What exactly is it?

Your lungs help you breathe in and out. Each time you breathe in, your body gets oxygen which is important for all your body’s organ systems to survive. If you develop a condition that affects your lungs (such as pneumonia or COPD) or if you develop a condition that seriously weakens your body (such as a serious infection or brain damage), you may not be able to breathe properly. This might cause you to become very short of breath, since you might not be receiving the necessary oxygen required for your body to survive.

Your doctors might try giving you oxygen through a tube that goes in the nose or a mask that goes on the face. However, if this does not work and you are still unable to breathe on your own, a breathing tube and machine (or ventilator) might be a life-support therapy considered.

During this life-support treatment, a doctor in the hospital will put a tube into the patient's mouth and into the windpipe. They will then connect this tube to the breathing machine. The breathing machine will completely take over the task of breathing for the patient. Having the breathing tube down the mouth and windpipe is uncomfortable, so patients are usually on strong sedative and pain medications. Patients who are put on the breathing machine are critically ill and are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital. 

You may only need to be on the breathing machine for hours or days, but it’s possible to be on it for much longer. For patients who require the breathing tube and machine for more than two weeks, an additional surgery called a tracheostomy would be required at that time. This surgery creates a hole in the neck so that the breathing tube can be moved from the mouth to the neck. This is necessary to reduce the risk of damage to the mouth and vocal cords.