sleep apnea?

[davidpizzica]

My cardiologist wants to test me for sleep apnea. This is the last thing I'd thought I'd EVER get! Does anyone have it or could someone give me more info? Oh well, I'll just add it to my growing list of ailments.

[boomersooner]

I know a lady I used to teach with....her husband was diagnosed with it...she finally got him to go in because of his terrible snoring. He also had high blood pressure and was always tired because he never slept well. Anyhow, he started using the machine at night with great results... he was no longer snoring which made wife happy, his high blood pressure disappeared, and he was no longer so tired he couldn't do anything. I know another man who uses the device with the same conclusion. It is good you are getting tested because it can be dangerous to have.

[caseysmom]

My 51 year old brother died of heart failure which was most likely made worse by his untreated sleep apnea.

[Medusa]

David, here are a couple of excellent links for you to peruse. A friend of mine has sleep apnea and she must wear the CPAP device to bed. Her dr. did tell her, however, that, if she loses weight, she more than likely will be rid of the condition and won't have to use the CPAP any more. I'm not casting aspersions on you, my friend, since we've never met in person, so I don't know what your weight is nor am I asking. I'm merely mentioning it in case this is one way in which you could possibly remedy the problem. Good luck and please keep us updated on your health. Lots of prayers will continue for you, my fellow Pittsburgh native.

http://www.sleepapnea.org/

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/SleepApnea/SleepApnea_WhatIs.html

[davidpizzica]

David, here are a couple of excellent links for you to peruse. A friend of mine has sleep apnea and she must wear the CPAP device to bed. Her dr. did tell her, however, that, if she loses weight, she more than likely will be rid of the condition and won't have to use the CPAP any more. I'm not casting aspersions on you, my friend, since we've never met in person, so I don't know what your weight is nor am I asking. I'm merely mentioning it in case this is one way in which you could possibly remedy the problem. Good luck and please keep us updated on your health. Lots of prayers will continue for you, my fellow Pittsburgh native.

http://www.sleepapnea.org/

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/SleepApnea/SleepApnea_WhatIs.html

Hi Mary, thanks for those links. The top one has a sleep apnea forum/support group which I'm going to join. I'd like to find out a lot about it

[smokey the elder]

I have a co-worker with it. We drove together to a conference and I noticed he packed this device. Being nosy I asked about it and he said he had sleep apnea. He was quite heavy, and has now lost quite a bit of weight. I wonder if that helped hom out.

[4 Dog Mother]

David, I have sleep apnea. My family had started complaining that I was snoring but I didn't think much of it. Then last year I started to fall asleep at work and then I started falling asleep when I was driving. And that was when I talked to my doctor and she had me do the sleep study. The sleep study is when you spend all night at a facility. They hook you up to some monitors to tape how many times you stop breathing every hour. I stopped breathing on an average of 57 times every hour - when you stop breathing you wake yourself up which is why you are so tired the next day. After that first time at the facility you go back a second time and they give you a machine to use and check how often you stop breathing. Fortunately my insurance paid most of this bill.

I know use the machine every night. It does not help me as much as my friend who also got one about the time I did too. I seem to have an additional problem - that has something to do with restless leg syndrome but I can't take the medicine for it. Anyway the machine has a memory card in it that a doctor has a machine to read so he can see how you are doing. I am now down to stopping breathing about 2 times an hour which is really good. My friend who fell asleep every time she sat down is now feeling so much better. She has more energy and wouldn't do without her machine. I know I sleep better with it so I use it even though it hasn't completely solved my problem.

Sleep apnea is dangerous - as one person said - you can die from it - it causes high blood pressure, depression and other things. If I were you I would go get tested. It could not only save your life but change your life.

[KYS]

My b. friend has severe sleep apnea along with irregular heart. He is also over-weight.
He uses a c-pap machine. It takes a little getting use to but it WORKS!

I have a co-worker who had a severe sleep apnea, he did not like the C-pap machine and opted for the surgery. He is also very over-weight.


