silent chest.....

why is this worse than a wheezy chest. Thought id get easier 2 understand replys and faster on here than waitin 4 consultant ward round on monday am. Oh n im fine now, had a rather big splat on tues n ended up on hdu 4 a few days but now reattached 2 my computer so all is gud except im stil in the hospital bored out of my mind lol!! Take care all n thanx in advance 4 replys Xx

[Hidden]

A silent chest means the doctor with his steph can hear no air entering your lungs so basically your airways are very tight and not letting air through. A silent chest means you are quite unwell.

A wheezy chest means there air is getting through, but the airways are narrow this is how the wheezy sound is heard, because air is going through narrower airways.

I think thats right someone correct me if im wrong!

sorry to hear your unwell I am also sitting here bored in hossie.

clare

[Hidden]

yes clare thats my understanding of it. When in hospital if they have said i have a silent chest I always feel a great sense of relief when they say they can hear wheeze so i know there is more air going in!!!

Olive

[18atay in reply to Hidden]

I had this type of situation and my lung collapsed on me making me extremely sick

[Hidden]

I was rushed in on saturday and my chest was silent i have to say its one of the worst attacks ive had even paramedic panicked. Ive only ever had three attacks were chest been so tight is silent and i never want to go through that again. my heart goes out to everybody who suffers them all the time.

[Hidden]

I always thought this was a good sign WRONG!! it has happened to me many times and I foolishly thought oh well if it is silent I cant be wheezing much so im not too bad, it took quite a long time to realise it was the reverse!!

But it seems to happen to me nearly every time I have a bad attack now for some reason.

Snowy

[Hidden]

Not to be confused with a doctor saying they ""can't hear anything on your chest"" - which usually means it sounds fine! Usually we're listening for normal breath sounds, which should be easily heard throughout the chest. Added sounds include crackles (usually indicates an infection, or sometimes fluid on the lungs) and wheezes (can be inspiratory or expiratory, and can mean different things depending where they are and when they occurr) - which can also be referred to as crêpes, rhonchi, râles...and any number of weird and wonderful terms! The medical term ""silent chest"", as explained below, refers to the point in where there is no (or very little) air shifting in and out of the lungs, so there is nothing to create any breath sounds.

[Supergrangran]

I would love to know how common is the silent chest thing...I have just had my first experience and am feeling still exhausted and unwell but also got quite a fright as i spent 2 hours in resus with seizures as well as breathing problems and then a night on HDU and a week in the ward. My asthma has always been well managed and there is a thinking that a chest infection may have caused this. I am now just a few days home and my chest is starting to wheeze again and my SATS/peak flow is on the way down again...so needing some education here!