Confused about sleep apnea

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
Finer56

Confused about sleep apnea

Post by Finer56 » Thu Jul 30, 2015 9:50 am

I have recently completed a sleep study and was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and they want me to follow up with sleep specialist. I'm uncertain about the diagnosis because outwardly I don't fit the profile. I've been this way since I was a teenager and I'm now 58 year old female. I'm normal weight and most of my life was underweight, I do not snore or gasp for breath. The only symptom I have associated with sleep apnea is excessive daytime sleepiness and not feeling rested upon awakening in morning. The other symptoms I have are vivid dreams, hallucinations while falling asleep or upon awakening, paralysis of my body or inability to move upon awakening or falling asleep, none of these symptoms have anything to do with sleep apnea, however, when I take the epworth sleep study online I scored 21 out of 23 for narcolepsy and when I took the Swiss narcolepsy test online the results were the same indicating I had narcolepsy. Also since I have suffered since I was a teenager it makes more sense to have narcolepsy What I'm wondering is could I possibly have both and how accurate is the sleep study for diagnosing narcolepsy

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Bons
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Re: Confused about sleep apnea

Post by Bons » Thu Jul 30, 2015 10:08 am

Did they test you for narcolepsy as well as sleep apnea? Just because you have one doesn't mean you can't have the other.

Many normal or underweight people have sleep apnea and many have it from childhood on. Not everyone with apnea snores loudly.

What do your test results state? Get a copy of the report and share them here. What was your AHI? Were they obstructive or clear airway events? How low did your oxygen saturation drop?

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chunkyfrog
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Re: Confused about sleep apnea

Post by chunkyfrog » Thu Jul 30, 2015 10:21 am

Obstructive sleep apnea is so simple to treat--just a little AIR, my dear; no drug$.
The sleep study definitively diagnoses OSA. Treat that first.
You sound like you would prefer to have narcolepsy instead of OSA.
You have no idea . . .

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Julie
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Re: Confused about sleep apnea

Post by Julie » Thu Jul 30, 2015 10:26 am

Narcolepsy is pretty rare, and many symptoms overlap those of OSA on paper, but I'd bet anything that if you used Cpap most of your symptoms would disappear - many of which DO apply to many people (self included) with apnea that you think do not. And weight is only a factor in some people, tho' many MDs have yet to learn that... many OSA patients have anatomic issues rather than wt. that are red flags, like narrow jaws, overbites, narrow airways, etc. that have nothing to do with weight gain, tho' gain is now believed to be due to apnea rather than the other way around.

Finer56

Re: Confused about sleep apnea

Post by Finer56 » Thu Jul 30, 2015 10:48 am

I don't think they tested me for narcolepsy unless that's in the sleep study, but they did have me feel out questionnaire which asked about dreams and paralysis of body. I don't prefer narcolepsy, but it's just that I have those symptoms associated with it and rated high on the epworth sleep study. I don't know much about either one, I just want to be able to sleep all night and feel awake during the day. I did not get the results until I follow up but they did tell me it was mild.

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Julie
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Re: Confused about sleep apnea

Post by Julie » Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:06 am

Epworth is THE test for apnea... not narcolepsy, though as I said many symptoms overlap. I think you should stop trying to diagnose yourself on the internet and follow through with what your doctor suggests.

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Re: Confused about sleep apnea

Post by PoolQ » Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:22 am

All this stuff happens while we are asleep, but the study is the study and it measures you while you are asleep. Welcome to the club, oh and congratulations that for you it was caught BEFORE any more serious things happened. This is a very good outcome for you. " The only symptom I have associated with sleep apnea is excessive daytime sleepiness and not feeling rested upon awakening in morning." well yes, that is sleep apnea (SA) all by itself. The list of symptoms are for people to help decide if they should get tested, not a requirement for SA; the test is the test and your mild, accept this as being good.

You are now on a path to treat what you have and it will help you greatly to do your homework about SA. The different kinds of CPAP machines, masks, hoses (unless you want the CPAP machine strapped to your head ) , what adjustments you can make to your therapy, how do you know if an adjustment helped, how to collect data and how to post it here for comments....

CPAP is the gold standard for SA and it really works! you will be able to live the rest of your life without any serious complications caused by SA, this is very, very good. Remember you are here because you have mild SA and not because you had a heart attack or stroke caused by undiagnosed SA.

You are in the right place, all the information you need is here, there are great people here to assist you, SA was caught early
Sleeping MUCH better now

rebeccamakesthings
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Re: Confused about sleep apnea

Post by rebeccamakesthings » Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:49 am

Hope it's okay if I piggyback here. I have a similarly weird and confusing situation (although I don't think I have narcolepsy) and don't really know how to proceed.

I had PSG because my primary care doctor uses the data look for fragmented sleep in patients with Ehlers Danlos syndrome and signs of autonomic dysfunction. Neither my primary care doctor nor I suspected apnea, yet my sleep study diagnosed "moderate obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome."

Details:
AHI 21 (20.5 during REM, 21.5 during NREM)
ZERO obstructive apneas
2 central apneas
154 hypopneas.
O2 average 98%; lowest 95%.

Like Finer56, I don't really fit the OSA profile. I'm 27 with a BMI that's been between 20 to 21 since puberty. My parents both snore and have hypertension, but I only snore a little bit. I haven't smoked or drank in over 3 years, don't take any meds linked to OSA, etc. Oh, and I went to and ENT after the first PSG, on my doctor's direction, to see if an oral appliance might help. The ENT scoped my airway and said -- and I'm not exagerrating here -- I had one of the "best airways [he'd] ever seen". He joked that it was so open, he wished he could have me volunteer for first time medical students to do their scope.

I'm getting a second study done tonight, actually, with a CPAP titration, but I have no idea if it'll help.

Is there such a thing as having just central hypopneas, and would a CPAP help with that?

Obviously, I'm following the doc's directions with this, but this is really weird to me!

** Edited to correct a name **
Last edited by rebeccamakesthings on Thu Jul 30, 2015 4:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Julie
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Re: Confused about sleep apnea

Post by Julie » Thu Jul 30, 2015 12:54 pm

Someone else will tell about central hypopneas, but just plain (semi-obstructive) hypopneas can often be lessened, if not completely gotten rid of by not sleeping on your back, but you'd need to check not only how you feel afterward, but how your numbers look using e.g. SleepyHead, which is free to download from the forum. But you really should have begun your own thread as this may lead to confusion about who I'm responding to (not the OP).

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kteague
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Re: Confused about sleep apnea

Post by kteague » Thu Jul 30, 2015 1:25 pm

rebeccamakesthings wrote:Hope it's okay if I piggyback here... my sleep study diagnosed "moderate obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome."
Details:
AHI 21 (20.5 during REM, 21.5 during NREM)
ZERO obstructive apneas
2 central apneas
154 hypopneas.
O2 average 98%; lowest 95%.
These overview numbers don't give a lot to go on. The details might be more helpful. How many of those hypopneas caused arousal? They could account for some pretty fractured sleep. Your detailed report could show you if there's a significant positional component to your OSA. I think you are doing well to follow your doctor's lead and get full information. It will be interesting to see how your sleep looks on CPAP. If you are concerned about the best direction to go with treatment, you can always thoroughly review both detailed reports and ask questions before making a decision.

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kteague
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Re: Confused about sleep apnea

Post by kteague » Thu Jul 30, 2015 2:01 pm

Finer56 wrote:I have recently completed a sleep study and was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea... since I have suffered since I was a teenager it makes more sense to have narcolepsy What I'm wondering is could I possibly have both and how accurate is the sleep study for diagnosing narcolepsy
Even if you have narcolepsy, it will not cause a positive result for sleep apnea. That diagnosis stands alone. The daytime test for narcolepsy (MSLT) is best not performed until any known sleep disorders are treated due to the previously mentioned overlapping of some symptoms. Except in frank cases of narcoplepsy with cataplexy, it can be hard to tease apart some of the symptoms and can be a process of elimination. I think a diagnostic sleep study may show some signs of narcolepsy in the sleep staging, but I would think having frequent arousals from OSA would affect that. (Not a professional insight - just thinking out loud.) The good thing is once the sleep apnea is treated, if there are no other sleep disorders (one example is limb movements) and reasonable sleep is restored, then if there are remaining symptoms the narcolepsy test is still an option. Address the known factors then the picture should be clearer how to proceed.

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rebeccamakesthings
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Re: Confused about sleep apnea

Post by rebeccamakesthings » Thu Jul 30, 2015 4:09 pm

Thanks kteague and Julie. I'll start a separate thread to avoid confusion. Sorry about that!

Finer56

Re: Confused about sleep apnea

Post by Finer56 » Thu Jul 30, 2015 4:27 pm

Thanks T. Your reply makes a lot of sense to me and that is exactly the plan to follow through. Now my concern is once I get the Cpap machine, I won't be able to use it but a couple nights a week as I sit with the elderly at night and I can't see me carrying a machine eith me to work. And I was wondering how do you get use to a mask on your face and the noise and sleeping interference with spouse. I'm a light sleeper I can't even sleep with a fan or humidifier on, they keep me awake