Odd observations?

[Finnmin]

Does any of you experience these symptoms, and do you know what is the mechanism behind them? 

1) You yawn and your pulse rises immediately and stays up till the yawn is finished.

2) You change your position, turn your head or something minor like that, and you skip a heart beat, OR your pulse speeds up during the movement.

3) You unintentionally hold your breath often, without noticing (untill someone mentiones it to you).

Perhaps these are normal findings, I compare my husband to myself, so there might be something odd about me instead!

Have you made other observations like these that seem odd or off to you, and you know it's your dysautonomia?

[BuffRockChick]

#1 is normal.  Pulse is higher on inhale and lower on exhale.  A yawn is a long inhale so it's more noticeable then.

#3 these pauses in breathing, is there a pattern of when the pause comes? If someone doesn't say anything, how long does it last? Does he ever not start breathing again spontaneously? Does he have any cyanosis with these episodes?  I have a much longer pause after an exhale than my husband (who is normal, healthy).  At rest, a 5 second pause in between each breath is normal for my not-normal.

[Finnmin]

1 hour ago, BuffRockChick said:

#1 is normal.  Pulse is higher on inhale and lower on exhale.  A yawn is a long inhale so it's more noticeable then.

#3 these pauses in breathing, is there a pattern of when the pause comes? If someone doesn't say anything, how long does it last? Does he ever not start breathing again spontaneously? Does he have any cyanosis with these episodes?  I have a much longer pause after an exhale than my husband (who is normal, healthy).  At rest, a 5 second pause in between each breath is normal for my not-normal.

#1 Ah, it's me with the lazy yawning pulse who is odd then! My husband yawns repeatedly for several minutes during his yawning episodes, and feels a bit refreshed when it's over, so perhaps it's the combination of more blood flow, oxygen and some stress releasing hormone that does it. Simply breathing deeper or fake yawns do nothing. :/

#3 He inhales and holds it for about 8 seconds, then continues to breathe normally without gasping for air. He was a shallow and rapid breather before POTS, and still is, but he didn't hold his breath back then. I used to try to match my breathing to his and I always got dizzy trying, it felt like hyperventilation. I don't understand how a big man can live breathing like a baby! But nevertheless he was a powerhouse back then. 

 He seems to hold his breath more when extremely fatigued, but he says he doesn't do it because he's too tired to breathe, he doesn't know why he does it. He locks his airway during it, so I'm wondering if his body is trying to do the Valsalva thing to him on purpose. He's mostly not tachycardic or bradycardic when he holds his breath.

 

[Don]

This sounds so familiar to me.  I am doing exactly what your describing when it comes to breathholding.  I feel like it happens when I'm really tired especially when I first get up in the morning.  It's almost like I'm bearing down and holding my breath.  Unintentionally.  I described it to my neuro and she diagnosed it as dyspnea on exertion.  I posted a thread about it a few days ago.  I do it and when I catch myself, I take a deep breath.  I bought a pulse oximeter because I wanted to see what my oxygen saturation was performing at while in these episodes.  

[BuffRockChick]

Hehehehe!  I think of my breathing as calm, meditative deep breathing.  8 breaths per minute.  I am curious what my breathing is like when I'm not super chill-relaxing.  

[Melissa3]

When I move or roll in different positions my heart rate goes up

[Finnmin]

I've also made this observation: when my husand crashes and he has to lie down, he recovers faster if he lies on his side and not on his back. I'm wondering if this happens because he's gained a lot of weight during POTS and it's all in the midsection of his body, what if his belly presses down on the abdominal aorta? 

[Finnmin]

Now we're truly baffled by this illness... I gave my husband pseudoephedrine hydrochlorid (allergy drug that he has taken before POTS) and put compression stockings on him for the first time, nervously I monitored his blood pressure in fear of terribly high readings because of the double vasocontrictive effect on top of his normal bp of 145/95.... But his blood pressure was 125/85! First time in ages without a beta blocker! I can't figure out how this is possible. 

He says he didn't feel any better today, but I noticed he was more active, so we'll continue this trial tomorrow.