DOB @ night

[tsui2]

hi, I am 20 years old and I have a sister age 19years old now. We have this problem were my sister is having difficulty in breathing with no proper cause but she has been diagnosed with TOF and has been operated at age 5. Now some frequent episodes at night she sometimes have the  difficulty in breathing. we went to her cardiologist but was advice to have adequate rest. but still she has difficulty in breathing at night with no proper cause. she also had to maintenance medication in which she was advice to stop taking since her 2D echo, ECG, and Chest Xray results came back with normal according to the her situation.  The medication that was stop was Aldactone and Lanoxin which were prescribed 4 years ago due to cardiomegaly as diagnosed over past Xray results. She is now doing a native treatment using "kalamansi" native language for filipino lemon as adviced by a friend who also has the same case. There is no proper cause of her DOB since she has followed the doctors order and has prevent herself with any stressful activities.

Please HELP!

[Mom2four85]

are these episodes only at night? if so I would ask about sleep apnea.  I don't know about anxiety but I'm sure it's a possibility.

[tsui2]

hi, We had 2 x-rays no cardiomegaly, V/Q scan shows no pulmnary congestion or obstruction, hence; her heart and lungs are intact... the doctor said it might be due to anxiety.. would it be a possibility? pls reply and thanks...

[Mom2four85]

just a quick note to say my cardiomegaly (heart enlargement) didnt show up in my echo's either; but showed in every Xray and Ct's I've had done; did they ask her dr's about this?

could be tonsils, adenoids or obstructive sleep apnea (maybe central sleep apnea depending on the cause)

[jesseka1987]

Well my son had trouble breathing when he slept due to enlarged tonsils, I know that sounds so simple but they could be blocking her air way. I hope that helps.

[tsui2]

hi jess, I don't know, she hasn't tell us but tonight I'm gonna observe her maybe she snores we didn't just notice. But if ever she snores what does it indicate?

[tsui2]

hi ken, thanks for your information.. ahm im sory the results of the 2d-echo was that everything in her hear is intact and functional no signs of enlargement or anything... Right now we are going back to our hometown to have a V/Q Scan. I hope the results will give us light to this matter... I'm still wandering up to now, why she hasn't been relieved by DOB for 3 days confinement and with the medications, plus still a 100% O2 saturation. I just wonder why she is not feeling well, it should suppose to be correlated with the o2 saturation result. The doctors said that it might be pulmonary emboli, but would it be a possibility?

[jesseka1987]

does your sister snor or just the breathing issue?

[kenkeith]

If the TOF operation was a success, that condition can be ruled out.  An enlarged heart can be problematic and possibly cause SOB, but if the echo is normal, then the underlying cause could be the respiratory system or another cause that reduces the oxygen level in the blood and the heart cells will lack of good supply of oxygenated blood and that can cause shortness of breath as well.

The medication was to increase the heart's contractility and that would increase oxygenated blood to heart cells. There isn't much information other than an enlarged heart, and medication significance...but normal echo!?

Hope this helps, and if you have any further questions or comments you are welcome to respond.  Take care and thanks for sharing,

Ken