90% of paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea cases are caused by either heart failure or poor breathing. All the results & readings for my nighttime CPAP treatment have been great, so I suspect that heart failure is the real cause for my early morning woes. Anyhow, I don’t proclaim to have the knowledge of a MD; I plan to ask my primary care physician Dr Shin for confirmation during my 4pm visit next Wednesday.
In the meantime, I have started looking into steps of my own. Fixing a weak heart is tricky so I turned to the interwebs for advice. Besides fancy surgery and medicine, the following basic steps were the ones listed most often:
- Quit smoking and stop drinking alcohol
- Maintain a healthy weight and get regular cardiovascular exercise
- Limit salt intake
- Limit saturated / trans fats in your diet
- Limit fluid intake
- Eat a diet with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free dairy products, and lean proteins
- Reduce stress & anxiety
- (For shortness of breath) Sleep with your head elevated
Looking over the list, I follow a good portion of these bullet points already. The biggest changes I’ll have to make are diet related. Currently (at the behest of my caring mother), I drink a whole lot of water. I’ve also been skipping out on most fruits and whole grains thanks to keto. Most likely that means I’ll have to say bye bye to keto, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
For stress & anxiety, I’ve been slowly self-consoling myself to be more calm and less rushed these last few months. It has helped somewhat, but I’ll probably turn to CBD for help. (The fact that CBD can treat seizures as well makes it extra enticing.) Last but not least, I might also add in more meditation / relaxation sessions (i.e. Apple Mindfulness) into my day.
PS: my self diagnosis on the New York Heart Association scale is that I’m close to reaching Class II
