Difficulties lying on back/left-hand side?

[Teresa UK]

Does anyone here have problems with lying flat on their back or on their left-hand side: difficulty breathing, chest pain which goes away once you roll onto your right or you sit up? And is it related to your heart condition? I've had this problem build up gradually over years, which was originally blamed on a sternum/rib problem, but I'm beginning to wonder if it's more related to my aortic stenosis problem? Any thoughts?

 

[catwoman]

Teresa:

I slept on my right side (or back) for years until my valve surgery. I can now sleep very comfortably on my left side.
I've talked to other valvers and they've said the same: It's uncomfortable to sleep on the left side when your heart isn't working 100% right. I've even come across something in a cardiology book that backed that up.

I was able to sleep on my left side immediately post-op, while in the hospital!

 

[catwoman]

Teresa:
Re sleeping on your back: That's related to some possible heart congestion building up. Not uncommon. I don't remember having problems sleeping on my back, just my left side.

 

[Mb]

For what it is worth, my husband couldn't sleep on his left side either, for many years. Had the surgery, and most mornings, that's where I find him. Snuggled up to his pillow, in his left side. - Mb

 

[Barry]

Teresa:
Re sleeping on your back: That's related to some possible heart congestion building up. Not uncommon. I don't remember having problems sleeping on my back, just my left side.

The way I knew it was time to go in for a valve job was when I was lying on my back in bed, reading, and had difficulty catching my breath - a problem that went away when I sat up a bit. The cardiologist who's caught the mitral valve prolapse 30 years previously had told me to look out for that as a sign that I was going into congestive heart failure and it was time for a valve job.

FYI, now that I've got a St. Jude's, I can no longer sleep on my left side because of all the racket. On my back or my right side I can't hear it.