If you are over-weight loose the weight. Give the machine a chance, it
might take some getting use to. My B-in-law never liked it.
The surgery for sleep apnea is an option for a last resort.

[kuhio98]

My b. friend has severe sleep apnea along with irregular heart. He is also over-weight.
He uses a c-pap machine. It takes a little getting use to but it WORKS!
My brother is quite over weight -- but he's losing slowly. He also uses the c-pap machine. He said the first night he wore it, he knew he would never get any sleep. But, he slept well and the next morning he was amazed at how tired he WASN'T. He had realized that he hadn't been sleeping thru the night.

[Laura's Babies]

Something else. Since I have been off and at home this time, I saw a thing on TV where they had used a healthy guy with no health problems. They got him to sleep in one of those sleep labs and everytime he would get into a deep sleep, they would have this shrill of sound interrupt his sound sleep. He would still be sleeping and never woke up but it disturbed his deep sleep cycle. They did this for (I think) 3 weeks.. The result was he became diabetic. Interrrupting your sleep cycle does cause other health problems. Once he was able to get back to sleeping normally, the diabities went away.

They are finding sleeping is far more important than they had thought!

[cassiesmom]

David, I have sleep apnea and have been through the sleep study/C-PAP cycle. When you go for your sleep study, see if your hospital can do it as a "split" where they monitor you for the first half of the study and then if you need C-PAP, they apply and titrate it for the remainder of the night. That way, you don't have to go twice. My sleep center doesn't do it that way. I had the first sleep study and then a second with C-PAP titration. I too have a machine with a memory card that shows how compliant (or not) I am. My machine also has a feature that starts the pressure low and then ramps up to the appropriate setting. I can't fall asleep with it on at full pressure. I have a co-worker who has nasal pillows instead of a mask - less confining. I don't mind the mask because it's small. It has helped a LOT in that I don't awaken feeling as though I could go back to bed and sleep for another 3-4 hours. It has taken me awhile to get used to sleeping with it. My cat is not too keen on it because she likes to sleep with me, but I can't do anything about that.

[davidpizzica]

thanks everyone for all of information and the reassurance. I never knew I had it because living alone and being single no one was there to tell me what was going on. (Nikki is a pretty smart cat, but not smart enough to tell me!). Now I can't wait to find out what's happening.

[Twisterdog]

My friend Bob was diagnosed with sleep apnea. He now religiously uses the breathing machine every night, and says it has literally changed his life in so many positive ways. He is no longer tired and grumpy, and has the energy to do the things he wants to do.

I am almost positive my husband has it, too. Horrible snoring, waking very often, sleeping long periods of time (because his sleep quality is horrible), etc. However, he is the most stubborn man in the world, and refuses to go to the sleep clinic to get it checked out. :mad:

My advice would be to get tested ASAP and follow the doctor's instructions. If you are like my friend Bob, you will think it was one of the best decisions you ever made. Plus, it could literally save your life.

[RICHARD]

David,

Have you ever been hit in the nose, broken it or know if you have a deviated septum?

For years I noticed that if I slept on my left side my sinus would get blocked and if I rolled over to my right side it felt like water shifting in my sinus.

I also had this clicking in my septum when I would wrinkle my nose.

MY GF-sometimes I wonder if my snoring killed her- would tell me that it was worse when I was tired or had some drinks beforehand.

Earlier this year I caught the flu and noticed that the left side of my nostril was really sore after I blew my nose. It felt like I had something working it's way out of the skin.

It was a bone chip-probably from the six or seven times I smashed my face doing sports or goofing around- that came thru the skin. As soon as it came out I could breathe. I guess it was lodged in a way that it made my nasal passage narrow on that side, forcing me to sleep with my mouth open!

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I did try the nasal strips and they helped, but you wake up with gummy crap on your face or your face starts to break out around the nose. The worst part was losing the strip on the pillow.

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You should see an ear, nose and throat specialist too. Sometimes they can relieve the problem bysurgically trimming the soft palate at the the back or your throat.


The procedure is called a Uvuloplatopharyngoplasty!


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