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beccag

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hello everyone...
becca here...i recently posted asking about bipap, because my mil has als and has been showing a lot of anxiety and sleeplessness. because of this the doc ordered an arterial blood gas because he felt she was having too much co2 ....not enough oxygen. well the results came back as okay there...but last night she woke at 4 am hyperventillating pretty badly and my fil had to calm her down and read to her to get her to relax her breathing...she finally was breathing normally and fell asleep, but it took some time to accomplish this... obvious;y she is having breathing problems at night. monday she sees a pulmonologist to see what to do...but, my question is this...have any of you experienced hyperventilating with als? why would she do that and have an ABG come back okay...shouldnt the two go hand in hand? i am confused and would really appreciate your experiences...your help is greatly appreciated.
thank you.
becca
 
Becca-
I'm sure there are more sage responses out there for you than mine, but my experience with my mom has been that her difficulty breathing comes with anxiety. As soon as the anxiousness came, she'd have trouble breathing and that in turn would make her more anxious, etc. She hates the bi-pap, but has used it a couple of times. What has really helped though is the Ativan (Lorazepam). Now, when she starts getting anxious, she asks for a pill and it passes very quickly. Could it be psychosomatic? Sure. But it works.

Kaija
 
I agree with the Ativan, as long as her breathing tests are still normal.

Another thing I have found helpful is meditation. It takes a lot of practice to do well, but for me, it was definitely worth it. I think the best place to start is a short book called The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation: Thich Nhat Hanh, Vo-Dihn Mai, Mobi Ho: 9780807012390: Amazon.com: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/414E3STwV7L.@@AMEPARAM@@414E3STwV7L. :-D

Mike
 
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