Breathing at bedtime

@spider109 Have you tried a few sets of active cycle of breathing before bed to clear out any accumulated gunk? Maybe that's why you cannot get a deep breath because gunk still remains?

I do my airway clearance right before my bedtime. My Pulmonologist says you’ll never get all the mucus out when doing airway clearance. So how do you know when you have gotten all you possibly can? I didn’t get an answer.

Is it the mucus that's preventing you from getting a deep breath? If so, maybe do some active cycle of breathing in your sleep position?

You might try elevating the head of your bed. I have been using a mattress wedge designed to go between the mattress and box springs for years. But there are other ways as well. I get that same feeling of not being able to get a deep breath whenever I am forced to sleep on a flat mattress. Bill

@poodledoc Good point. For years I've used a sleeping wedge and recently we raised the bed with graduated blocks. Now I sleep on a wedge and also a raised bed. A hack instead of an adjustable bed. The angle is somewhere between 28-30 degrees with wedge and raised bed, which I've read is minimum for reflux/gerd.

Spider,
A couple of things recommended by several Doctors, books, internet, etc.
Fixed bedtime (7 days a week) I go to bed at 10pm and get up at 7am.
Got a wedge pillow and a regular pillowso my head is 10-12 inches above the mattress.
Almost feels like I'm sitting up.
No eating at least two or three hours before.
No screens (TV, cellphone, tablet, etc.) at least one hour before.
My wife and I pray for 15 minutes at 9pm. You could meditate for 15-30 minutes.
Between 9 and 10, I use a Neti pot and clean out my nose.
During the day, take some Magnesium.
Harry

Take a slow deep breath and count to five, then slowly let it out...repeat about five times. Holding it in gives your lungs extra time to absorb the oxygen, plus the deep breathing relaxes you and slows down your heart....works for me. You might investigate the use of a Cpap machine which pushes moist air into your lungs.

Have you had an echo cardiogram? I am not trying to be scary but I had this problem when I had myocarditis (inflamed heart muscle causing temporary heart failure). It showed up an on echo cardiogram as heart failure. When the myocarditis resolved I could lay flat on my back and breathe whereas I could not do that while I had the myocarditis. I could not do the breath in for 4 hold and out for 4 either. I could more or less lay on my left side and that was it. Elevation did not help much either ( I have an adjustable bed) but it helped some. Now I have no problem at all laying flat and I have a ton of mucus and post nasal drip all day.

Spider,
In my pulmonary rehab class they talked about "pursed lip breathing"

Harry