A Rough Few Days

A rough few days and what happened before that.

At the end of June 2023, it was time for an X-ray and an appointment with the lung specialist. Things looked good. According to the x-ray, the lungs were okay. There was no liquid behind them anymore. But I was still coughing.

Again she was offering some kind of inhaler, but again I said “No Thank You”. These things have hardly any or no effect on me. We agreed that she would call me back after around two months to see how things were going.

Out Of Breath

At one of my appointments with the heart failure nurses, I mentioned that sometimes in the evening I cannot sleep because every time I lay down on the bed, I am out of breath. The only thing I can do is sit on the side of the bed. But if I try to lie down again after several minutes, I get the same problem again.

I know that this can be the cause of my body retaining liquid. But when I check my weight, things look okay. I am also not drinking a lot, or eating salty things. As a test, she mentioned and offered that I would raise the dosage of one medication. One of the effects of it is, that you need to pee a little bit more. I tried this for a few weeks and it looked like it was working.

The Heart Failure Specialist

With the heart failure nurse, we made the agreement that maybe after one to two months, I would see their heart failure specialist and discuss how things went.

End of July I had my appointment with him. I told him that things were okay, but I am still coughing a lot. I am not sure if it is because of some kind of medication, or if it is still something from the pneumonia I had at the beginning of the year.

I know that I have some reaction to medication that contains ace inhibitors. (This is something for the heart). But according to him, there was nothing. He suggested reducing the medication dosage that was raised last time. Just to see if that has any effect. And he would call me over two weeks to see how things went.

Further, the blood results looked okay and stable, so that was a good thing.

These Last Few Days

Last week was the week that the heart specialist said that he would call me. But I did not get any call. No problem for me. But I noticed that near the end of the week, I was getting out of breath again. Especially in the evening when I went to sleep. Or, when I tried to go to sleep.

It was almost impossible. Every time I lie down, I could only do this for a few minutes and then I had to sit up again. This took me most of the evening. I managed to get only 5 hours of sleep.

I tried to contact the heart failure group again and told them what was going on. They would contact the specialist and see what his idea was. Later that day she called back and told me that they want to see and wait for my appointment with the lung specialist. And go from there.

That appointment, at that time, was still one week later.

During the weekend, this was a rough time for me. Friday evening, Saturday morning, and Sunday evening, I was unable to get any good sleep. Most of the time I had to sit upright in bed, just to catch my breath. The longer the night lasts, the more you get crazy and desperate. You just want to sleep but you can’t.

Monday morning, just to see if it would help, I took a whole pee tablet. I could go back to the double dosage of the other medication, but I don’t want to do this without the approval of the doctor. So the only option I have is to take a pee tablet and see if that will help. If it works, then I will try to see if I can take it regularly and hope I will sleep better.

The Coughing

In that same weekend, it looked like the coughing was also getting more and more. On Saturday, I could hardly speak any full sentences without coughing. Sometimes at the beginning, sometimes in the middle. The more I had to talk, the more I tried to avoid talking.

Even sometimes when I was collecting the energy to try to talk, I already started coughing. At those times you are really getting crazy. For my idea, it is now taking long enough. I am already coughing since the beginning of this year.

You also are trying to figure out yourself, what maybe the cause of the coughing could be. In the back of my mind, I am thinking of a bacteria in my blood again, that is attacking my artificial heart valve or maybe the leads of the pacemaker. But if this was the case, then I also would have a fever. And I don’t have that.

The other thing could be, one of the medications that I am using is causing it. But most of them I am already using it for several years, without any problem. I know that 1 medication was changed a little, but maybe I will talk to the doctor about that later.

The last thing could be, that there is still something not right with my lungs.

Closing

Whatever the cause may be, I hope they will find it out soon.

I also somewhere had read that maybe the humidity could be the cause of being out of breath. Just to see what could be true about that, I checked also the weather information, and the last few days, the humidity was high. I thought they said that everything above 60% could be the cause. And the past few days, this was the case.

I don’t know what to believe or think about everything. As I already mentioned, I am already coughing since the beginning of the year and now I am really getting tired of it. Especially if you are trying to talk or talking. You cannot have a normal conversation. I could contact my GP, but I have some idea that she is also on holiday. Then when you make an appointment, you will get a replacement, and who knows how long you have to wait before you can come? Maybe by that time I already had my appointment with the lung specialist.

I just hope that things will get better soon and that I can have some normal sleeping time again.

As always, please take care and stay safe. God Bless.