My Story

[Stuart100]

My Story

A little about myself, I am a 40 year old male that has been married to my wife for 19 years and we have 3 lovely daughters. I am a Vice-President at the Second largest financial institution in the US in which it took me 14 plus years of hard work and a lot of long hours to achieve this position. I started at the bottom and worked my way up in a field I had no prior experience in. So I would classify myself as extremely luck person to have my family and a very high work ethics.



About three years ago I quit smoking after smoking for 24 years of the bad habit. Shortly after my life changing event actually in about 3 weeks and 20 lbs heavier, I was feeling fatigued, not sleeping well, and general feeling so bad that I went to my family doctor to have him look at me. I explained to him my symptoms and he checks me out. He ordered blood work to be done on me because of my family history of diabetes. He than explains to me that I am changing my life style and that it will take time for my body to adjust to the new life style. I continue to feel bad for the next 3 years as my symptoms progressive get worse, I develop severe back pain in the mornings when I wake up (I had prior back problems with 2 herniated disk and disk degeneration) so I thought this was normal for a persons back progressively getting worse. It was so bad that my wife would have to roll me out of bed so I could stand up but would go away in 2-3 hours of moving around (I was thinking I was working the kinks out as I moved around) . I went back to see my doctor about this back problem and he prescribed Celbrex to take 2-3 times a day for the quote “arthritis in my back” in which I took for about 6 months not helping me at all. I continue to get worse over the next 3 years, severe headaches in the mornings (I thought they were sinus problems), I would wake up disoriented, and I was tired all the time.. I continued for those 3 years going to my family doctor and complaining. I am sure he thought I was a hypochondriac and cry baby. I was also having allergy problems, and acid reflux.. I probably went to 4-5 different doctors over the 3 year period. It got to the point that in the mornings when I would get up I would stare at my shoes to trying to figure out how to tie them. Even the basic things in life had become very complicated. My wife said “I had become very hard to live with and I was extremely grouchy”.


My job of 14 plus years had also become very hard do. I was missing deadlines in which my boss could not understand nor could I. He asked me several times through out this past year “Is there something wrong?” “Is the something you need to explain to me?” I had no answer for him or myself as I could not explain it. I was no longer the same employee that had worked under him for the past 5 years. He did not understand it nor did I as I had always been ranked as one of the top employee’s of my department.

I personally had come to the conclusion that I would be dead in 6 months to 1 year, Yet I still had no clue as to what exactly was wrong with me. I never spoke of this out loud to anyone it was just my gut feeling. It was so much of a gut feeling that when it came time to do my yearly benefits selections this past year at work, I maxed out my life insurance feeling it was a safe bet and it would pay off better for my family.


Than God sent me an Angel, My wife is a dental assistant with 19 years experience and 6 months ago she got a job offer for her to go to work at Dr. Ronald Prehn's dental office. He specializes in TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Syndrome) and Sleep Apnea. He also build a custom mask with a dental appliance to be used with the CPAP machine. She accepted the job as she thought it would be a great opportunity for her to learn a new specialty in her field. As luck would have it she was discussing my symptoms with Dr. Prehn and he suggested to that I might need a sleep study. He suggested to her too take home one of the new in-home sleep study machines he had just purchased. He wanted to try it out on somebody anyway. So my wife brought this new sleep study machine home the next Thursday night. She hooks me up with all the wires and sensors and I go to sleep. She takes the sleep machine off me the next morning when I wake up and then she takes it back to work the following Monday. Doctor Prehn reads the machines data that day and he calls me personally. He tells me don’t walk, but run to Doctor Simmons office who specializes is sleep studies. Doctor Prehn calls him on my behave and explains to him the results of the “Home Sleep Study Test” The home sleep study test results had shown my blood oxygen level had dropped down in the 50 percent range and I had about 500 apnea episodes though out that one night of sleep. So after the phone call from Dr Prehn to Dr. Simmons they worked me in that week to do an in-house sleep study that Friday night. I go and do the study and the result at the in-house sleep lab and the test show that I have Severe Sleep Apnea and my oxygen level had drop do to the low 60 percent range. The reality was that particular night of the in-house sleep study when I woke that next morning I told my wife that I had gotten the best night of sleep of the past 3 years. I was thinking that I had blown the test and they would not find anything wrong. So the reality is a dentist figured out my medical problem that several doctors over several years could not find. Than one week later they had me back at the sleep lab to titrate me on a CPAP machine. I now feel better than I have felt in the past 10 years. Come to find out my back pain was caused from lack of oxygen to my kidneys. My sinus, allergy, fatigue, and acid reflux problems have went completely away since being on the CPAP machine.

