About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staffDepending on the cause, pulmonary edema symptoms may appear suddenly or develop slowly.
Sudden (acute) pulmonary edema symptoms
- Extreme shortness of breath or difficulty breathing (dyspnea) that worsens when lying down
- A feeling of suffocating or drowning
- Wheezing or gasping for breath
- Anxiety, restlessness or a sense of apprehension
- A cough that produces frothy sputum that may be tinged with blood
- Excessive sweating
- Pale skin
- Chest pain, if pulmonary edema is caused by heart disease
- A rapid, irregular heartbeat (palpitations)
If you develop any of these signs or symptoms, call 911 or emergency medical assistance right away. Pulmonary edema can be fatal if not treated.
Long-term (chronic) pulmonary edema symptoms
- Having more shortness of breath than normal when you're physically active.
- Difficulty breathing with exertion, often when you're lying flat as opposed to sitting up.
- Wheezing.
- Awakening at night with a breathless feeling that may be relieved by sitting up.
- Rapid weight gain when pulmonary edema develops as a result of congestive heart failure, a condition in which your heart pumps too little blood to meet your body's needs. The weight gain is from buildup of fluid in your body, especially in your legs.
- Swelling in your legs and ankles.
- Loss of appetite.
- Fatigue.
High-altitude pulmonary edema symptoms
- Headache
- Insomnia
- Fluid retention
- Cough
- Shortness of breath
When to see a doctor
Pulmonary edema that comes on suddenly (acute) is life-threatening. Get emergency assistance if you have any of the following acute signs and symptoms:
- Trouble breathing or a feeling of suffocating (dyspnea)
- A bubbly, wheezing or gasping sound when you breathe
- Pink, frothy sputum when you cough
- Breathing difficulty along with profuse sweating
- A blue or gray tone to your skin
- A severe drop in blood pressure resulting in lightheadedness, dizziness, weakness or sweating
- A sudden worsening of any of the symptoms associated with chronic pulmonary edema or high-altitude pulmonary edema
Don't attempt to drive yourself to the hospital. Instead, call 911 or emergency medical care and wait for help.
- O'Brien JF, et al. Pathophysiology of pulmonary edema. In: Marx JA, et al. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/about.do?about=true&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05472-0..X0001-1--TOP&isbn=978-0-323-05472-0&uniqId=230100505-57 Accessed April 12, 2011.
- Givertz MM. Noncardiogenic pulmonary edema. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 12, 2011.
- Gallagher SA, et al. High altitude pulmonary edema. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 12, 2011.
- Heart failure. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Hf/HF_All.html. Accessed April 7, 2011.
- Cardiomyopathy. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/cm/cm_all.html. Accessed April 7, 2011.
- ARDS. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Ards/Ards_All.html. Accessed April 7, 2011.
- High blood pressure. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Hbp/HBP_All.html. Accessed April 7, 2011.
- Maggiorini M. Prevention and treatment of high-altitude pulmonary edema. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases. 2010;52:500.
- Scherrer U, et al. New insights in the pathogenesis of high-altitude pulmonary edema. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases. 2010;52:485.
- How the heart works. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hhw/hhw_all.html. Accessed April 7, 2011.
- Lung function tests. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/lft/lft_all.html. Accessed April 12, 2011.
Find Mayo Clinic on