ryan31337
Senior Member
- Messages
- 664
- Location
- South East, England
Hi all,
Has anyone had treatment for respiratory issues in relation to their ME/CFS? I'm aware Breakspear clinic have prescribed O2/CO2 therapy to some patients, curious if any here could share their experience?
I've had some awareness of breathing issues over the years, stuff like: excessive yawning & sighing, 'forgetting' to breathe and gasping (both awake & asleep) and odd habits like holding breath and exhaling slowly & forcefully without realising - much to the annoyance of others! A recent positive tilt table test really gave me a clear indication of shortness of breath during pre-syncope too, I had a really dramatic desire to breathe excessively deeply, something I have experienced from time to time previously without associating. I don't think any of this is particularly unusual in ME/OI circles.
However, yesterday I had a CPET and the physiologist couldn't believe that I wasn't actively slowing my breathing, apparently I was doing ~6 breaths per minute during the low intensity phase, which was considerably less than her whilst she was just standing there. I'm generally comfortable breathing 4x times a minute at rest, if I meditate this will drop to 3x or lower. Apparently <12x is Bradypnea...who knew
I assumed this would just be related directly to dysautonomia in some unhelpful way, but having seen the list of potential causes for bradypnea like hypertension, electrolyte imbalance, hypothyroidism etc. perhaps there's more to be done. Its quite fascinating seeing the implications of low CO2 as well, vasoconstriction, hypoperfusion etc...
Has anyone had treatment for respiratory issues in relation to their ME/CFS? I'm aware Breakspear clinic have prescribed O2/CO2 therapy to some patients, curious if any here could share their experience?
I've had some awareness of breathing issues over the years, stuff like: excessive yawning & sighing, 'forgetting' to breathe and gasping (both awake & asleep) and odd habits like holding breath and exhaling slowly & forcefully without realising - much to the annoyance of others! A recent positive tilt table test really gave me a clear indication of shortness of breath during pre-syncope too, I had a really dramatic desire to breathe excessively deeply, something I have experienced from time to time previously without associating. I don't think any of this is particularly unusual in ME/OI circles.
However, yesterday I had a CPET and the physiologist couldn't believe that I wasn't actively slowing my breathing, apparently I was doing ~6 breaths per minute during the low intensity phase, which was considerably less than her whilst she was just standing there. I'm generally comfortable breathing 4x times a minute at rest, if I meditate this will drop to 3x or lower. Apparently <12x is Bradypnea...who knew
I assumed this would just be related directly to dysautonomia in some unhelpful way, but having seen the list of potential causes for bradypnea like hypertension, electrolyte imbalance, hypothyroidism etc. perhaps there's more to be done. Its quite fascinating seeing the implications of low CO2 as well, vasoconstriction, hypoperfusion etc...