Things I have learned since this all started are:



1. I realize that it’s not just snoring. It is called the silent killer for a reason.
2. Do not take no for a answer. ( I should have been more persistent with my doctors even if it took several days of just going to their office and setting there)
3. A person who has severe sleep apnea when left untreated has a hard time making good sound basic decisions on there own.
4. The bottom Line is I am responsible for my own heath and I owe it to myself to get the best heath care I can find.

Thank You, Lord!!!

Thank You Dr Ronald S. Prehn DDS in Woodlands, Texas (this man really cares about his patients)

Thank You Dr. Jerald H. Simmons, MD. in Woodlands, Texas

I write this so maybe someone else that may have a medical problem can learn from my mistakes or ignorance.

[elader]

Uh.... Welcome!

Nice story. About 3/4 the way through I was sure it was going to turn into a 'dental device saved my life' advert, but I was wrong. Many of us had a whole mess of diverse symptoms that got better with CPAP. Personally I had chronic fatigue, severe short term memory problems, inability to think, heartburn, night sweats, iritability, which all got better with treatment.

[rested gal]

What a great post, Stuart. Very glad to hear you got diagnosed, started CPAP, and are already beginning to feel better.

The word is still getting out too slowly to doctors in general, but every doctor should be routinely screening ALL their patients for sleep apnea, whether the doctor or the patient himself/herself thinks it might be a problem or not. Sleep Apnea screening should be a regular part of routine checkups.

This is still one of the most unrecognized, underdiagnosed, "not even thought of" medical problems out there. I think it's the word "sleep" in "sleep apnea" that doesn't catch doctors' attention. It's a not breathing, lack of enough oxygen during sleep problem.

You're very lucky your wife took that new position with a dental sleep specialist. Very, very, very lucky. As you know.

Welcome to the message board, Stuart!

[Lissalove7]

I'm quite new to cpap therapy... I really enjoyed reading your post. Welcome to the forum

[mdbarthe]

Welcome, Stuart:

Glad you're getting the treatment you so desparately need. It took me five years and three sleep studies before I was prescribed my first CPAP. The results of the previous studies were always, "Well.........you just didn't quit breathing long enough or not enough times to cross that threshhold where we feel you could benefit from CPAP therapy." I always left asking myself, "Well, how many times does a person have to quit breathing in one night and for how long before somebody who doesn't quit breathing during their sleep recognizes it as a problem???" Cessation of breathing is a problem, period, one would think. Moreover, since I had all the symptoms for five years (sufficiently prevalent enough that they were ordering sleep studies) wouldn't you think they would have at least tried a CPAP machine on me during one of those studies??

When I finally did get the CPAP, what a huge difference it made in my life, health, and energy levels. All those years I was deprived of the therapy and the relative quality of life were lost forever. Last year, when it seemed the apnea symptoms were coming back despite the fact that I was using my CPAP nightly, another sleep study proved I needed EPR. I just started on that two weeks ago and it has made a huge difference already.

You may feel much better right now, my friend, but remember; OSD is a lifetime condition and it will be an ongoing process of monitoring your results and paying attention to how you feel in the mornings and during the day. You're on the right road now, though, so hang in there and stay close to this forum because there are a lot of knowledgeable people on here that are willing to help!! They've helped me tremendously in the short time since I joined.

Good luck!

[Jason S.]

Great story! After reading it, I consider myself lucky. I've probably had OSA for 20 years but had no clue. After a few incidents of waking up gasping for air, I mentioned it to my MD at a physical, and he sent me off to a sleep study. The truth is I thought only infants suffered from apnea. Well, in the past 5 years I have occasionally fallen asleep at work after lunch for a few minutes. I didn't think anything of it. I also had a lot of morning headaches, and "sinus" headaches, 3-5 times/week which I attributed to a deviated septum. In the past year I started to get acid reflux in the evening, which I atrributed to age, drinking sodas and spicy foods. Well, since CPAP two months ago my headaches are 90% improved and acid reflux gone and I haven't changed my diet and still drink a couple sodas a day. My goal for the next 4 months is cardio fitness and losing 10-15 lbs.

[junie]

Fantastic story thank you for sharing it,

[Gale Hawkins]

Great story. If it had not been for about 5-6 other family members with CPAP machines I am not sure I would have thought to try using a CPAP machine.

The word really has not spread much over the years. Home sleep studies may save the day.

