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SpO2 and blood-gas arterial test?
#11
RE: SpO2 and blood-gas arterial test?
Myron,

So you are hinting at having an anxiety/panic disorder if you have klonopin as a PRN. You should maybe consider reaching out to the doctor who put you on klonopin and talk to them about what your treatment options are for the anxiety. Klonopin and hundreds of other meds can cause some form of potential respiratory depression, but it is not necessarily anything that could cause harm or permanent damage. The real concern is mixing a benzodiazepine with alcohol or opioids which is where real full blown respiratory depression can occur. I have been on extremely high doses of certain benzodiazepines for one medical reason or another which I don't want to address, but at a standard dose as prescribed by a doctor you should be fine. As someone who has anxiety and panic disorder, we become hypervigiliant to things and I can speculate (based on personal experience) that after your PME you have become hypervigiliant to the potential for something that could cause real harm to your body. You can truly develop PTSD from an experience like you had and, couple it with any underlying disorder, and you are looking at an exponential increase in vigilance as well as anxiety/panic. 

Do you have a good psychiatrist who maybe can work with you on the meds and getting you back on something which would work with your existing regimen? This might be a good personal step to getting your life back under control and couple it with some therapy. I have both of these myself and I would be in the same situation as you are without having good mental healthcare coupled with physical care.

If all of these care providers, even the nursing staff in the hospital weren't/aren't concerned (and who definitely know about these things), then maybe this isn't something to catastrophize? I am just trying to put it in perspective but I know with anxiety that isn't necessarily going to help. I just hope you get things under control on all fronts and stay well.

-J
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#12
RE: SpO2 and blood-gas arterial test?
(06-14-2018, 07:52 PM)johnathonm Wrote: Myron,

So you are hinting at having an anxiety/panic disorder if you have klonopin as a PRN. You should maybe consider reaching out to the doctor who put you on klonopin and talk to them about what your treatment options are for the anxiety. Klonopin and hundreds of other meds can cause some form of potential respiratory depression, but it is not necessarily anything that could cause harm or permanent damage. The real concern is mixing a benzodiazepine with alcohol or opioids which is where real full blown respiratory depression can occur. I have been on extremely high doses of certain benzodiazepines for one medical reason or another which I don't want to address, but at a standard dose as prescribed by a doctor you should be fine. As someone who has anxiety and panic disorder, we become hypervigiliant to things and I can speculate (based on personal experience) that after your PME you have become hypervigiliant to the potential for something that could cause real harm to your body. You can truly develop PTSD from an experience like you had and, couple it with any underlying disorder, and you are looking at an exponential increase in vigilance as well as anxiety/panic. 

Do you have a good psychiatrist who maybe can work with you on the meds and getting you back on something which would work with your existing regimen? This might be a good personal step to getting your life back under control and couple it with some therapy. I have both of these myself and I would be in the same situation as you are without having good mental healthcare coupled with physical care.

If all of these care providers, even the nursing staff in the hospital weren't/aren't concerned (and who definitely know about these things), then maybe this isn't something to catastrophize? I am just trying to put it in perspective but I know with anxiety that isn't necessarily going to help. I just hope you get things under control on all fronts and stay well.

-J

For some reason, I didn't want to think it was anxiety, but now the more I think about it, it probably is partially anxiety related. I've had some type of "panic" attacks for years, and the doctors never figured out what was the cause. They only last 10-20 seconds or so, and feel like the end-of-the-world is coming, or that I'm going to die. I have an appointment with my Psychiatrist next week, and will discuss with him. He said that normal anxiety/panic attacks, last a lot longer, but he didn't know what I was experiencing. Last time I was there, he thought I may be having mini-blood clots going through my heart or something.

I had a DVT/PE a month ago, and going back last year, had an AFIB incident, and before that in 2015 had a DVT/PE. So maybe it is some type of PTSD or anxiety from everything that has happened in my life. I still don't see how anxiety can cause Central Apneas or me stopping breathing at night, or this general "unwell" depressed respiratory drive feeling during the day.

