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Stridor is a high-pitched, whistling sound made when breathing due to blockages in the upper respiratory system. It can indicate a serious medical condition and requires immediate attention if it occurs suddenly. Causes include foreign body inhalation, croup, and vocal cord paralysis. Treatment includes respiratory treatments, oxygen, and sometimes intubation or tracheostomy. In some cases, people may live with stridor if it does not decrease oxygen uptake. It is important to seek medical attention if stridor develops suddenly as it can be life-threatening.
Stridor is a sound that can be made in some people when they breathe. It can be whistling, slightly musical, or the pitch can simply be very high or shrill. Noise can indicate a very serious medical condition, although not in all cases. If it occurs suddenly, it is considered medically urgent and needs immediate attention.
There are many different causes of stridor, but mostly the sound can be explained by some sort of blockage, which can vary in type, in the upper respiratory system. It might be best illustrated by closing your hands lightly on a straw while inhaling from it. Under the right circumstances, this could produce a ping or a whistling sound. What the evidence suggests for this condition, then, is airway obstruction, and this can occur for a variety of very serious reasons.
Reasons for stridor that occur suddenly may include inhaling a foreign body. It can also occur when infants and toddlers suffer from croup. Sometimes narrowing of the airways occurs due to medical interventions such as intubation and the result can be stridor. People who have surgery that causes the complication of full or partial vocal cord paralysis may suffer from it, and this may be a case where known cases go untreated. Other times some parts of the airway don’t work because of malformations or tumors could block the airways to some extent.
When the cause is unknown, the condition is usually treated right away with things like respiratory treatments. If there is suspicion or evidence of a foreign body in the airway, this may be sought first. People are also usually given oxygen. Oral intubation or the occasional tracheostomy is considered if the condition is getting worse, oxygen levels drop, or breathing becomes increasingly difficult. Not all people require one of these steps, and children with croup, for example, rarely need one.
Some people have a problem with this condition that may not be addressed. If the vocal cords aren’t fully functional in very young children, they can live with some amount of stridor. As long as this does not decrease oxygen uptake, it may be tolerated, although the breathing is likely to be noticed by others, including peers. Such breathing might also limit exercise to some extent because it increases with activity and tends to cause fatigue sooner. In adults with vocal cord paralysis, there are more surgeries that are performed more frequently, which can decrease or eliminate the respiratory condition.
Because of the many potential causes of stridor, the condition should always be considered as potentially life-threatening and breathing. People should go to the emergency room or contact doctors right away if this condition develops suddenly. Without a medical exam, it may be difficult to tell why it has appeared, and those affected may require significant respiratory support.
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