Burning in the lungs – Is that dangerous?

Introduction

If a patient complains of burning in the lungs, this can have many different causes. It is important that the whole situation and behaviour is examined and any existing illnesses are included in the diagnosis. The possibility that the burning sensation does not originate in the lungs but in the heart should also be urgently considered and acute heart disease should be detected and treated early.

First and foremost, heart attack should be mentioned here, which causes a burning sensation in the chest and must be treated as soon as possible. If the burning sensation is actually located in the lungs, it is often bronchial asthma or acute bronchitis. In very rare cases it could also be an indication of a tumour in the lungs.

How dangerous is that?

Since there can be a multitude of other causes for burning in the lungs in addition to the diseases already mentioned, the question of how dangerous burning in the lungs is cannot be answered universally. Unfortunately, most patients who experience burning in the lungs are not suffering from an acutely life-threatening disease, but from diseases such as respiratory tract infections, bronchial asthma or similar. In order to reliably rule out more serious diseases such as pneumonia or a heart attack, it is definitely worth going to the doctor anyway, because in some cases a burning sensation in the lungs can also be a messenger of a serious illness.

and signs of a heart attack. Another reason for the symptoms mentioned can also be bronchial asthma. This disease is a chronic inflammation of the airways.

It leads to an obstruction of the respiratory tract, i.e. a narrowing, which repeatedly leads to respiratory distress. The narrowing of the airways is caused by the increased production of mucus and the cramping of the bronchial muscles. It is precisely this contraction of the bronchial and respiratory muscles that sometimes leads to burning sensation in the chest and lungs.

In addition, the cause of burning in the lungs can also be a pulmonary embolism, lung cancer, but also pneumothorax or pneumonia. Lung cancer is treated in a separate paragraph below. A pneumothorax usually occurs suddenly, often due to an injury.

Air enters the pleural space through a hole. Actually, there is negative pressure in the pleural gap, so that the lung can follow the breathing movements and does not collapse, i.e. contracts (the lung’s real purpose is to contract). If air now enters this gap, the lungs can no longer expand sufficiently and the negative pressure is disturbed.

The lungs may collapse. The intensity of the pneumothorax depends entirely on the size of the injury and can either be hardly noticeable or cause acute severe symptoms. In either case, this is an extremely dangerous situation for the person affected and must be treated immediately.

In a pulmonary embolism, blood vessels in the lung are blocked by a thrombus and the blood flow (in the corresponding area for which the vessel is responsible) is stopped or greatly reduced. Pneumonia is an inflammation of the lung tissue and is caused by viruses, bacteria or fungi. Often it hits people with a weak immune system particularly hard, such as old people and small children or people who are already burdened by another disease.

Here, too, the respiratory muscles are put under particular strain and this can lead to that burning sensation in the lungs. Asthma is a chronic disease of the respiratory tract which often begins in childhood. It leads to a sudden shortness of breath which is caused by a narrowing of the airways.

Such a narrowing of the airways can be caused by a variety of stimuli. In asthmatics it is usually the same stimuli that cause the narrowing, for example cold or certain allergens. If a noise is heard when breathing out, this is called expiratory stridor.

A burning sensation in the chest area can be one of the symptoms of an asthma attack. An acute asthma attack is usually treated with asthma sprays which contain various active substances to widen the airways and inhibit inflammation in the airway area. A cold that involves the lungs and airways (bronchitis) can lead to burning sensations in the chest.

Very often, this is accompanied by a cough that is difficult to control and can trigger and intensify the symptoms, increased temperature up to fever and general complaints such as headaches and aching limbs. This is usually caused by viruses that multiply in the cells of the respiratory tract, lead to inflammation there and activate nerve fibres that can produce the burning sensation. Usually the cold improves after a week, but the coughing and burning can last up to 4 weeks.

This is often an acute bronchitis, which can also cause burning sensation in the lungs. The airways become increasingly swollen and inflammation of the mucous membrane in the bronchi occurs. In this case the symptoms are often preceded by a coughing attack, which can be very severe.

In the beginning it is often very dry and then becomes mucusy. Often the repeated coughing attacks put so much strain on the respiratory muscles that the pain in the lungs occurs. After a pneumonia, the lungs are in a healing process that can take a while.

Because of the damaged airways, symptoms may still exist, such as a burning sensation in the lungs. These can last up to four weeks. After this time, you should consider whether there is another, simultaneous cause besides pneumonia, such as heartburn or poorly controlled asthma. Finally, a tumour can also cause the airway to become blocked and the natural cleansing function of the airways to be disturbed. This can promote the development of pneumonia.