- Joined
- Mar 26, 2002
- Messages
- 1,861
Two days ago I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea. Been feeling groggy all day, falling alseep at inappropriate times, various other stuff. Thought it was just age. Will be 62 this year.
However my snorring really got to my wife and her Ineternet search turned up Apnea, so off to Kaiser Permanente to talk with the medicos. They referred me to a Sleep Lab.
Sat through a short program that scared me and I like to think that I don't scare easily, but folks, this got my attention. I hope that any of you who may have similar symptoms get this checked out. It can be very dangerous. Not just falling asleep at the wrong time, but can cause heart attacks and/or strokes according to my doctors.
At 6'1" I like to stay at about 185-190. My wife thinks that Pizza is the perfect food. I love it also but that is just the tip of the carbohydrate/fat pyramid.
Then I began accusing her of washing my jeans in the wrong soap. Getting tight! Then she did something to the scales because I could not weigh 235!
Then the snorring. Not even like waves gently breaking, but silence and then volcanic eruptions. she said. I never heard them, but too often I would find her sleeping on the couch.
So the Sleep Lab. They found the following:
My blood pressure had gone from 70/128 to 90/170 -- not good
While sleeping I was NOT breathing for an average duration of 30-45 seconds and this was happening an average of 18 TIMES PER HOUR over night! Yeah, NOT BREATHING.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Moderate case.
I also had been having chest pains. Off to Kaiser and hook up to an EKG. No problems mate! But the sleep doc said that most heart attacks occur at night. I often wondered about that, why a heart attack while sleeping? Now I know.
Docs said that if I had been hooked up to an EKG at night, while trying to sleep, it probably would have shown different and bad results.
The acid reflux that I "cured" by taking Prilosec. Nah, it is a common symptom of Apnea. They assured me the problem was still there and the Prilosec was just masking it.
Short term memory loss, concentration problems, yeah we all have them, but another symptom. Even frequent night time urination and sweats.
Sleepiness while driving. falling asleep in church, movies, TV, etc.
There is a whole 'nother area of problems caused by my inability to reach REM levels and Alpha sleep because of the constant interruptions in breathing.
So I have an obstruction. They gave me a mask and an air pump that will push the needed air past the obstruction. I was able to sleep well last night for the first time in about six months. So did Anne. Says I was "Blissfully quiet."
There is no good cure. Surgery not that successful. Nor pills. Just the pump. The nurse told me another helpful possibility. This problem started about the same time as my weight gain. She said if I dropped the 35 to 40 extra pounds, got back to the weight I was when I started haveing problems, there was a good chance that the Apnea would go away.
I do not mean to alarm anyone here, or maybe I do on second thought. If you have one or two of these symptoms, probably no big deal. If you have all of them I suggest that you get yourself to a doctor and mention sleep apnea.
It can kill you. Scared the cpap out of me!
One other thing in closing, most people who have this problem never know they have it unless their bed partner complains about their snorring........
However my snorring really got to my wife and her Ineternet search turned up Apnea, so off to Kaiser Permanente to talk with the medicos. They referred me to a Sleep Lab.
Sat through a short program that scared me and I like to think that I don't scare easily, but folks, this got my attention. I hope that any of you who may have similar symptoms get this checked out. It can be very dangerous. Not just falling asleep at the wrong time, but can cause heart attacks and/or strokes according to my doctors.
At 6'1" I like to stay at about 185-190. My wife thinks that Pizza is the perfect food. I love it also but that is just the tip of the carbohydrate/fat pyramid.
Then I began accusing her of washing my jeans in the wrong soap. Getting tight! Then she did something to the scales because I could not weigh 235!
Then the snorring. Not even like waves gently breaking, but silence and then volcanic eruptions. she said. I never heard them, but too often I would find her sleeping on the couch.
So the Sleep Lab. They found the following:
My blood pressure had gone from 70/128 to 90/170 -- not good
While sleeping I was NOT breathing for an average duration of 30-45 seconds and this was happening an average of 18 TIMES PER HOUR over night! Yeah, NOT BREATHING.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Moderate case.
I also had been having chest pains. Off to Kaiser and hook up to an EKG. No problems mate! But the sleep doc said that most heart attacks occur at night. I often wondered about that, why a heart attack while sleeping? Now I know.
Docs said that if I had been hooked up to an EKG at night, while trying to sleep, it probably would have shown different and bad results.
The acid reflux that I "cured" by taking Prilosec. Nah, it is a common symptom of Apnea. They assured me the problem was still there and the Prilosec was just masking it.
Short term memory loss, concentration problems, yeah we all have them, but another symptom. Even frequent night time urination and sweats.
Sleepiness while driving. falling asleep in church, movies, TV, etc.
There is a whole 'nother area of problems caused by my inability to reach REM levels and Alpha sleep because of the constant interruptions in breathing.
So I have an obstruction. They gave me a mask and an air pump that will push the needed air past the obstruction. I was able to sleep well last night for the first time in about six months. So did Anne. Says I was "Blissfully quiet."
There is no good cure. Surgery not that successful. Nor pills. Just the pump. The nurse told me another helpful possibility. This problem started about the same time as my weight gain. She said if I dropped the 35 to 40 extra pounds, got back to the weight I was when I started haveing problems, there was a good chance that the Apnea would go away.
I do not mean to alarm anyone here, or maybe I do on second thought. If you have one or two of these symptoms, probably no big deal. If you have all of them I suggest that you get yourself to a doctor and mention sleep apnea.
It can kill you. Scared the cpap out of me!
One other thing in closing, most people who have this problem never know they have it unless their bed partner complains about their snorring........
)
) and has had no problems since. Sure seems like there is a direct link to the whole weight issue and apnea.