Anyone familiar with Sleep Apnea ?

**Blackberry** · 11-12-2003, 08:42 AM

For anyone who doesn't know what sleep apnea is, it is when you stop breathing in your sleep, but then you will gasp for air. It usually goes on all night.

I am worried because I have just learned that I have it. I have not gone to a doctor yet because I only found out yesterday. Monday night I remember being just a little bit awake and telling myself to breath. It was really weird. Then my husband told me in the morning that he sometimes gets awaken in the might from my gasping for air. Nice of him to let me know, huh. I can't believe he didn't tell me, the FIRST time it happened. So then I asked my son (he uses the computer in my bedroom while I nap in the morning) and he says yes that my snoring will suddenly stop and then I have a huge snore a moment later.

I know a little beit about sleep apnea: one of the symptoms is fatigue. I'm ALWAYS tired! I go to bed by 11pm, have to get up at 7:15am to get my son off to school, then I go back to bed until 11:00am. But I'm always tired.

One side effect of sleep apnea is that it is hard on your heart. That is the part that worries me. About 2 1/2 years ago I put on 100 lbs. Now that is enough strain on my heart, I don't need this too.

I will make an appointment today to see my doctor. But I'm wondering if anyone here has had experience with this....either themselves or someone they are close to.

TIA.

**Advertisement** · 11-12-2003 08:42 AM

**schsa** · 11-12-2003, 08:44 AM

I know enough that they give you some sort of breathing mask to wear at night so that you will keep breathing. Have you done a sleep study yet? They may want to do that as well. I understand that they hook you up with all sorts of recording wires and then expect you to fall asleep.

One of the guys I work with has it. You literally stop breathing in your sleep. So get thee to a doctor!!

**HumblePie98** · 11-12-2003, 09:14 AM

My father in law has it. It's not serious AS LONG AS you do what your told and sleep with your mask!

**billiecs** · 11-12-2003, 09:54 AM

My father has sleep apnea. Prior to diagnosis what a scary time it was. He would fall asleep driving, sitting, eating.. everywhere. When he would snore he could shake the walls.

His sleep apnea is very very severe. He did begin the typical regimen which is the C-pap machine.. that didn't work. He then had a palate scraping... that didn't work. My father finally ended up with a tracheostomy (only because of the severity and failed treatments) .

Weight was a major contributor but even after losing 150lbs they will not reverse the trach because of the # of apnea episodes he experiences in one night.

***Willow*** · 11-12-2003, 12:04 PM

I know a lady who's husband had it. He tried the breathing mask but neither one of them could adjust to sleeping while he was wearing it. From what my friend says it made strange sounds all night. He ended up having some kind of surgery for it and now he doesn't have to use the mask. I have also heard that it affects over weight people more than anyone else.

***Willow*** · 11-12-2003, 12:11 PM

Here is a little more information that I found.

What is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition that is far more common than generally understood. First described in 1965, sleep apnea is a breathing disorder characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep. It owes its name to a Greek word, apnea, meaning “want of breath.” There are two types of sleep apnea: central and obstructive. Central sleep apnea, which is less common, occurs when the brain fails to send the appropriate signals to the breathing muscles to initiate respirations. Obstructive sleep apnea is far more common and occurs when air cannot flow into or out of the person’s nose or mouth although efforts to breathe continue.

In a given night, the number of involuntary breathing pauses or “apneic events” may be as high as 20 to 60 or more per hour. These breathing pauses are almost always accompanied by snoring between apnea episodes, although not everyone who snores has this condition. Sleep apnea can also be characterized by choking sensations. The frequent interruptions of deep, restorative sleep often leads to excessive daytime sleepiness and may be associated with an early morning headache.

Early recognition and treatment of sleep apnea is important because it may be associated with irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke.

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Who Gets Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea occurs in all age groups and both sexes but is more common in men (it may be underdiagnosed in women) and possibly young African Americans. It has been estimated that as many as 18 million Americans have sleep apnea. Four percent of middle-aged men and 2 percent of middle-aged women have sleep apnea along with excessive daytime sleepiness. People most likely to have or develop sleep apnea include those who snore loudly and also are overweight, or have high blood pressure, or have some physical abnormality in the nose, throat, or other parts of the upper airway. Sleep apnea seems to run in some families, suggesting a possible genetic basis..

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What Causes Sleep Apnea?
Certain mechanical and structural problems in the airway cause the interruptions in breathing during sleep. In some people, apnea occurs when the throat muscles and tongue relax during sleep and partially block the opening of the airway. When the muscles of the soft palate at the base of the tongue and the uvula (the small fleshy tissue hanging from the center of the back of the throat) relax and sag, the airway becomes blocked, making breathing labored and noisy and even stopping it altogether. Sleep apnea also can occur in obese people when an excess amount of tissue in the airway causes it to be narrowed. With a narrowed airway, the person continues his or her efforts to breathe, but air cannot easily flow into or out of the nose or mouth. Unknown to the person, this results in heavy snoring, periods of no breathing, and frequent arousals (causing abrupt changes from deep sleep to light sleep). Ingestion of alcohol and sleeping pills increases the frequency and duration of breathing pauses in people with sleep apnea.

**queenangie** · 11-12-2003, 12:44 PM

An overnight sleep study is needed to confirm the diagnosis.
There are 2 kinds of machines, cpap and bipap, and some people also need oxygen with their machine.

Patchouli, gave some great medical info for you.

I've had OSA for about 4 years and have a cpap. It has a nice heavy duty bag to take with on vacation that looks like regular luggage.

My Dad has it too.

