I am nearly completely disabled. Is Apnea the culprit????

[garyden1982]

Thank you everyone except the suicide guy...(if the CPAP works and I gain my strength back, suicide guy and I can have a little chit chat....lol...jk jk)

Sorry about jumping down your throat hun. Someone mentioned me being at my end point or something along those lines and they were spot on....but that's still no excuse. There was probably a much politer way to say what I was trying to say. As for the wheelchair, I'm looking at them right now because it is getting to be to much of a strain on my body to walk.

Somebody asked about other meds or contributing ailments, so here are those answers:

I take:

40mg omeprazole ×2 daily (for GERD)
Warfarin 4/5mg alternated daily (for the blood clots)
Bisoprolol 2.5mg daily (for the PVC's)
Testosterone Cypionate (120mg IM weekly)

Buprenorphine 8mg daily (for oxy withdrawal post kidney surgery. I spent 15 months with a nephrostomy bag due to an artery strangling my ureter from the outside. I had surgery on November 17th 2016 but by that time I was taking 900mg of oxycondone daily - 150mg every 4 hours). The Buprenorphine helped so much with the depression I chose to stay on it where zoloft, effexor, and others had failed. It is currently being tested in clinical trials as an antidepressant for use when SSRI's are ineffective.

14mg nicotine patch (quit smoking in march)

I have not touched meth in 8 years. I had started taking it because I could not stay awake dieing the day. That had been going on for about 3 years at that point so I'm thinking my apnea starated around 11 years ago. I do not drink or do any other drugs. What drugs I have done over the years have been solely to treat my symptoms so I could keep working but I stopped taking those as soon as possible...ok....not gonna say I didn't enjoy them...lol...but they WERE short lived and I haven't touched in a LOOOONG time. I have not drank heavily in over 4 years and when I did, it was a 3 year period of time following a divorce. She thought all of the issues which were developing at THAT time were in my head. On one hand I'm glad she left because she never would have made it through this....on the other hand, now the doctors are able to medically measure those issues so she would be able to see that they are real. Idk.. anyway...you get my point.

So....there. nothing in my history does THIS. If it were the meth, I would have gone through this long ago and seen IMPROVEMENT, not worsening upon quitting. Same thing with the alcohol. Same thing with toxins in the meth. There is nothing else that explains my symptoms except supposedly sleep apnea. I have moved 4 times in the past little bit but once since symptoms started getting bad so it can't be environmental. There is no regular place I go to that isn't densely populated so it can't be outside environmental or other people would be sick.

The only two possibilities I can think of are either sleep apnea OR an undiagnosed issue. Suggestions?

[Julie]

Start using Cpap.

Don't exaggerate if you want to be believable - ask a doctor what organ failure actually means!

[Cardsfan]

My heart was having "thumps" that woke me up. Cardio Dr. said they were extra beats. After almost 2 yrs. on cpap, I do not feel them anymore. Dr. said my BP is improved, (it never was bad, but improved) and attributed this to the cpap and I lost around 12 lbs. Although the Dr said I was always in a healthy weight range.
(just to answer your original question about the heart) So yeah, mine improved with cpap.

[herefishy]

When you are trying to get well, you have to try things that might or might not work, starting with the simplest - that would be cpap. So try it before you have to investigate other, more complicated, solutions. Good luck

[nobody]

Testosterone Cypionate (120mg IM weekly)

Suggestions?

Cut this dose in half or stop altogether (taper down, don't do all at once). This is very likely your problem with the heart rate, blood pressure etc. I say that because I've been on this and had the exact same symptoms and more and I wasn't even trying to go for a walk I was just sitting reading a book. I even went to the ER because I thought I was dying so I can completely understand the drama here, it really feels like you're coming apart at the seams! I almost asked you if you were on this because everything you describe is the same but it seemed so unlikely I left it out. I also thought you might be female approaching menopause. Hormones fluctuations and imbalances can really cause some wacky shit and sleep apnea can cause hormone imbalances so use your CPAP and adjust this testosterone dose downward. Disclaimer again, I'm not a doctor but I doubt it will hurt you to take less testosterone and it might help.

[garyden1982]

Julie,

Organ Failure adj. Def 1 when an organ ceases to function properly. For example, a heart rate inconsistent with the bodies exertion causing the subject to be unable to perform normal tasks.

TOTAL or COMPLETE failure of an organ would result in death typically, but my terminology is correct. I admitted to prior Meth use. Why on earth would i exaggerate? My sole goal here is to feel better and there's no way that will occur if I start exaggerating or inventing symptoms.

Regarding the testosterone, I agree. I am lowering my dose. I forgot to mention my morning routine...but I hesitated to being it up because it has been a consistent routine for a year now and only started complicating matters in the past few weeks. I take one shot of espresso with 75mg of caffeine content at around 3am along with my 14mg nicotine patch. It is typically about 5 hours later that the problems start but they resolve a bit when I take off my nicotine patch. I have problems even when at 7mg.

When I take them, I get almost a euphoric effect as of recently. Thar never used to happen. I know it sounds weird but taking the coffee and the patch together has started to create almost a methamphetamine kind of calm and feeling. I believe my brain may be releasing dopamine or serotonin upon ingestion which is very odd for taking these particular substances.

Anyway, one of you said that you believe the problem is the constant oxygen deprivation to the brain and nervous system throughout the night which was my sentiment as well. I just wanted to know if anyone else has had symptoms as extreme as mine that were later resolved by CPAP. (I'm going to take my CPAP regardless...I just was hoping for a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel here).

[garyden1982]

My heart was having "thumps" that woke me up. Cardio Dr. said they were extra beats. After almost 2 yrs. on cpap, I do not feel them anymore. Dr. said my BP is improved, (it never was bad, but improved) and attributed this to the cpap and I lost around 12 lbs. Although the Dr said I was always in a healthy weight range.
(just to answer your original question about the heart) So yeah, mine improved with cpap.

When your heart had the extra thumps, did it feel like your whole body, just for a moment, got tingly and sapped of energy? Did your doctor call the extra beat a "PVC"??? (Premature Ventricular Contraction). I'm only asking because this is what mine is doing. In actuality, it is not an extra beat but rather it is the heart making up for a missed beat. It skips a beat (which we don't feel) and then has to excise the blood pooling as a result so it beats prematurely with the next beat making it feel like an extra, way out of rhythm, beat that we do feel.

Anyway, do you recall if this was the diagnosis on your arrhythmia?

[Julie]

Gary - for starters you seem to have removed your own ref to organ failure in your first note... FWIW, having worked in teaching hospitals all my life, when doctors talk about organ failure they're referring to patients who are close to death from organs shutting down in sequence within a few days or weeks at most. What you said just sounded silly to me, whatever dictionary refs you come up with now. You also neglected to mention your serious drug abuse in the first note(s) or the testosterone which has to have had some effect, so I responded according to what you did post. If you want to be taken seriously, deal in reality, and don't afterward come back having changed things or adding what would have made sense originally.

I'm not in a position here (obviously) to decide what caused your problems, or how bad off you are now clinically rather than subjectively, but stop trying to get a reaction from others here to your 'extreme' symptoms, etc. and concentrate on resolving them as has been advised. Don't diagnose or try to treat yourself according to what others have experienced either. Their stories and med history are different even if some symptoms are similar, and you need to just wait, see your doctor and try Cpap before coming to any conclusions. I'm normally sympathetic with people who have problems (I'm a member here too after all) but not when they're dishonest. And I hate your post heading as it's disrespectful to people who really are disabled.

[garyden1982]

Hi garyden1982.

your case is likely not just apnea, but a few things falling together. this said CPAP may be a good thing to try it sure cannot hurt.
By the way, what were your sleep apnea results, please post them.

The night that I did my testing was a "good" night because I didn't remember any of the waking up...but on my side it wasn't bad. On my side I stopped breathing just 7.3 times per hour. On my back tho, I stop breathing an average of 44 times per hour. Their biggest concern tho was that my o2 sats were consistently hovering around 83% through the night. Even without the apnea, when I would fall asleep at the hospital for other stuff, I would get woken up by the o2 alarm going off as it would fall under 90%. My wife was there at those times and I wasn't stopping breathing when that would happen. So yeah..I've likely spent 10 years of sleeping with oxygen deprivation to my brain and tissues and THAT was what they were most concerned about.

[Julie]

Sounds like most of us... some of whom had much lower sats.

[Arlene1963]

Have any of your doctors mentioned Atrial Fibrillation when discussing your heart rhythm issues? I see that you are taking Warfarin and Bisoprolol and these are often prescribed for AF. Certainly OSA and AF are connected and PAP can help in this regard.

[garyden1982]

Gary - for starters you seem to have removed your own ref to organ failure in your first note... FWIW, having worked in teaching hospitals all my life, when doctors talk about organ failure they're referring to patients who are close to death from organs shutting down in sequence within a few days or weeks at most. What you said just sounded silly to me, whatever dictionary refs you come up with now. You also neglected to mention your serious drug abuse in the first note(s) or the testosterone which has to have had some effect, so I responded according to what you did post. If you want to be taken seriously, deal in reality, and don't afterward come back having changed things or adding what would have made sense originally.

I'm not in a position here (obviously) to decide what caused your problems, or how bad off you are now clinically rather than subjectively, but stop trying to get a reaction from others here to your 'extreme' symptoms, etc. and concentrate on resolving them as has been advised. Don't diagnose or try to treat yourself according to what others have experienced either. Their stories and med history are different even if some symptoms are similar, and you need to just wait, see your doctor and try Cpap before coming to any conclusions. I'm normally sympathetic with people who have problems (I'm a member here too after all) but not when they're dishonest. And I hate your post heading as it's disrespectful to people who really are disabled.

Wow Julie...I'm guessing you are a liberal progressive voter? I assume this due to the fact that as I'm dealing in facts and symptoms that you keep calling them things other than what they are. For starters, I have not at any point attempted a self diagnosis. ANY diagnosis I have thrown out has been Doctor provided. Second, I didn't come on here to be diagnosed. I came on here to see if anyone else has dealt with the extreme symptoms that I have been dealing with so I can get some support and a bit of peace of mind.

Next, if you think that stating that you have worked in teaching hospitals all of your life means something, i would ask the glaringly obvious question...in what capacity? I have been misdiagnosed and dealt poorly with by a number of doctors, so even if you claimed to be a doctor, that doesn't necessarily count for much.

As for discounting me using the term "disabled"...who the hell do you think you are? I came on here for support and in search of that support, I have been honest AND accurate in my explanation of my problems. Let me give you another dose of honesty.

I went from working out for 90-120 minutes a day with a solid 30 min of cardio mixed in there to not being able to walk when these issues peak at various points throughout the week. I have been having multiple bouts of confusion where I'm not even certain of what exactly is going on. I walked 3 blocks away the other day to ask a construction project when they would be done and got "lost" for about 5 minutes. I briefly forgot how to get home. This has been the single most difficult thing that I have ever had to face in my entire life and if you knew what my life looked like, you would know that it says A LOT for me to say that this is the worst I've ever been through.

It has taken a tremendous amount of me dropping my pride to be able to admit to myself and the people closest to me that I am actually disabled. Right now, I am not tearing into you on my own behalf, but rather the next person who might get up the courage to face the facts of his or her life and to ask for help. That person might not be strong enough to handle it when the great and terrible god "Julie" who knows all and sees all gets on her big and tall platform and proceeds to label them a liar. Shame on you. And then you attempt to legitimize your public assessment of their condition by throwing in the line "I have worked in teaching hospitals all my life" as if that somehow makes a da** word you said true.

So....you want to throw out accreditation? I started college when I was 14. I have a mensa IQ of 138 (yes, that is genius). As for medical experience...I have none...unless you count the first 5 years of my life where I was given a rectum and an Anus by surgery, the 8 years following that where my little sister fought congestive heart failure due to lyme disease, the following 8 years of chronic bronchitis and/or pneumonia due to where I lived (in moved to the desert and got better), or the 2 years recently where I dealt with a collapsed ureter and had a nephrostomy tube through which I contracted a Staph C. Infection INSIDE of my kidney (which doctors misdiagnosed 3 times before realizing it wasn't a lab error) and spent 9 months on IV antibiotics during which my PICC line obstructed blood flow long enough for 2 clots to form, one of which broke off and transported it's little bitty self to the second (or maybe 3Rd lobe..I don't recall) lobe of my left lung. Now, since I'm assuming you are NOT a doctor (because with your particular God complex you most definitely would have spouted that off), that means that we both have about 20 years of "medical experience". By your definition of what being around doctors means, since it qualifies you to say who is and isn't disabled, I should have a degree and a medical license by now. I wonder why they haven't given me one....oh yeah...because being around doctors doesn't qualify you for Jack any more than it qualifies me.

Finally, on what planet are you able to assess symptomology? You claim that I am exaggerating symptoms? Shall I sacrifice a goat to you oh great goddess? You must be a great goddess since you are all seeing and all knowing. Seriously...where is your church so I can pay homage?

I get that somewhere, someone lied to you so you have trust issues. But if your condescending nature, wrapped in a blanket of the appearance of legitimacy, causes someone else to retreat back into their shell right after they worked up the courage to speak out, then you have done far more damage than you clearly have the capacity to comprehend...so in the words of a great and wise man...

Apologize or zip it.

[garyden1982]

Sounds like most of us... some of whom had much lower sats.

That's why I'm so freaked out. My doctors are trying to tell me that my issues are all explained by sleep apnea but I've seen so many people with far worse apnea that didn't have a fraction of the number of issues I have had...which is why I came on here in the hopes of finding others who share my particular story. I figure if there are others, then maybe my doctors are right. I just want this nightmare to be over

[garyden1982]

Have any of your doctors mentioned Atrial Fibrillation when discussing your heart rhythm issues? I see that you are taking Warfarin and Bisoprolol and these are often prescribed for AF. Certainly OSA and AF are connected and PAP can help in this regard.

No...not AF. The warfarin was for two blood clots which developed due to a PICC line and the bisoprolol was for my PVC's, but, I may stop taking it because even at 2.5mg, it is dropping my blood pressure too low

[Frankenfurn]

I had a few similar issues until I used my CPAP for a few months. I was getting lost so frequently I had to start using uber drivers. My liver and renal labs were high and my heart rate ran between 114 and 128 resting with a BP of 164/110. I was also "dreaming" at my desk and kept trying to type my dreams into forms I filled out at work. I've been using my CPAP for 7 months and those have all resolved. I am still weak and exhausted and have trouble focusing, but nothing like it had been.