Not being familiar with the term I decided to search on Google in order to be able to field questions whilst training. Thought it would be worthwhile sharing with other members.

Patient described as "making funny or strange noises" (a term used by callers to describe agonal or dying respirations).
Agonal respirations are breaths that occur after cardiac arrest and are ineffective in gathering oxygen for the body. They are frequently described as "weak," "heavy," "gasping," "snoring," "gurgling" or "moaning." The rate at which these respirations occur are usually referred to as "weak or heavy," "occasional" or "every once in a while."
Ataxic (agonal) breathing pattern
Continuous irregular shifts of hyperventilation, hypoventilation & apnoea in no particular succession (unlike Biot's & Cheyne-Stokes).
Cheyne-Stokes respiration is an abnormal pattern of breathing characterized by periods of breathing with gradually increasing and decreasing tidal volume interspersed with periods of apnea. In cases of increasing intracranial pressure, it is often the first abnormal breathing pattern to appear.
The condition was named after John Cheyne and William Stokes, the physicians who first classified it.
This is caused by the failure of the respiratory center in the brain to compensate quickly for changing serum partial pressure of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
This abnormal pattern of breathing can be seen in patients with strokes, head injuries or brain tumors, and in patients with congestive heart failure. In some instances, it can occur in otherwise normal people during sleep at high altitudes.
Cheyne-Stokes respirations are not the same as Biot's Respirations ("cluster breathing"), where groups of breaths tend to be similar in size.

Biot's respirations, sometimes also called cluster respiration, is an abnormal pattern of breathing characterized by groups of quick, shallow inspirations followed by regular or irregular periods of apnea.
It is distinguished from ataxic respiration by having more regularity and similar-sized inspirations, whereas ataxic respirations are characterized by completely irregular breaths and pauses. As the breathing pattern deteriorates, it merges with ataxic respirations.
It is caused by damage to the medulla oblongata due to strokes or trauma or by pressure on the medulla due to uncal or tentorial herniation. It generally indicates a poor prognosis.
Kussmaul breathing is the rapid, deep, and labored breathing (see hyperventilation) of people who have acidosis. Kussmaul breathing is named for Adolph Kussmaul, the 19th century German doctor who first noted it. It is also called "air hunger".
The cause of Kussmaul breathing is respiratory compensation for a metabolic acidosis, most commonly occurring in diabetics in diabetic ketoacidosis. Blood gases on a patient with Kussmaul breathing will show a low pCO2 because of a forced increased respiratory rate (blowing off the carbon dioxide). The patient feels an urge to breathe deeply, and it appears almost involuntary.
The effect can be reproduced, to a degree, by rapidly breathing in the air in a recently-emptied plastic soft-drink bottle, which will normally contain a substantial amount of carbon dioxide.
Our greatest concern during this phase of the evaluation lies in the EMD’s ability to accurately assess the status of a patient’s breathing. In an article published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine (Clark, Larsen, et. al., 1992) the authors found that 40% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests were associated with agonal breathing. In 36% of these cases, multiple descriptions of agonal breathing were offered. The patient was said to be barely breathing in 33 cases (18%), having "heavy" or "labored breathing" in 18 cases (10%), "problems breathing" in 16 cases (9%), "noisy breathing" in 15 cases (8%), and "gasping" in 12 cases (7%). Terms such as snorting, gurgling, moaning and/or groaning described the remaining calls. Agonal respirations could ac

Likewise, very interesting, I have taken the liberty of copying for future digestion with coffee

Paul

Posted by medrocktraining