Breathing Difficulties

After open heart surgery five years ago for repair of my mitral valve, I began experiencing difficulty breathing – particularly when lying down. A chest x-ray indicated that my left diaphragm was “paralyzed”. I have two questions:

1.) Is it obvious that this “paralyzed” diaphragm is the cause of difficulty breathing?
2.) What procedures are available to determine if the cause of my breathing problem can be corrected? For example, I just read of President Bill Clinton’s similar symptoms after heart surgery, and it was determined he had scar tissue/adhesions as a result of the surgery causing one of his diaphragms to appear “paralyzed”. After removal of the adhesions, his breathing was restored. How were his adhesions diagnosed?

Thanks.        John

[maggiemag]

I know nothing about his adhesions (and hope to never hear), but the diaphragm issues are not uncommon following heart surgery.  I think that if it is one sided only, that symptoms are usually not severe.  I am not sure but maybe there is a surgery that they might consider called plication where they *tack* the one side.  Ask  your surgeon and see if you might be a candidate.  There are a couple of tests you could have that would help determine if this is the cause of your breathing difficulties.  Have they done a fluoroscopy standing up?  You could have pulmonary function testing sitting and then supine and they see how far it drops.  Hope this helps!