Hi everyone!

I was doing reserach on sleep apnea and was excited to find this site. I don't have sleep apnea, but I think my boyfriend might have it.

He is always tired no matter how much sleep he gets. When he is sleeping there are spurts where he is gasping for air. His breathing just doesn't sound "normal" when he's sleeping. I'm worried about him and want him to get tested.

I'm nervous about approaching him about this. I read that it's very common to have sleep apnea, but many cases go undiagnosed. How did you guys get to the point where you got tested for it?

Thanks for your help!!!

Hi,
Does sound like your boyfriend might have it. Often it's usually someone who hears the irregular sleeping sounds who can best explain it to them. I live alone and my same symptoms went unnoticed. It took all the other symptoms to make me wonder (and a suggestion from the doctor) and get motivated.

Tell him what you hear. Tell him about this site. Ask him if he experiences exhaustion during the day, maybe nods off when he doesn't want it. Does he snore? Does he wake up often in his sleep? (some do, and don't know why). If he does wake up, does he ever feel his heart race? (I had) Has his health gotten worse? Approach him about it, no matter what. If he takes offense and ignores you, at least you've planted a seed of doubt in his mind to mull over. Sleep problems may not seem like the cause of some health issues, but I've learned it can be. Do him a favor, tell him.

Also, you might consider posting in the first main forum section on sleep apnea, as most people check that out the most, not the introduction. You might get more responses. ......Good luck.

Linda

Oh,
If he does get serious and has it checked out, maybe his doctor can recommend a pulminary doctor (lungs) who specializes in sleep apnea.

Linda

While I obviously can't know how he'll react, I would still encourage you to bring it up. I started looking into it because my girlfriend was complaining about my snoring - she went a couple of months without a good night's sleep! In the process of looking for solutions to the snoring, we found out that snoring was a sign of sleep apnea. At that point she encouraged me to go for a sleep study (fortunately, she had a friend who had done a sleep study a year or two earlier, so she knew about it and could get me the name of a local ENT who would prescribe the study).

If it hadn't been for my girlfriend's inability to sleep through my snoring, I might never have been diagnosed. I never woke up gasping for breath, in fact, I was rarely aware of waking during the night at all. But I've been a pretty low energy person for a long time (I was even diagnosed as disthymic - kind of a low grade depression). I now realize that many of my energy and focus problems were likely caused by the apnea.

Do try to find a way to bring it up... if he's open to getting checked out, he'll certainly thank you once he gets treatment.