Shortness of breath
Pulmonary Embolism is a problem related to the lungs and the respiratory function. It is a blood clot that does not allow a complete area in your lungs to be fed by nutrients and oxygenated blood. Even if your lungs are the primary receptacle of oxygen, there are tissues away from the reach of the pulmonary alveoli that would need an external source of oxygenated blood to survive.
When there’s not enough oxygen in the pulmonary tissue, the respiratory function starts to become deficient, your oxygen levels start to drop, and your brain interprets that as if you were not breathing deep enough. That’s why people with pulmonary embolism feel shortness of breath, an urge to take a deep breath instead of regular respiration. However, since chest pain is aggravated after breathing in, the respiratory discomfort increases, and patients report they find it difficult to breathe.
As a result, you would see a patient with pulmonary embolism with rapid and short breathing, trying to breathe more while preventing to aggravate their chest pain while breathing in. This rapid breathing would cause pH problems in the long term because there will be a constant exchange of CO2 and oxygen that would cause modifications in the acidity of the blood.