[kebsa]

I think many of us could relate to your story, i know there are a lot of parrallels to my story. I have MS and that affects different people in so many ways it is very easy for treating Doctors to blame everything on MS. Fatigue is actually a very common effect of MS and has been a major pain in the Butt for me! Its hard to describe- its not just feeling a bit tired but rather such as deeply engrained feeling that on bad days paticularly after a relapse it can get to the point that there is not enough energy to sit up in my wheelchair let alone care for myself properly- in the past year i spent over half the year in hospital in over 20 admissions ranging from one week up to nearly 6 weeks! most of it was menat to be MS flares and there is no doubt that it was a big factor but the nurses noted that i seemed to have period where i did not even attempt to breath when asleep and other times i would obstruct- they checked my oximeter readings and found them to be in the low 50's at times but below 90 most of the night! they started giving me oxygen at night while i slept!

thankfully the staff were more aware of sleep disorders as they have a sleep lab on site so i was referred for and urgent test, unfortunately it had to be postponed as i develeoped a spontaneous crush fracture in 3 lumbar vertebra and was in significant pain and using high dose narcotic pain killers so they felt the study would be inaccurate. Like you i also had awful reflux and had been having treatment for this for over 20 years but it would never go completely and always struck at night even sleeping with head elevated and not eating/drinking before bed time, i also have type 2 diabetes and borderline hypertension- i never thought of sleep apnea! I am very overweight so finding that i had Sleep apnea was not a huge surprise but it seems over 50% of my events are central apneas. After the first study i had an overnight trial of bilevel xpap and they reduced the events but needed high pressures and then still left me with a large number of central apnea-it also seems that i spend far longer in the really deep sleep than most people my age do and the concern is that the apneic events are quite lengty- i just do not wake up to take a deep breath- i did know that at times i was hard to wake up- at home i have an alarm clock that makes a really loud noise- so loud that my neighbour can hear it from his unit despite there being a path way between us the homes have double solid brick walls- but i can sleep through it! thankfully i have a great neighbour so if he hears it going and i do not switch it off he comes to check on me and does not give in til i answer (he actually has a key as he and his wife do a lot for me). I was evntually told that the MS had affected the breathing mechanisms leading to the centrals and an unsual pattern of sleep structure

anyway, i am finally getting somewhere, i finally have a machine that seems to be working well and i am sleeping better, the fatigue is there but the ms is a factor and it is early days-it is a pit y the machine it seems i need is far more expensive than the run of the mill machines and i have to pay the bulk of it. (i could have gone through a public hospital for assessment but it would have been up to a couple of years to get the 1st study done and that is too long with such low oxygen levels! So instead of a holiday to queensland, it will be a bedside companion that just hums quietly all night.

I am very grateful to those night nurses, i think they have done me a really big favour!

[TSSleepy]

Thanks for sharing Stuart! I'm 41 and I identify so much with some of the things you said. That horrible feeling of knowing something is wrong, but having no clue what it is. The issues at work. The aches and pains and fatigue. Even that sinking feeling that your bags are packed and it's only a matter of time before you check out of this world.

Best of luck to you!

[Violet]

Stuart,
Thank you so very much for sharing your story.
Much health and happiness,

[roster]

Thanks for sharing the story. It is not unlike many others I have read here including my own.

Screening for SDB should be as routine as checking cholesterol levels. Dentists should also screen for it.

You made a very good testimonial for portable in-home testing. Economics dictates we move away from the current expensive in-lab testing for simple SDB cases.

Rooster
Healthy awake, deathly ill asleep.

[tattooyu]

Hey Rooster, why dentists?

[roster]

Hey Rooster, why dentists?

Why not, Tatty? The guy that changes the oil in your car should administer the Berlin questionnaire. SDB is pandemic according to some of the leading-edge doctors and researchers.

Seriously, its a good question. I see my dentist twice per year and sometimes I go two or three years without seeing a doctor. Dentists are quickly becoming familiar with dental sleep medicine to treat SDB. They will be familiar with the symptoms. They look at your jaw structure and while they are in your mouth they can see if the back of your tongue looks thick and check if your soft palate appears large.

There is something close to me and that is bruxism as a sign of sleep apnea. On all trips to my dentist for the last four years before I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, he kept checking on my bruxism. Now if the idiot had just said, "You know bruxism is sometimes caused by sleep apnea. You grind your teeth during the violent struggle to breathe.", I would probably have been diagnosed four years earlier. And that would have made a huge reduction in the damage that was done.

Regards,

[DoriC]

Welcome Stuart, thank you for sharing your story, it was inspiring. My husband's story was quite different in that all his symptoms were being diagnosed as the "aging process" exacerbated by Triple Bypass Surgery, hip replacement and some controlled medical problems Finally at the end of one of our visits with our family Dr and after hearing us say over and over for several years that his debilitating fatigue and memory loss was just not normal even though all the tests showed nothing wrong, he finally whispered almost to himself that maybe he has sleep apnea? Huh, what's that? Anyway, to make a long story a little shorter, we went through the whole process and after 6months my husband's quality of life has improved so much and we are grateful for the gift of cpap.