Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnoea
Acute breathing problems that arise suddenly at night, often waking the person from sleep. The condition most frequently affects people suffering from congestive heart failure with pulmonary oedema (a build up of fluid in the lungs); in these particular cases, it is brought on by fluid leaking out of the blood vessels into the air spaces of the lungs once the person is lying down. It can also arise in those people with chronic lung diseases.