Short of breath at night

Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Valve Replacement Forums

Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
D

Debbrn

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 7, 2005
Messages
439
Location
southeast
As an experiment I started sleeping in the recliner almost a year ago. I feel so much better. It has enabled me to work without being so completely exhausted. Even my co-workers noticed a difference. I have more endurance and get short of breath less. I had noticed starting a couple of years ago I would cough a few times when I laid down and then I would be fine. Now if I lay down I get short of breath that gets better in 5-10 minutes. I wake up for frequently if I sleep flat. The doctor's don't know why. Pulmonary says its my heart. Cardio says its not heart because I have right sided heart issues not left and I have no evidence of fluid retention. Cardio wanted me to have a sleep study after I recovered from my PVR. Pulmonary just did an overnight oxygen monitoring. My oxygen levels did not drop below 90. I also have moderate restrictive lung disease from scoliosis and possible mild asthma. I am so frustrated. I wish I knew what was going on. I sure would like to be able to sleep in my bed.

Debbie
 
I have 2 wedges that elevate the head of the bed about 10 inches. I keep sliding down the bed all night long. i can't seem to figure out how not to slide down the bed. So at this point I still feel better in the recliner.

Debbie
 
I pull up some info. Not sure if this is your issues.

Why does this happen?

If the left side of your heart doesn't pump as well as it should, blood can stay in the upper left chamber (the left atrium) instead of being pumped out around your body. Because blood sits in this chamber, pressure builds up in the blood vessels behind it. The extra pressure causes fluid to leak from blood vessels into your lungs. This causes shortness of breath.


If you are having trouble lying flat in bed, it means you have fluid in your lungs. When you lie down, gravity makes the fluid pool there. This makes it harder to breathe.
 
You don't have a goiter, do you? I have one that has moved my trachea over, and although it hasn't caused me any breathing problems, yet, it has the potential, and one of the signs is shortness of breath when laying down.
 
Nancy,

I don't have a goiter that I am aware of. Do you think that the docs would have noticed since I was intubated only 2 months ago for heart surgery.

nngbwh,

I have right side heart dysfunction not left.

Debbie
 
Deb, sorry if I chuckled at sliding down the bed, I could picture me doing that if I had a big wedge. anyway before I got my Gallbladder out, my reflux was pretty bad. I needed the top elevated a little but didn't want it too much, I figured I would start low and if that didn't work keep making it higher. What we ended up using, I can't remember exactly but put some wood between the mattress and the mattress pad, just so the top was raised a little. IF your interested if you google reflux and raise the mattress, there are a few ways you can raise the top without much money, I thin for some beds/people even just putting the headboard legs in those risers (they make to make beds higher to stuff even more junk under them) raises it like 4-6 inches so it is higher, but not a sliding board :)
 
Hi Debbrn! I am prone to a coughing asthma. I have been advised to sleep with lots of pillows under my upper body or with a wedge. Unfortunately, like another person who answered you, I slip-slide away to the foot of the bed when I have pillows/wedges at the top of the bed. I actually had the problem in the hospital bed while recovering from my OHS. I remember the morning nurse coming in and saying, "Why are you always crumpled at the foot of the bed every morning?" I said, "I guess I just slide down during the night." I do not own a recliner, but it sounds like the perfect way to keep your head elevated all night. And, you are not the only person I have heard of who had to sleep in a recliner.
 
Be careful about cardio's who say it is not fluid. They are often guilty of looking at healthy ankles and passing judgement on that. I went to my cardio for three years with cronic chest congestion and fatigue; he saw that my ankles looked fine and said it had to be a lung thing.
 
My newest theory is that because of the restrictive lung disease and 85% of the blood from the heart is going to the right lung, when I lie flat in bed that increases the intra-thoracic pressure making it harder to breath inside my already restricted rib cage. If I have to breath harder and have increase heart rate at night, my body is not resting as well as it needs me to leaving me tired the next day. I also have increase work of breathing just standing in water up to my neck. I do not have chest congestion on a regular basis.

Debbie
 
bed raising...

bed raising...

I had some serious problems with reflux a few years ago (quit that job and son-of-a-gun, most of my acid problems went away :confused:). I raised the head of my bed with some concrete landscaping pavers I had. They were only 3 inches or so thick when laid flat and worked well. Not enough for me to slide down to the foot of the bed, but enough to keep me from coughing at night.

Maybe that would be enough of a difference to help with your issues...?

Tass
 
My overnight pulse oximetry results are in. I do not drop my sats below 90%. My heart rate did not go below 80 the entire night. I am even on beta blockers. I have noticed that my heart rate will go done to the high 60s or low 70s in the recliner. Is it correct that if your sats do not drop below 90% that you do not have sleep apnea? I think my heart rate and resp rate goes up at night to compensate for lying flat.

Debbie
 
I have no idea why but I still sleep much better with two big ol' pillows propping up my head and shoulders. This is more than 5 years after the big surgery. Might just be habit, might still be heart related. I dunno. Am just grateful to have a way to get the rest.
 
deb, if you want to try sleeping in bed try putting some pillows under your legs, I'm an RRT and alot of my patients need to be sitting almost bolt upright, one of the tricks I use is to get their knees up, it tends to keep them from sliding down in the bed...the one issue is if their knees are too far up it impinges the diaphragm, which alot of the patients we see depend on diaphram to breathe.... I was also told that I probably have restrictive lung disease from having my chest cracked as well as the asthma part of things (I wonder how many of us that have had OHS have that issue...)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top