Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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pettyfan45
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Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

Post by pettyfan45 » Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:40 am

Ok, so for the past few weeks I noticed my mother snore loudly (I could hear in the room next to her bedroom), stop for a few seconds, let out a loud gasp/snort, and then start snoring again. When I told her about this and suggested she talk to her doctor about having a sleep study (because I have sleep apnea and a stroke due to untreated sleep apnea killed her mom) she refused claiming that she wakes up feeling refreshed when she wakes up (though she drinks a lot of coffee and sugary drinks like diet coke though out the day). My mother diabetic and has quite a bit of weight on her (she will not get on scale because "they lie"). What should I do?

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Re: Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

Post by Pugsy » Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:51 am

Sure you can have sleep apnea and not feel tired or what is more likely happening is your mom has convinced herself that she doesn't "feel tired" because she doesn't want to face the fact that there's a good chance that she has sleep apnea. We call it being up the river of DeNile.

Unfortunately not much you can do as long as she wants to be up that river. She has to admit to maybe something needing to be done before anything can be done.

I am in the same boat with my brother and I know for sure he has OSA documented by my machine that I got him to try one night and the fact that last time he was in the hospital following surgery the O2 alarms went off every time he fell asleep (so his fix for that was just take the O2 off his finger).
He won't even discuss doing anything about it and we had World War III here when I tried to force the issue.

She has to be open to the idea and if she isn't willing to at least consider it...not much you can do.
If she is quitting breathing long enough to cause a drop in her oxygen levels and if you could get her to maybe do an overnight pulse oximetry test to see what the oxygen levels are doing...she might be more receptive if she saw in black and white that O2 levels were low...but not everyone will desat so a negative pulse ox just might reinforce her idea that "I don't have a problem".

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Re: Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

Post by yaconsult » Fri Aug 28, 2015 10:39 am

You're in a tough spot, pettyfan45. Many of us cpapers recognize the symptoms in others and it's always frustrating when they won't even consider the possibility. Most people have NO clue how dangerous sleep apnea is and how much damage it can do before it becomes undeniable.

Any chance she would watch some youtube videos? Like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bFTcmREtqQ or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTUjQ-IcKPU

What about if you made a recording of her sleeping and then played it back for her?

Or maybe a home sleep study where she sleeps in her own bed?

When it comes right down to it, there is only so much you can do and if she refuses to cooperate then about all you can do is to keep trying to convince her and keep an eye out for the complications.

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Re: Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

Post by Macpage » Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:03 am

pettyfan45 wrote:Ok, so for the past few weeks I noticed my mother snore loudly (I could hear in the room next to her bedroom), stop for a few seconds, let out a loud gasp/snort, and then start snoring again. When I told her about this and suggested she talk to her doctor about having a sleep study (because I have sleep apnea and a stroke due to untreated sleep apnea killed her mom) she refused claiming that she wakes up feeling refreshed when she wakes up (though she drinks a lot of coffee and sugary drinks like diet coke though out the day). My mother diabetic and has quite a bit of weight on her (she will not get on scale because "they lie"). What should I do?
Yes. I had one of my most active years before crashing with OSA. I snored forever, but never thought OSA because I didn't honestly score any other points on the sleep disorder breathing scale. No one ever said I gasped or stopped breathing, even with the occasional nap on the family sofa. I so wish I had got on the hose before I crashed. It would have been much easier when sleep wasn't as much of a struggle.

The new machines and masks/pillows are really good these days. Try your best and good luck!

Best,

Mike

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Re: Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

Post by archangle » Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:27 am

Many severe apneacs swear up and down that they don't have apnea and sleep great.

Try to do an "audio" sleep test on her. Listen for when she stops breathing, and count how long she stops. Then estimate how many times in an hour she stops.

As for getting her to do something about it, I wish I had a good answer, but I don't.

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Re: Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

Post by joeljjk11 » Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:50 pm

Before I started on CPAP I was never really tired. I also drink a ton of coffee so I think this contributed to it. I also actually went to bed later when I was not being treated and always wanted to stay up late. The biggest thing with me is that I am less irritable now and have more energy.

