What should you know about heart wheezing?

Wheezing can occur when air moves through narrowed or inflamed breathing tubes. Asthma, COPD, acute bronchitis and allergies may cause it; in children, bronchiolitis is another possibility. A tight chest, cough or breathlessness may accompany the noise. A sensation described as wheezing may instead be chest tightness, noisy breathing from the throat, or a heart-related symptom, so the location and timing matter.

Notice whether it began after an infection, exercise, dust, pollen, a new medicine or a food exposure. Tell a clinician whether you can speak normally, whether the sound is constant, and whether you have a prescribed reliever inhaler.

Sit upright, move away from smoke or a suspected irritant, and take calm breaths. Use your prescribed inhaler exactly as directed; do not borrow another person’s medicine. Rest and drink fluids if you have been ill and can swallow normally. Arrange assessment for a first episode, repeated wheezing, night symptoms, or wheezing that does not settle. A clinician may listen to your chest and decide whether inhaled treatment or a nebuliser treatment is appropriate.

Call emergency services for severe breathing difficulty, inability to speak in full sentences, blue or grey lips, collapse, confusion, or rapidly worsening swelling of the lips, tongue or throat. Treat sudden wheezing after food, medicine or an insect sting as an emergency because it may be anaphylaxis. Seek urgent advice if a prescribed reliever is not helping or you are becoming exhausted.

Ask whether the sound is coming from the lungs or throat, what may have triggered it, and whether you need breathing tests. Ask how to use your inhaler, when a nebuliser treatment is considered, and which changes require emergency help.