Constantly Adjusting

Having a chronic illness means that your health is always changing. Just when you get used to living a certain way, a symptom arises which alters the way you live. Of late, I have been trying to adjust to having respiratory muscle weakness.

In times past, I have learned that my heart rate and blood pressure are highest in the morning and gradually decrease throughout the day, with my heart rate and blood pressure being lowest from about midnight to 4 a.m. If I need to anything strenuous like bathing, it is best to reserve these activities until after 10 p.m. and preferably as close to midnight as possible. The earlier in the day I try to do things, the higher my heart rate and blood pressure, the more symptomatic I become, the more energy I expend, and the longer it takes my body to recover. However, this way of living has now changed.

After being able to rest during the night, my respiratory muscles are strongest in the morning (around 9-11 a.m.). As the day progresses, my respiratory muscles become more and more fatigued. By 4 p.m., my respiratory muscles burn with exhaustion. If I try to push myself to do things in the evening, my respiratory muscles become very weak to the point where all my energy and focus is on using my abdominal muscles to breathe. I then sleep poorly due to high carbon dioxide levels which build up in my blood from not being able to breathe deeply. The next couple days are then spent recovering from respiratory exhaustion.

So now, I am trying to figure out how to best live with high blood pressure and heart rate in the mornings combined with my body's best ability to breathe in the morning. I am trying to do more things earlier in the day when breathing is easier. But as my latest heart rate monitor shows, mornings are a time when my heart rate likes to sky rocket to 150 beats per minute, which causes severe chest pain and fatigue to develop. So I am constantly trying new routines and new ways of doing things. Thankfully, when a new challenge arises, God always provides me with a way to figure it out.  "I will lift up my eyes to the hills--from where will my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 121:1-2).