What Causes Difficulty Breathing Out?

Difficulty breathing out can have various causes, just like most other symptoms. Finding the true cause means ruling out or confirming each possibility – in other words, diagnosis.

Diagnose your symptoms now!

check your overall health status
identify any nutritional deficiencies
have a doctor review your case (optional)

Diagnosis is usually a complex process due to the sheer number of possible causes and related symptoms. In order to diagnose difficulty breathing out, we could:

Research the topic
Find a doctor with the time
Use a diagnostic computer system.

The process is the same, whichever method is used.

Step 1: List all Possible Causes

We begin by identifying the disease conditions which have "difficulty breathing out" as a symptom. Here are two possibilities:

Chronic Bronchitis
Asthma

Step 2: Build a Symptom Checklist

We then identify all possible symptoms and risk factors of each possible cause, and check the ones that apply:

difficulty breathing in cold weather

chronic productive cough

being lean or underweight

past and future vaccination

shortness of breath when at rest

wheezing

blue/bluish fingernails

having asthma

frequent rapid, shallow breathing

occasional rapid, shallow breathing

somewhat elevated basophil count

regular chest tightness

... and so on

Step 3: Rule Out or Confirm each Possible Cause

A differential diagnosis of your symptoms and risk factors finds the likely cause of difficulty breathing out:

Cause	Probability	Status
Asthma	93%	Confirm
Chronic Bronchitis	65%	Possible

* This is a simple example to illustrate the process

Arriving at a Correct Diagnosis

The Analyst™ is our online diagnosis tool that learns all about you through a straightforward process of multi-level questioning, providing diagnosis at the end.

If you indicate having breathing problems, The Analyst™ will ask further questions including this one:

Does it take significantly longer, or more effort, for you to breathe out than to breathe in?

Possible responses:

→ Don't know
→ No, breathing out is just as easy as breathing in
→ I sometimes have more difficulty breathing out
→ I usually have more difficulty breathing out

Based on your response to this question, which may indicate absence of difficult exhalation, intermittent difficult exhalation or difficult exhalation, The Analyst™ will consider possibilities such as:

Asthma

COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)

COPD causes the lungs to undergo permanent changes that affect one's ability to exhale properly. These changes usually worsen over time.

... and also rule out issues such as:

Asthma

COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)

Concerned or curious about your health? Try The Analyst™