Sleep Apnea - Anyone have it?
mod
Hey everyone,
So I just had an interesting convo with my g/f where she told me she thinks I have sleep apnea. She says I constantly stop breathing while sleeping, then after a few seconds gasp for air.
I did a little research, and I seem to have a lot of the symptoms, like the stopping breathing, and I'm ALWAYS tired. I figured the tiredness was just cause I'm overweight and not very active, plus I don't get the proper vitamins and stuff.
Anyways, I'm wondering if anyone here has it, or knows someone who has it? What the steps were they took to get it diagnosed, or how they treated it. And if it's you, how did/does it affect your work? Being tired all the time doesnt exactly help with the creative process, and it sure takes its toll on my ability to stay focused for a long period of time. Basically any information I can get that's not in a professional article online.
Cheers
So I just had an interesting convo with my g/f where she told me she thinks I have sleep apnea. She says I constantly stop breathing while sleeping, then after a few seconds gasp for air.
I did a little research, and I seem to have a lot of the symptoms, like the stopping breathing, and I'm ALWAYS tired. I figured the tiredness was just cause I'm overweight and not very active, plus I don't get the proper vitamins and stuff.
Anyways, I'm wondering if anyone here has it, or knows someone who has it? What the steps were they took to get it diagnosed, or how they treated it. And if it's you, how did/does it affect your work? Being tired all the time doesnt exactly help with the creative process, and it sure takes its toll on my ability to stay focused for a long period of time. Basically any information I can get that's not in a professional article online.
Cheers
Replies
I don't know if it's genetic, but my Mom has it. I don't know what she does to treat it though.
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sleepapnea/
Everyone just thought i snored like a beast untill a friend thought i was dying awefully often while sleeping.
Went to a sleep lab and i indeed stopped breathing for minutes pretty often.
Got one of those breathing machines but that wasnt really an option cause i couldnt sleep at all with that thing blowing dry air into me.
Went to the hospital got my tonsils removed and some fancy laser some parts in my nose treatment.
After that it was gone.
I lost a lot of weight after but im still a lazy bum
Greever, I was just told that if you get one of those machines, and dont use it, they take away your drivers licence? What happens if you go away for a weekend or something? Also, how has it affected your work?
disco stu, what did they do to your nose? I actually dont usually breath through my nose. I find it really difficult to get full breaths, so I breath through my mouth ALOT. hmmmm
Kovac, not really. If i drink, its like once a week. And when I do, i completely understand being tired for a day or two after. But apparently my g/f has been noticing it for a long time, and I cant remember the last time I felt full of energy for more than an hour.
Just like others have said, she stayed the night at a nearby sleep clinic, and they hooked her up to a machine.
Now she has one of those machines, she said it was weird at first with the air pushing in, but now she has no problem with it. They make different types of masks too, in case one kind is too uncomfortable. She had one that just covered her nose, but since she breathes through her mouth when she sleeps a lot she got a different one for her nose and mouth.
Also, hers starts out really slow then gets way more intense after about a half hour (when shes asleep)
Being overweight can have a lot to do with it, but I hear that once you get it..losing the weight doesn't necessarily mean it goes away.
Edit: I'm not sure, but you can probably take the machine with you...the one my mom has is about the size of a box of tissues, and I'm not sure on the license thing. I might be wrong but I think that the machine monitors her use though.
When your sleeping and your ( no idea what its called) in your throat collapses which is
essentially the sleep apnoe you will breathe trough your nose as a reflex i suppose.
Just go to a doctor already!
Youll have a nice night in the sleeping lab :poly124:
I wonder how they even got results out of me couldnt sleep a bit
hooked up like a matrix energy cell but i guess exhaustion got the best
of me after hours.
Your pharynx (pretty much everything behind your nose and mouth) collapses in on itself and seals the airways, requiring a big gasp to get air through and restore breathing.
both things combined worked perfectly!
@SnakeDoctor
is it that im falling from a building feeling?
Im pretty shure thats a reflex caused by evolution so we can run
away from sabre tooth tigers coming into our caves
Ya, ill definitely go see a doctor as soon as possible. I don't really care if i have to use a machine, especially if it will help me have more energy and help focus on work more. Im sure it will be uncomfortable at first, but it seems like it would be worth it. especially if it can lead to serious problems down the road.
Thanks all!
You might also be sleeping in a way that blocks your airway so it doesn't flow as easily, there has to be some kind of build up or demand before it pushes through. I was a side/stomach sleeper with poor pillow support and would turn my head so my airway was almost pinched off gaining weight closed my throat just enough to make it a problem.
Anyway, I talked to my Dr about it after my wife said something, he sent me to a sleep clinic who did a sleep study and it came back that it was starting but with lifestyle changes it could easily be reversed, which it has.
It concerned me because my dad died at 49 of a heart attack, at the time it seemed like a freak thing. But tragically the signs where all there, his dr (mine also at the time) thought the sleep apnea helped drive the heart disease and high blood pressure, the lack of quality sleep also drove the weight gain which together all snowballed.
The weird thing is once I started sleeping better/different, my budding high blood pressure went away, it was easier to lose weight and I had way more energy. I'm still not at my ideal weight/health yet (having kids trows the whole thing off the tracks) but I'm 1000x better than I was.
Seriously get that stuff looked into, it seems funky and weird but sort it out before it sorts you out.
Like starting a thread about it on Polycount :P
Visiting a doctor I would think!
Seriously, if you stop breathing involuntarily at any point during your day, go to a doctor.
only happens once every now and then
Its weird too because it only happens when i have a nightmare... My dream transitions from the nightmare to weird colors that yo would see as if your being strangled then i jump up gasping for air
I just dont go to sleep on days that i think it'll happen
Still happens
I think I may have it too, but my doctor is having me go through pills and other tests before letting me take a sleep study... Lame.
The breathing machine should only be a temporary fix. The REAL fix is getting more active and healthy. Stop eating fast food, increase vegetable intake, and go for walks. This documentary was pretty awesome. My fiance and I decent shape (slightly athletic), but when we started doing this we felt and explosion of energy that was almost unreal.
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/
You can watch it on Netflix instant if you have Netflix.
You should watch some of these videos:
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/testimonials.html
Here are recipes for some drinks:
Mean Green Juice (original) (the one my fiance and I use)
This is the official recipe used by Joe Cross and Phil Staples according to the Reboot Program.
6 Kale Leaves
1 Cucumber
4 Celery Stalks
2 Green Apples
1/2 Lemon
1 piece of ginger
Mean Green Juice #2
handful spinach
3 stalks of kale
2 golden delicious apples
small handful parsley
1 lemon
1 cucumber
Mean Green Juice #3
2 stalks celery
1/2 cucumber
1/2 apple
1/2 lemon
small piece ginger
1/2 green chard leaf
bunch cilantro
5 kale leaves
handful spinach
Mean Green Juice #4
1/2 pear
1/2 green apple
handful spinach
handful parsley
2 celery stalks
1/2 cucumber
small piece ginger
slice of papaya
So, the guys who have/had it. Did you notice a difference in your work before / after treatment?
as for sleeping habits - i am unable to sleep well at all with the windows closed, i always have to have fresh air or i'll feel like a zombie during the day. that's someting i never had a problem with in my youth.