When an asthma attack occurs, why do people in movies and TV shows always use paper bags to breathe? Can this save lives?

If I tell you that this can really save lives, you will be surprised. Because in China, this practice is rarely promoted. Most people see this scene in foreign movies and TV shows: a person suddenly has asthma, and the first aid method is sometimes to inhale medicine, but in many cases there is no medicine, but to quickly find a paper bag, cover the mouth and nose, and breathe deeply, and then slowly relieved.

Is it really so magical? What is the principle behind it?

Let's first learn some common sense about asthma

In textbooks or Baidu entries, the definition of asthma is (quote):

Bronchial asthma is a heterogeneous disease characterized by chronic inflammation of the airways involving multiple cells (such as eosinophils, mast cells, T lymphocytes, neutrophils, airway epithelial cells, etc.) and cellular components. This chronic inflammation is associated with airway hyperresponsiveness, and usually presents with extensive and variable reversible expiratory airflow limitation, leading to recurrent symptoms of wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness and/or cough, the intensity of which varies over time. Most of the symptoms occur and worsen at night and/or in the early morning, and most patients can be relieved on their own or with treatment. If bronchial asthma is not diagnosed and treated in time, irreversible airway narrowing and airway remodeling may occur as the disease progresses.

The main causes of asthma are: heredity, especially the individual's allergic constitution is affected by the external environment; allergens, such as some people's allergic reactions to dust mites, pollen, protein and many other substances; drug allergy, etc. Anyway, the cause of asthma is very complicated, and medicine has not yet fully figured it out. The treatment methods are nothing more than desensitization, anti-inflammatory, hormone inhalation and other methods. There is no cure yet.

However, in some of our common sense introductions, there is no method of emergency rescue using paper bags, but in foreign film and television shots, it is a common method. Why is this? Do these methods really work? Is it just acting?

This isn't really an act, but breathing with a paper bag isn't just for ordinary asthma.

Is there a special kind of asthma? No, we think that shortness of breath is asthma, and thus confuse common asthma with another disease with similar symptoms, which is called "hyperventilation syndrome". Common asthma and this "hyperventilation syndrome" sometimes have similar symptoms, both of which cause shortness of breath.

In movies and TV shows, people use paper bags to breathe when they are short of breath, which is a way to deal with the onset of hyperventilation syndrome.

Hyperventilation syndrome is defined as (quote):

Hyperventilation syndrome is a group of syndromes caused by excessive ventilation exceeding physiological metabolic needs. There are no symptomatic characteristics, but when the disease occurs, breathing becomes faster, resulting in low arterial carbon dioxide partial pressure, respiratory alkalosis, and sympathetic nerve excitement, which manifests clinically as a variety of symptoms. All symptoms can be explained by hyperventilation and respiratory alkalosis. Hyperventilation syndrome is a physiological and psychological reaction caused by acute anxiety. When it occurs, the patient will feel an accelerated heartbeat, palpitations, and sweating. Because they cannot feel their breathing, they breathe faster, causing carbon dioxide to be continuously discharged and the concentration is too low, causing secondary respiratory alkalosis and other symptoms. Hyperventilation is excessive breathing, which causes respiratory alkalosis, numbness of the hands and feet, and convulsions of the limbs in severe cases.

From the above-cited disease overview, we can see that this disease is mainly caused by mental effects. The physiological and psychological reactions caused by anxiety lead to faster breathing rate and excessive breathing, resulting in excessive carbon dioxide excretion and too low carbon dioxide concentration in the blood, forming carbendazim, also known as respiratory alkalosis symptoms.

Consequences of Hyperventilation Syndrome

The pathogenesis of this disease is still unclear. It is generally believed that it may be caused by negative emotions, such as excessive reactions such as anger, sadness, fear, and tension, which cause the body's autonomic nervous system to become disordered, resulting in involuntary rapid and shallow breathing. Many friends who have encountered emergencies and are nervous may have had this experience, but it has not reached that serious level.

Patients with hyperventilation syndrome usually breathe faster the more nervous they are, and when they feel they are about to suffocate due to lack of oxygen, they breathe shallowly more frequently, forming a vicious cycle. This will cause respiratory alkalosis within 1 minute, and the patient will experience symptoms such as dizziness, rapid heartbeat, pale face, cold hands and feet, numbness or tingling in the limbs and trunk, unsteady walking, and even cramps and contractures in the hands and feet, and fainting.

Most people who suffer from hyperventilation syndrome can recover naturally, but occasionally it may lead to acute cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, or sudden death due to ventricular fibrillation induced by electrolyte imbalance. Especially for some special groups of people who already have some basic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc., they may suffer from hyperventilation syndrome due to excessive excitement and sadness, which may worsen the basic diseases and lead to death.

We often hear rumors such as: "someone was mad at her son to death", "someone died in a quarrel", "someone died of excessive grief", etc., which may be caused by hyperventilation syndrome, which induces various complications and leads to acute attacks and death. Some elderly people and babies cry and laugh too much and suddenly roll their eyes, which is mostly related to this disease.

It was reported that a woman in Jiangsu fainted after eating spicy takeout. The doctor diagnosed that she had hyperventilation syndrome due to the spiciness of the food (see the picture above).

Therefore, in some situations, advising people to "grieve patiently", "stay calm", and "don't get excited", and to comfort those who are overly nervous and excited, is really helpful and sometimes can even save lives.

So, does breathing into a paper bag help with hyperventilation syndrome?

It can be said with certainty that it is useful. Some people may think that this disease is a manifestation of hypoxia in the body, but in fact it is not, but a lack of carbon dioxide. Shallow breathing causes changes in blood oxygen saturation and less carbon dioxide in the blood.

Cover the mouth and nose with a paper bag or mask so that the gas exhaled by the patient will be deposited in the paper bag or mask. The exhaled gas is mainly composed of carbon dioxide. The patient repeatedly inhales the gas inside and inhales more carbon dioxide, thereby increasing the carbon dioxide concentration in the blood.

This breathing method is called repeated breathing, which is a scientific method that can relieve symptoms. Therefore, if you find someone who suddenly has this symptom, you can quickly find a paper bag or roll a paper tube with newspaper or other paper, cover the patient's mouth and nose, and let him breathe repeatedly, which is very helpful.

At the same time, it is necessary to calm the patient's emotions, eliminate the patient's fear, reduce his mental burden, and guide the patient to reduce his breathing rate, breathe slowly, and try to use abdominal breathing to improve hyperventilation. In this way, the symptoms will gradually improve.

If you have the conditions to take some oryzanol, sedatives, etc., the effect will be better. If it is really serious, while taking the above emergency measures, you can send the patient to the nearest hospital for diagnosis and treatment.

Knowing that this symptom is mainly caused by emotional and psychological problems, the usual prevention is to not get too excited, and to be moderate in extreme joy and sorrow, so as to prevent the occurrence of hyperventilation syndrome. Even if this disease suddenly occurs, now that we know that it is this reason, not suffocation due to lack of oxygen, you can take the above measures yourself, and you can calm down as soon as possible.

It should be noted that breathing through a paper bag or mask is only effective for hyperventilation syndrome, and is not effective for common asthma. Don't get confused.

After reading this article, I wonder if it is helpful to you? Thank you for reading and welcome to discuss.

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