No one can tell that Paula has disordered breathing

Front. Neurol., 13 May 2016 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2016.00078 The Cerebellum and SIDS: Disordered Breathing in a Mouse Model of Developmental Cerebellar Purkinje Cell Loss during Recovery from Hypercarbia Michele A. Calton¹, Jeremy R. Howard¹, Ronald M. Harper², Dan Goldowitz³ and Guy Mittleman⁴*

Paula is alive and well with disordered breathing. Yes she almost died when she was born. Yes she got lifesaving care. Yes, she thrived after resuscitation and transfusion at birth. Yes medicine can sometimes perform miracles ! And yes she is super grateful at how things turned out. We have been talking about this since we accidentally found out about her super power [her super power is being alive and well despite hardly breathing any air relative to the rest of us. ] at a first aid class twenty or so years ago. We think that her disordered breathing is key to broaden our understanding of life, consciousness and altered consciousness. We think it explains why she had a long episode of altered consciousness that she can only remember when her normal consciousness returns – if it returns- and with my help and Kraepelin’s observations guiding us, she did recover….completely….although we think we could have helped her recover faster and lessened her suffering had we had the help of noninvasive supportive 21st century medical treatments.. Paul looked depressed during her reversible episode of altered consciousness because of the unimaginable anguish no one knew she was feeling. She looked depressed because she had the slumped body posture necessary to help her to breath. The sensation of anguish obliterated thinking, memory, appetite, time, sleep, moving, speaking; leaving her at the mercy of this anguish for days, months, years. And she had no idea of the source of this anguish.

We found out that during the polio epidemic, one of the definitions of dyspnea was the vague and nonspecific and inexplicable sensation of anguish. In other words, breathing involves more than the lungs. Polio paralyzed the muscles involved in pushing air in and out of the body, resulting in difficulty breathing and the unbearable and unknowable sensation of fighting off suffocation.

Breathing is a complex process that relies heavily on the coordinated action of the muscles of respiration and the control center in the brain. Physiology, Respiratory Drive Joshua E. Brinkman; Fadi Toro; Sandeep Sharma. Last Update: May 24, 2020.

Count how often Paula takes a breath in one minute. You will not believe your eyes. Measure her breathing rate with a Hexoskin Smart Shirt [ https://www.hexoskin.com.%5D for hours while she reads a detective story. You will worry about her immediately. You will wish you knew nothing about her disordered breathing. She barely breaths at all. How can she even be alive? It should be an exciting new fact but it is strangely disturbing. What if suddenly she drops dead? Why doesn’t she drop dead?

This is the question I want scientists to explore. Why doesn’t Paula drop dead if she breaths less air than the rest of us. Perhaps this is the reason she seems so slim and fit and….looks so much younger than her age. It is not a crazy idea. Oxygen is part of the air we breath, oxygen ages a person and she seems to be breathing the bare minimum.

She seems to have the same disordered breathing as described in the mouse model research quoted at the top of this blogpost.

Like the mice described above, ….to be continued…….

Several mechanisms exist to ensure a rigorous balance between supply and demand. In response to a change in blood gases, the pulmonary system adapts by adjusting breathing patterns to help meet the body’s metabolic demand. Exercise, for instance, increases oxygen consumption and raises carbon dioxide production. Should, at any point, the available oxygen supply fails to meet the necessary demand, aerobic metabolism ceases, and energy production declines. Likewise, if carbon dioxide were to accumulate without proper disposal, the blood becomes more acidic, and cellular damage ensues, ultimately leading to organ failure. Neither outcome is desirable; therefore, numerous mechanisms exist to match respiration with the continually changing demands. Central and peripheral chemoreceptors, as well as mechanoreceptors in the lungs, convey neural and sensory input to the brain to help modulate respiratory drive. The respiratory center responds in return by changing its firing pattern to alter breathing rhythm and volume. Physiology, Respiratory Drive Joshua E. Brinkman; Fadi Toro; Sandeep Sharma. Last Update: May 24, 2020.

to be continued………….