just thought i'd explain my fb posts about heart rate.
last night i had trouble sleeping. i was wide awake, tossing, turning and restless. this isn't normal for me and i was having trouble figuring out what the issue was. i had done multiple rounds of different breath work trying to settle down but nothing was working. then i remembered- i'm off my birth control this week. so i pulled out my heart rate monitor to see what was going on... (reminder: i cannot tell when my heart is racing, even the one time i noticed it at 182- only looking at the monitor told me it was up, i could not feel it i had to use the monitor to let me know it was racing)
at 1:20am, my supine (laying down on my back) heart rate was 104. this is due to the issue with my autonomic nervous system not responding "properly" to changes in posture (see post hyper-wha?). when i rolled on my right side it went up to about 115, when i rolled on my left side it went down to about 95. to keep the heart rate up that high esp while laying down (keeping in mind my non-flare up supine heart rate usually is low 60's, even mid 50s if laying for long time) takes a lot of adrenaline- thus no sleep!
interesting note for my yogi/ayurveda friends: pranayama funkiness with autonomic dysfunction... so "normally" when you lay on your right side your left nostril becomes dominant, which increases kapha/lunar/calming energy. and when you lay on your left side, your right nostril becomes dominant which increases pitta/solar/stimulating energy. when i am in an autonomic flare up- all that flies out the window. keep in mind, it is called POSTURAL orthostatic tachycardia... postural changes elicit a non-regular orthostatic (blood pressure) and tachycardic (heart rate) response... so that actually kindof makes sense that postural changes would elicit a non-regular nadi response. when i lay on my left side, my left nostril is dominant and when i lay on my right side my right nostril is dominant. last night i did a solid 20min of nadi shodhana with no difference in heart rate. i simplified and extended my exhale (with no nostril work) twice as long as my inhale. this got me down into the low 90s and eventually to fall asleep. SO, interesting note if you are ever working with someone that has autonomic dysfunction: if they are at a point where laying on their side is causing a change in "normal" dominant nostril- any type of nostril work is possibly not going to help- and could even make things worse! I have found that simplifying- such as extending my exhales is a better solution.
So eventually I fell asleep. and thankfully i got to sleep! side note: the two dogs i found in the street and am now fostering have new crates (jade was literally chewing through the metal bars, scarlett was ok in hers but was in a neighbor's borrowed cat carrier) and have moved into my room. this allows me to be in the room with them- calming them and no jade whining or trying to eat her crate at night. we all sleep better! So we also slept in. alarm went off at 9am. i snoozed once. my heart rate monitor was still on when i woke up, so i peeked and i was in the low 80s... also note worthy it could have been lower while sleeping but waking up and rolling over could have pumped it up a bit! so i got out of bed and went to the bathroom. then i let the boys outside and went back in to prepare malcom's breakfast. quick peek at the heart rate monitor and...
It was at 130. oh fun.
when my brother was living with me. we decided to try a day where he tried to make his heart rate match mine. i believe he lasted less than 30minutes (note, he was also smoking at the time- some of you could probably last longer!). part of what is frustrating as a person living with autonomic dysfunction- is all the false literature and people's misunderstanding that all is needed is more exercise. it is true if a person is just out of shape and that is causing a high resting-supine heart rate that cardiovascular exercise is key. and people with autonomic dysfunction should of course continue to exercise and make part of it cardiovascular- however, if all it takes for my heart rate to get to 130 is peeing and feeding my dog- keep in mind a majority of my day will be cardiovascular exercise. i really don't need to be doing EXTRA at this point as it will just wear out my adrenals. autonomic dysfunction indicates a high sympathetic response, the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated and what is often really needed are ways to settle the sympathetic system and engage a parasympathetic response.
so what does this have to do with birth control? your autonomic system is responsible for controlling all the things you don't have to think about. hormone control is one of them- a big one. birth control allows me to control my hormones. by taking this task away from my autonomic system, i allow it to spend time controlling other things such as my blood pressure and heart rate. i use nuvaring- unless something new has come out it is the lowest dose of hormones available. it is continuously dosing (it is internal), so i don't have to worry about times of day or forgetting a day. i like to think of it as a hormone supplement. for the most part, it (along with changes in diet/pranayama/etc) allows me to have minimal flare ups. when on it, i still have the occasional day or two, especially if flying or under some sort of extra ordinary physical or mental stress. the real problems arise every couple months when i have to go off of it.
if you do not want to hear about my cervix and related topics. stop reading now. have a nice day :)
however, due to ehlers danlos (recall: genetic connective tissue disorder. my tissue does not hold together properly), nuvaring does have one complication in my body... for those of you that do not know what nuvaring is, it is like a jelly-bracelet material that is inserted vaginally. i leave it in for 3 weeks, then take it out and replace it with a new one. this allows for consistent dosage & less room for error on my part, in addition to lowest dosing of hormones. using it continuously means i do not get a period. BUT, EDS has given me a funky cervix. my gynecologist refers to it as "friable." when i go in for my yearly pap smear (which if you don't know is basically just lightly swabbing it with a cotton swab, less-to-equal pressure as cleaning your ears) it usually causes a section of my cervix to just crumble off! this leads to a few days of bleeding and sometimes even needing topical treatments such as silver nitrate applied to my cervix. FUN! not really. SO, leaving a jelly-bracelet type item in my vaginal canal right around my cervix- doesn't take a leap of thought to see where this would cause problems. after 2-3months of continuous use (and that ring occasionally bumping or rubbing against my cervix) i start bleeding to a point where i must leave it out for a week, allowing my cervix to heal. leaving it out is just like the placebo week on pill form of birth control- so i get my period. So getting my period every few months instead of once a month is still better in my opinion! but most women that are able to use birth control continuously usually go 6mo or longer without having a period. so while my cervix causes this little snag, overall using birth control mostly continuously to help regulate my hormones for my autonomic system has been quite helpful. This is why for the most part i have only minor flare ups a day or two here or there- but every few months i just kindof take a little break for at least a week. this is one of those weeks.
i am at a point now where even off birth control, if i pace myself i can still get most-everything i need done. this of course comes with extra help from Alice and friends that carry groceries inside or help with dogs and housework... and luckily this week schools are on winter break, so my on-site school classes are all cancelled giving me extra down time. it also makes all the things that seem important, but aren't really fade out of the way.
speaking of things that are important. stop using plastics with your food... here is an article about BPA (a chemical found in some plastics) and how
"Parts-per-trillion concentrations of BPA triggered heart-muscle cells to begin beating to their own internal drummers. These cells should instead hold off beating until they receive signals from a central pacemaker, explains Hong-Sheng Wang of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, whose team conducted the new study. The resulting arrhythmia, known as fibrillation, caused by unsynchronized beating can trigger sudden cardiac death, Wang says."
take care of your heart.
xoxo
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