how did you know you had sleep apnea

[gster]

someone look at you and told you ?

[Guest]

My wife kept waking me up, telling me to breathe

[Linda3032]

I snored horribly - but had no other symptoms.

However, I knew someone with sleep apnea, so I asked my doctor for a sleep clinic referral.

[bethlori]

I knew I snored but didn't know it was apnea. This entire year I have had to take 3-4 hour naps daily and I was always feeling crappy. Then my mother saw on the show "The View" Rosie O'Donnell saying how the CPAP mahine has changed her life and with that, it was like a light bulb went off and I knew that is what I had. Then I contacted a sleep center and the rest is history.

[pedroski]

I ended up in Intensive Care in the hospital and the cardiologist suggested I get checked out. Before that my brother, who is also a papper, suggested I may have it.

Peter

[racefan]

I went to my Dr. & told him I was tired & felt sick to my stomach & was always falling asleep anytime anywhere.Used to wake myself up snoring.
He referred me to a sleep clinic & life is great now.

[backdoc]

I was keeping my partner up at night with terrible snoring. I remember waking myself up at night snoring. I went to the EENT. The entry form asked about daytime tiredness, I marked none because I drink so much coffee that a dead person could still mark the form. Morning headaches, yes. He suggested a sleep study. I said "But I don't stop breathing when I'm asleep!"

After the sleep study the doctor said, " I thought you said you didn't stop breathing when you were asleep...According to the study you wakeup every minute and a half, and the longest you hold your breath is 46 seconds, you have moderate sleep apnea".

I was stunned.

So I got the machine a week later and didn't sleep any better until I got a gadget to hang the hose off of the headboard and padacheeks to cushion the Mirage Swift straps and presto... sleep. Real sleep, its amazing.


Steve

[snorin747]

I remember sitting down and telling my doctor that I could not add 2+2. simple task were unaccomplishable. I was always run down, tired.

-747

[tomjax]

I was a pharmacist and thought I was up to speed on most medical conditions- more than most pharmacists.
One day an article in the newspaper described a surgical procedure by an ENT for apnea patients and listed all the symptoms. I fit all to a T.

I was floored. I had never heard of it and I read most medical and pharmacy journals!!
This was about 95 and I immediately made an appt with the doc and wanted the procedure asap.
I was very disappointed when he told me I was not a candidate and my weight was the problem and suggested a sleep study.
Sleep Study?? Moi?? no way.
So I left with the intent of losing weight which I did not do.
My symptoms got worse and I could not drive to work in the mornings without falling asleep at the wheel and dozing off at work.

One day I was driving this way and an 18 wheeler woke me up with his horn just as I was about to crash. I called the doc and had a study a few days later and actually raised enough of a stink to take the unit from the sleep lab home with me following the study.

I continued on to work from the sleep lab and could not believe it!
Even though I probably had less than 3 hours on pap suring the study, it made all the difference in the world. I felt light years better and have had no problems since then. tomjax

[kteague]

I started in 1996 waking up with my heart pounding and trying to catch my breath. My family told me they thought it was related to my snoring. For years I had silly dreams that all had a theme of something or someone having trouble breathing. Three sleep studies between then and 2004 were negative for OSA but I was diagnosed with PLMD. It wasn't till 2005 when the PLMD was reasonably controlled that a sleep study was able to pick up the OSA.

[blarg]

My best friend spent the night. In the morning he told me he "feared for my life" and that it sounded like I was "eating small children."

[Goofproof]

I had the "BigOne", in the hospital my O2 stats were way low, and for 15 years I've had trouble staying awake while driving, slightly worse than most as I was driving a 175 Ton CAT Dump Truck at a Mine. Jim

[ColoZZZ]

My father's a PAPper and when my wife heard my mother describing what he used to sound like, the cessation of breathing, etc., I was diagnosed unofficially. Later a sleep study proved it.

--Andy

[JeffH]

Always snored really loud and my GF told me that I quit breathing in my sleep. A friend had had a sleep study done and I got one. This was '99 or '00, don't remember exactly, but I remember they said I had it pretty bad...something like 90 arousals an hour.

My buddy decided he couldn't sleep with the machine so he gave it to me. An old Sullivan Plus V that my RX said should be set at 12.

And then I ended up on this forum from having trouble late last year and things are now better than they've been in a long time.

Thanks everyone.


JeffH

[bdp522]

For years I was tested for diabetes, fibromylasia, lupus, epstein barr, anemia, and anything else the MD could think of. The same tests over and over for years. Then my husband said to the MD 'can you at least do something about the snoring? ( I knew I snored)She sounds like she's choking!'. That's when he sent me for a sleep study.

Brenda