Individuals large or small can have OSA. Even if you loose 100 lbs, you'd need a repeat overnight sleep study before stopping usage of the machine. Just because you loose weight, does not mean you no longer have OSA.

Medicare covers 80% of the machine with the proper diagnosis.

My insurance covers 100%. You have to get the proper fitting mask for your face. It looks like an "elephant nose." It may take up to a week to become acclimated to the mask on your face. (I was told to sit with just the face mask on, just to become accustomed to having it on my face.) The newest machines come as little as 3 pounds total weight. I also use it if I need to take a nap on occasion.

Good luck and let us know how it goes....
Hugs,
Angie

**gonzo** · 11-12-2003, 01:25 PM

My dh has it and I finally got him to go to a sleep clinic this past summer. He has the c-pap machine BUT now they have come out with a different mask that just plugs into your nose with the hose going across your checks. He did try (for about 15 seconds) the old full face mask and didn't like it. The only noise his makes is a low swish sound.
You have to go to a sleep clinic to be diagnosed and they do put this little pads all over your head. Hubby said they must have used super clue when they put them on cause the next day they gave him a whole bottle of shampoo and told him to scrub until they fell off.
They also had to wake him up and tell him to sleep on his back cause he didn't do that. He told them he knows better then to sleep like that cause I always elbow him when he does cause he stops breathing.

With him, they only had him come to clinic once, it was on a Friday and they brought him the machine the following Thursday. My sister, she had to go in to the clinic for 24 hours, wait two weeks to see her doctor, then go back into the clinic, they gave her the machine and she had to stay over night again.
Oh and the machine cost us $29.00 a month until his insurance purchases it. He has had it 4 months and we asked them to put in a purchase order, now we just wait to see how long that takes.

**Blackberry** · 11-12-2003, 01:53 PM

Wow, thank you all so much for sharing. Patchouli, some great info! I just made an appointment for tomorrow, so now I can go to my appointment armed with knowledge and ask itelligent questions. I will post again after I see the doc.
Thanks again!

**fatesfaery** · 11-12-2003, 02:10 PM

This is from a friend's livejournal post about her sleep study test.....might help you know what to expect if you have to do one.

So last night I went to the *** Hospital Sleep Disorders Center to have a diagnostic sleep study done to see if I have Sleep Apnea. It was a fascinating and weird experience. I've always been quite interested in sleep. I even did a science fair project on sleep in high school.

Anyway, so I had to show up at 8:00 pm and they took a polaroid picture of my face from the side-view. I guess this is so they can study your nose and see if it is causing your problems. So they weighed me (I've lost 5 lbs!) and showed me to my room, which was like a tiny little hotel room. It had a bed and a window and an air conditioning unit and a wardrobe and a nightstand and a HUGE private bathroom. The bed was covered in wires which were neatly laid out waiting to be attached to me. So after I filled out all the papers (questionaires about my sleep habits, privacy forms, consent forms to videotape me sleeping ... ) the nice nurse-lady came in and started attaching all these wires to me. First she measured my head and made marks on it with some kind of special pencil. Then she scrubbed at key points on my head and face with some kind of gritty soap. Then she stuck electrodes to my head with some kind of green icky goo. There were probably 8 or 10 of them on my head, a couple on my neck, two on my chest, and two on each of my legs. She taped this little tiny microphone to my neck and put a thingy on my finger to measure blood Oxygen levels. She put a stretchy band around my chest and one around my stomach to measure breathing effort. Then they put two seperate things in my nose, one of which had a little thing which stuck out to measure airflow through my mouth as well.

The Nurse then went out of the room and got on the intercom and told me to do a bunch of things in order to calibrate her measurements. (She spoke to me over the intercom). Open my eyes, close my eyes, roll my eyes up, down, right, left, make a snoring noise, flex my feet, grind my teeth, breathe through my nose, breathe through my mouth, etc. Then I somehow miraculously managed to fall asleep at 9:00 pm even though I was hooked up to all this crap AND on infrared videotape. What can I say, the mattress was REALLY comfy.

She came back in a few hours and woke me up to put on what is called a C-Pap mask which kinda blows air in your nose, thus supposedly forcing the airway open. Problem was, after that, I couldn't sleep. I laid there, and laid there, and laid there. I think she had put the mask on a little wonky, because it only seemed to be causing my nose to be more difficult to breathe through. So I called her in to let me go to the bathroom. So she had to take the mask off for that, and then when she put it back on she got it more right. I still had to lay there for a while, but I did eventually fall back asleep. Next thing I knew, I opened my eyes a smidge and she came over the intercom and said "Good morning"! I don't know whether she saw that I woke up by watching my vitals or whether she thought she was waking me up. Either way, it was 6 am and the end of the sleep study. So she came in and pulled all of the crap off of me which was wonderfully freeing. But boy does it hurt to pull medical tape off of your face. I took a shower in their weak-water pressured shower and attempted to scrub all the goo off of my face. Then I filled out another questionaire and was on my way.

I don't find out the results for at least another week, and when I do it'll be from my doctor. I am fairly certain that it will reflect sleep apnea though since they did come in and put that mask on. She said that they only put it on people who's sleeping patterns "fit their profiles". So I'm assuming my sleeping profiles will show that I have sleep apnea, which will be a great asset in presenting my case for wls surgery to my insurance company. And even if I end up not being able to get it ... I at least will know why my sleep is so poor and what to do about it. And boy, once I get one of those C-pap masks on my head ... I KNOW none of you are gonna be able to keep your hands off of me :P It's just drop-dead sexy

**Blackberry** · 11-12-2003, 02:56 PM

fatesfaery

That was great! Thanks so much for posting that here. I would love it if you would update us on the results when she gets them.

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