Shortness of Breath, Microvascular Angina And Hypoglycemia Posted: 05-18-06 15:57pm
Hi tygrbabi, you mention in one of your
posts that you have a weakened heart as a
result of not treating your hypoglycemia.
Stan, is heart damage a known
consequence? If so, is it reversible?
I came across 2 articles on macrovascular
angina which may explain the correlation
between shortness of breath and
hypoglycemia. It also explains the impact
on the heart. Tygrbabi, you may have mva
but it is reversible!
Here are 2 articles which mention
microvascular angina
I don't know if heart damage is a
possibility, unless you didn't treat it in
the long term, then maybe you'd have some
problems. In the short term, I doubt it.
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tygrbabi
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 01 May 2006 Posts: 126
Posted: 05-19-06 10:54am
Hi didier, my heart is in a weakened state
but it is reversable. My doctor says I
have to do a cardio exercise every day to
build up the heart.
I think have to give you some background
information in order to understand my
situation. I was first diagnosed with a
heart murmur when I was diagnosed with
hypoglycemia at the age of 17. (that was
13 years ago). My doctor (a homeopathic
internist and cardiologist) explained my
heart murmur symptoms will act up when my
sugar levels are out of whack. So, if I
just followed my diet and exercised, I
would be fine. And I was. Then life
happens. I couldn't go to this doctor
because my hmo didn't cover him and he was
too expensive for me. Then I would
"sample" foods that were not good for me.
Then I would have an occasional drink
and/or cigarette and coffee. And yet I
still maintained the diet, although I did
eat things that I thought were healthy for
me that weren't. (for example, hummus,
splenda, soy milk, etc.) and ironically,
I did all this and still lifted weights
and ran about 3 days a week.
And guess what?! I relapsed. In the
worst possible ways. Insomnia,
de-realization, anxiety attacks. (my
body used to warn me when I was "bad" with
light-headed-ness and my heart murmur
would act up. But, somehow, it stopped
doing that.) so here I am ... Back at
square one really. Hopefully, this will
help some who think "is this diet
necessary?" ... Umm, yes it is.
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tygrbabi
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 01 May 2006 Posts: 126
Posted: 05-19-06 11:07am
I also wanted to add:
thanks for sharing that information,
didier. I appreciate it.
I do believe my shortness of breath comes
from 3 things. (1) the heart issue
(which btw, i've had two other ekg's since
august and both of the other doctors said
I was fine) (2) anxiety from the
hypoglycemia and (3) not taking the time
to breath properly. I'm always rushing
... Every where.
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Didier
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 15 Location: Paris
Posted: 05-19-06 18:29pm
Hey tygrbabi
i am glad your heart problems are
reversable but I must tell you that the
shortness of breath that you describe is
not at all the shortness of breath that I
am talking about and mentioned in another
post (see "difficulty breathing"). It
doesn't matter if I am stressed or
relaxed, exercising or at rest, busy
working or at home. This unpleasant
sensation of not being able to get to the
bottom of my breath is physiological or
maybe more precisely endocrinological. It
is sometimes relieved ( a little bit)
after I eat but comes back.
Also heart murmurs are quite common. I
was diagnosed with a heart murmur years
ago but have been able to remain quite
active (lift weights 3 days a week, cardio
5 days a week) without any consequence. I
too have heard that people with this
benign congenital defect are more prone to
anxiety attacks and heart palpitations but
it is unrelated to respiratory problems.
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tygrbabi
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 01 May 2006 Posts: 126
Posted: 05-22-06 09:00am
Didier, I think I understand what kind of
shortness of breath you're talking about.
And I do believe it stems from the
hypoglycemia in some way, although, i'm
not exactly sure how. And it doesn't
matter whether i'm working out or
relaxing, either. I try to just deal
with it. There is a product called Dr.
Bach's rescue remedy. It's drops that
are intended to relieve stress but I
noticed that if I take a few drops, I feel
a little better. (it doesn't relieve the
symptom, it just relieves my stress over
not being able to get a full breath).
This weekend I decided to enjoy the good
weather by walking along the water. It's
very picturesque and i've always enjoyed
running there. A short brisk walk
sounds great, right? No. Again, I
started to feel like I couldn't get a good
breath and it makes me very frustrated.
I hoping this symptom will go away once my
sugar levels stabilize.
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Stan
Moderator
Joined: 01 Jan 2006 Posts: 1696 Location: ,
Thanks: 3
Thanked:0
Posted: 05-22-06 09:06am
It's hard, but try not to worry about them
too much, though they're frustrating
always remember that they never get any
worse than what you're feeling (unless you
ate sugar!).
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tygrbabi
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 01 May 2006 Posts: 126
Posted: 05-22-06 13:50pm
Thanks for putting it in perspective for
me, stan. I have to remember that they
can't get worse. Well, at least the
derealization has slowed down.