from Dr.Divakara.P
Thanks for posting your query.

Let me explain to you in simple words . Scar just means a healed wound . Just like a scar on the hand or on the face it just indicates a healed wound . Now the wound might have happened due to a minor fall , a cut injury from a glass, or a stab injury from knife or a burn injury.

Similarly the scar in the lung indicates some wound has happened in the past. That wound might be due to some Infection , Inflammation or other diseases ( Including Pulmonary Fibrosis ) So first we need to diagnose what caused the scar in the lungs . You may have to get further evaluated but before that first kindly upload all your test reports.

I shall go through them and advise you what to do .

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vaishalee Punj

Follow up: Dr. Divakara (10 hours later)

Thank you doctor. I have uploaded PDT report. I have hand copy of x-ray. not sure how can I upload it.
I have few questions regarding scar in lungs.
1. will the healed scar not further damage the lungs ? how can we know if the scar is still active ?
2. Are my symptoms due to scar only ? will my symptoms go away after treatment ?
3. do we need to take regular tests to see if scar is not progressing ?
4. If the scar is one side of lung, will it damage or progress to other lung also ?
5. Are there medications to stop progressing and damaging the lung further ?
6. What are the precautions to take care of lungs for scars.

Thank you.

Answered by Dr. Divakara (33 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Need further evaluation.

Detailed Answer:
HI

I went through your PFT report , minor problem is there . But you didn't uploaded the X ray . Need to see the x ray . You may also need a HRCT scan of scan but that I will decide after seeing your X ray.

Coming to your queries --

1. Need to investigate more to know if the scar is active or not.
2. Need to know the cause before commenting on the cause of your symptoms and it's response to treatment.
3. No need of regular test but some additional tests needs to be done once.
4. Scar shall not damage the other lung but if the disease that caused the scar is active it can damage the other lung.
5. Again need to know the cause of scar.
6. Will tell you after complete evaluation.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vaishalee Punj