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Re: Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

Post by SewTired » Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:04 pm

Pettyfan, your mother is in denial and there isn't much you can do about it. She may have mild apnea. I probably had mild apnea before January, but it wasn't until after surgery that I started having a lot of problems and I went downhill fast.

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Re: Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

Post by SteveGold » Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:11 pm

Yes. I felt horrible before CPAP, but not necessarily tired. I could ride my bike for seven hours straight and then lie awake late into the night. The body compensates - I think I was running on adrenaline for years.

It's still important to treat OSA, if only to keep yourself breathing through the night and to prevent all the associated ways your body breaks down without treatment.

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Re: Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

Post by Wulfman... » Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:12 pm

What should you do?
For starters, don't let her drive (if she does).
If you have any kind of relationship with her doctor, talk to him/her and see if he/she has any ideas.
Got a tape recorder you could hide near her bed?
I would guess that the vast majority of us did go through a denial phase until it became too devastating to ignore.

Good luck.

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Re: Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

Post by Slartybartfast » Sat Aug 29, 2015 6:44 pm

Just before I was diagnosed with severe OSA I drove my pickup with half a ton of tools from the LA area to Seattle, 1100 miles, in just over 20 hours non-stop ('cept for the usual). I wasn't particularly tired when I arrived, but it took me about 15 minutes before I could stand up straight. On the other hand, some people are so tired, they almost fall down walking. Sleep apnea does different things to different people.

That week, my wife used her smartphone to record my snoring. I wasn't sure I believed it was that bad all the time, so spent a lot of time paddling down the great river Denial. Only when recovering from surgery, I heard the anesthesiologist make a verbal note that I was exhibiting apneic breathing, did I finally decide to get it checked out. So maybe the tape recorder is worthwhile.

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Re: Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

Post by Julie » Sat Aug 29, 2015 8:07 pm

Joel - did it not occur to you that you drank all that coffee to stay awake? The whole thing's very insidious and hard to track in terms of time... how long we've had it, have we ever not had it, etc.

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Re: Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

Post by Tdub210 » Sun Aug 30, 2015 4:58 pm

I didn't really feel tired and I have mod-severe (mid 20's to mid 30's AHI). I would feel fatigue sometimes when I figured I probably shouldn't but didn't feel tired like a lot of people here describe. I did however have a noticeable lack of focus and irritability. But, I guess it's onset was fairly gradual so didn't really notice it until the last couple of years which coincides with my wife's complaints of my snoring getting unbearable and my waking up and gasping in the night. I'm sure people vary across the spectrum when it comes to our apnea symptoms. I will say too, that while I didn't feel a noticeable tiredness before I started the machine, I do feel a very noticeable difference in my focus, attention span, and significant reduction in irritability.

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Re: Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

Post by RogerSC » Sun Aug 30, 2015 5:25 pm

Sounds like several people like me, not feeling sleepy before being diagnosed with sleep apnea. The only reason that I had a sleep study was because my wife was telling me that I was stopping breathing when I was sleeping occasionally. And my snoring bothered her, too, the snoring cure was a bonus from treating the sleep apnea. Before I retired I had a very detail-oriented job, and never had a problem with sleepiness or loss of focus during my work days.

I'm not sure how to approach this, other than to read up on the cost of sleep apnea on your Mom's health, and pass that along. There are also videos on youtube explaining various aspects of sleep apnea, some people relate better and easier to video presentations. My sleep doctor explained to me about how, when your airway relaxes and shuts down and your body realizes that you're not getting enough oxygen, you get a shot of adrenalin...not enough to completely wake you up in general, but enough to get your airway muscles going again. Those shots of adrenaline, perhaps many times in an hour, damage your cardiovascular system. Blood pressure can go up, and other problems that you may have will also be aggravated. There's lots more information out there about the effects of sleep apnea on the body, enough to alarm me. But everyone's an individual, it's hard to tell what you can do for your Mom at this point.

I wish you luck, and don't give up *smile*. Get her to the sleep study first, to see if anything even needs to be done.

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Re: Can you have sleep apnea and not feel tired?

Post by chunkyfrog » Sun Aug 30, 2015 5:36 pm

I never realized I had been so tired until I wasn't.
Normal is what we are used to, even if it is misery.
The pain that comes on very slowly may never be noticed until we finally have relief.

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