Puzzle for johnwen - difference sleeping on one side or the other

[ofonorow]

The very nice fellow I've written about before stopped into our store. He is 69, and early in his life he was diagnosed with a heart condition, and an x-military doctor recommended he ignore a warfarin prescription and use Unique-E instead. He's been on Unique-E for years, and recently Cardio-C and a nutrition store vitamin K (high in some from of K2). Other than an obvious enlarged prostate, the only problem was that when he sleeps on his right side, he hears a pounding of the heart beat, but if sleeps on his left side (the heart presumably is on the left) , he doesn't hear it. Any ideas?

[tjallen]

Perhaps he has pulsatile tinnitus caused by stenosis in the left carotid. (The pressure pulse in the left carotid, which is closer to the heart, is larger than in the right carotid. This mechanical stress can lead to buildup in the artery.) Sleeping on the right may reduce blood flow in the right carotid causing increased blood flow and turbulence in the left carotid. The turbulence would be audible and pulse with the heartbeat. Sleeping on the left would further reduce blood flow in the left carotid but the right one, being clear, doesn't get turbulent with the increased flow and stays quiet. Perhaps an increased dosage of Cardio-C is warranted.

[Johnwen]