I only take .5mg Klonopin or a half of that tablet to go to sleep some nights. When I put on my BIPAP mask and lay down, I have been getting rather nervous  lately, and my head twitches left/right before I go to sleep. It always takes me about 30min or more to get to sleep.

I wouldn't mind trying something else then Klonopin, but all the SSRI's interact majorly with Multaq. I'll ask my Psychiatrist if there is anything else I could take.
ResMed AirCurve 10 vAuto
Pressure EPAP min 4.4, IPAP 8.4, IPAP Max 18, PS 4.

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#13
RE: SpO2 and blood-gas arterial test?
I'm pretty sure those 'panic attacks' were afib, typical feeling during afib.
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#14
RE: SpO2 and blood-gas arterial test?
(06-15-2018, 09:31 AM)crowtor Wrote: I'm pretty sure those 'panic attacks' were afib, typical feeling during afib.

That is quite possible too. Very short afib episodes. But in the past, before I had my major afib incident and before I was on rhythm drug Multaq, I had numerous Holter monitors. I wore them for three weeks at a time and when I had an episode I pressed the button to mark it. They never found anything wrong with my heart rhythm  It wasn't until last year in August when I then went into full blown afib for 9 hours did they see I had afib.

At one point they wanted to implant a cardiac monitor. I'm going to ask them again to see if that would be beneficial. But I want to see what the EEG findings are from the neurologist
ResMed AirCurve 10 vAuto
Pressure EPAP min 4.4, IPAP 8.4, IPAP Max 18, PS 4.

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#15
RE: SpO2 and blood-gas arterial test?
Don't afib episodes leave chemical traces in the blood?
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#16
RE: SpO2 and blood-gas arterial test?
(06-15-2018, 04:12 PM)ShaunBlake Wrote: Don't afib episodes leave chemical traces in the blood?

Never heard that from any doctor. All that happens is your heart just quivers and not in sync.
ResMed AirCurve 10 vAuto
Pressure EPAP min 4.4, IPAP 8.4, IPAP Max 18, PS 4.

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#17
RE: SpO2 and blood-gas arterial test?
(06-15-2018, 05:35 PM)MyronH Wrote:
(06-15-2018, 04:12 PM)ShaunBlake Wrote: Don't afib episodes leave chemical traces in the blood?

Never heard that from any doctor. All that happens is your heart just quivers and not in sync.

I was hoping that, like a "heart attack", if they took a blood sample immediately, there would be a tell-tale.
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#18
RE: SpO2 and blood-gas arterial test?
Theres not much about that:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5530434/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4957677/
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#19
RE: SpO2 and blood-gas arterial test?
Your cardiologist can simply draw a venous blood sample which can still tell a lot about carbon dioxide levels in your blood stream and how your organs are functioning (to see if they are compensating for a metabolic imbalance).

A sleep physician and/or pulmonologist can order you a diagnostic sleep test. Tell them you want to be sent to a sleep lab that monitors carbon dioxide as well as oxygen saturation. That can be done noninvasively. There is no reason to go through the pain of an ABG draw and I don't think an ABG would be all that helpful anyway.
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#20
RE: SpO2 and blood-gas arterial test?
(06-16-2018, 12:32 AM)crowtor Wrote: Theres not much about that:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5530434/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4957677/

crum!  Actually, I'm disappointed, not surprised.  I know that there are some cardiac events that leave evidence (I'm ignorant about what they are) and recently learned that they dissipate pretty quickly.  I was hoping that AFIB was one since it is so common.

The only thing I can see from these NIM reports is that since nearly three million Americans suffer from AF, maybe MyronH should move to, say, Japan.

Okay, illogical, but thinking of such a guillotine hanging over someone's head is too troubling to bear.

Edit: Blast!  Forgot to thank you, crowtor, for the articles.
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