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Can't breathe when laying on my right side

lastgasp

Guest
Messages
40
I get this as well with palpitations too, sometimes on the left as well when really bad. Usually if I'm rested long enough it will go away or be mild enough to not need to turn over, but that can take hours if I've been upright or active too late or in a relapse. Interesting to know others have these position-related problems.
 
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15,786
I'm having another episode. :confused: << that's me turning blue :D

In the past I've had a couple episodes where I basically couldn't sit up for long, or stand up at all, without intense OI symptoms. This started again yesterday. BP monitor showed somewhat narrow pulse pressure (31) at a time when my pulse pressure should have been pretty good, which is 1 hour after taking yohimbe. Heart rate and oxygen levels looked pretty normal while just sitting with my feet up.

So I spent much of the day laying down, sitting up for maybe half an hour at a time, at most, and needing an hour of laying down to recover after getting up to use the bathroom. I went to bed when my afternoon/evening dose of yohimbe was wearing off, but felt horrible pretty soon. My pulse oximeter confirmed that oxygen saturation was doing very poorly and stayed for a while at 85%, so I took another yohimbe and was eventually able to sleep.

This morning, about an hour after taking the yohimbe, I got up to get some breakfast, while wearing my pulse oximeter. Heart rate went from 73 sitting to 103 standing. It then went down fairly quickly, but after a couple minutes my my oxygen saturation was getting quite low again, at 92-94%. Heart rate wasn't rising sufficiently to compensate, as it usually would - only getting up to about 90-95. Then back to normal shortly after sitting, though now I feel like I need to lay down again pretty soon.

One possible trigger is fairly intense edema/fluid/electrolyte issues. I tried creatine a few days ago, and got a helleva lot more edema than I usually do. Apparently this isn't uncommon with creatine, as it operates by letting more fluids and such into cells, causing those cells to swell. Well, creatine is in all meats (except shellfish) in considerable amounts, so it seems a bit odd that I'd have such a reaction to a modest amount of something I eat every day. But I also have milder edema every day, so maybe I do have a problem with creatine in general.

After a couple days of being very swollen and crappy feeling, I started peeing a ton and that's when the current OI and oxygen problems really hit. So maybe my body is having trouble reacting to the loss of excess fluids, and/or those excess fluids are coming from some of the wrong places (like my circulatory system instead of creatine-swollen cells).
 
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15,786
Hi Val,
Just a thought... Have you considered Yohimbe side effects?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yohimbine#Adverse_effects
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/herbsupplementguide/a/Yohimbe.htm

Slightly too much of it can cause severe blood pressure problems, and other problems.
There's also potential for a dangerous interaction with common foods that contain Tyramine.
I take a very low dose, usually 2mg yohimbine twice per day. Plus taking a third dose helps a lot when I'm having issues. So an overdose seems unlikely, especially since my symptoms are low pulse pressure (with low-normal systolic and high-normal diastolic) combined with a low dose. A large enoughdose to cause low blood pressure problems would have to be about 50 times higher.

I'm now trying mixing my low dose of yohimbe (2mg) with a low dose of an NRI, strattera (10mg). Also a bit dangerous, but I'm keeping a close eye on my heart rate and blood pressure, and my fiance is here to keep an eye on me in case of any adverse reactions. I'm feeling a little better, and able to sit up longer. Pulse pressure is up to 34, which is a bit nicer. BP is 126/92. I'll keep checking it every half hour or so.

Why can't I have a friggin local doctor to deal with these things?
 
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15,786
I'm still doing a bit better. Now able to sit up about an hour before needing to lie down for 30 minutes. I had one error reading and attempted arm-strangle by the BP monitor, which usually means pulse is too weak to get a reliable reading. But 3 other readings from the past 90 minutes are:
111/79, 69 (pulse pressure 32)
111/81, 81 (pulse pressure 30)
114/77, 81 (pulse pressure 37)

So systolic and diastolic are in a good range, and pulse pressure is still looking lowish but not horrible.
 
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15,786
The Strattera had very little impact, and even taking a Yohimbe before bed wasn't enough to keep me properly oxygenated overnight. And then I felt worse this morning, so I quadrupled my afternoon dose of Yohimbe, bringing it up to the normal dose it's sold in :p I really needed a shower, and don't think it would have been possible otherwise - I could barely walk, much less climb up and down the stairs combined with all the exertion of a sitting-down-shower.

I took the large dose about 2 hours ago (1 hour before the shower), and not having any issues with elevated blood pressure. Current reading is 114/81, 77 (pulse pressure 33), so no issues with BP getting high. Pulse pressure is still lower than I like.
 
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15,786
And now my pulse pressure is down to 19, after sitting up for an hour :bang-head:

I'm just screwed no matter what I do or don't do. And I really HATE not being able to sit up for most of the day :aghhh: