An example of a system for monitoring and treating respiratory distress in a patient may include signal inputs, a signal processing circuit, and a respiratory distress analyzer. The signal inputs may be configured to receive patient condition signals indicative of autonomic balance of the patient. The signal processing circuit may be configured to process the patient condition signals and to generate patient condition parameters indicative of the autonomic balance using the processed patient condition signals. The respiratory distress analyzer may be configured to determine a state of the respiratory distress using the patient condition parameters, and may include a parameter analysis circuit configured to analyze the autonomic balance of the patient and to determine the state of the respiratory distress using an outcome of the analysis.