please advice for a newbiee

T-Pot · Post by **T-Pot** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 4:17 pm

Hello, firstly, im shocked there is such a support for this, i thought i was one of few.

I was diagnosed about 3 years ago, with mild sleep apnea, not sure if symptoms vary, but my breathing stops when i sleep, and i basically pass out. or at least, this is my take on what im told.

I had mt tonsils removed to try and help the situation, but id did little in reality.

the thing is, im scared to death of DR's and hospitals, so have stayed away, but im now getting terrible neck pains, and bad heads, and my weiht has steadily increased, im not obease im 15 1/2st and 6ft, but my waist has grown 4" in the past few years.

are these side effects of sleep of apnea, or not?

sleeping in tx · Post by **sleeping in tx** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 4:39 pm

all of your symptoms are common for someone who has a case of sleep apnea that has worsened over the years and been untreated.

To help ease your fear of hospitals, you dont have to go to hospital to have a sleep study. Depends on where you live there may be a free standing facility. Sleep centers nowadays are designed to have more of a "home atmosphere". Although you would still need to see a physician to determine that a sleep study should be recommended though.

Visit a sleep center in your area and I am sure they would be happy to give you a tour of the facility and let you look at the rooms and get a feel for how it is. Assuming you have already have one few years back since you have been diagnosed nothing has changed with how the testing is done.

DSM-guest · Post by **DSM-guest** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 4:41 pm

You really need a Dr to discuss this - very hard for us to do it here.

Even if anyone here tries we would need much clearer details. The majority of us are not medical people.

Good luck.

DSM

T-Pot · Post by **T-Pot** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 12:57 am

Thank you for your relpies, god is spelling a symptom too he he

to be honest, the things happening, i had not linked to apnea until now, so just left them go with age.

I have had a sleep study years ago, and your right, its a perfectly easy study, its just the panic of being in hospital, but ill just have to over come that i think.

what is my best option, to see my gp, or to ask them to refer me to another area?

also, is this comman to run in the family? as my uncle who sadly passed away recently, also suffered with this, and used the air machine at night.

many thanks for your well advised replies, its very reassuring

sleepylady · Post by **sleepylady** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 7:33 am

T-Pot,

You will first want to discuss your symptoms and concerns with your doctor. You may or may not be referred to a sleep specialist, I think it will depend on your doctor AND insurance coverage. For me, my doctor set up the sleep study. From there, I went to a hospital and they had a sleep tech come in. Then the sleep clinic that the tech works for sent my tests to a specialist who read the test. I never talked to the sleep specialist. When it came to the results and what treatment to take, I talked to my regular doctor. Now for a fellow colleague, her doctor had concerns she had sleep apnea so he was going to send her to a sleep specialist.

As to how common it is to run in the family? I don't know. I do know my sister and I have it. Also, I have a strong feeling based on all the symptoms of SA that my mom had it also.

Melinda

HisServ · Post by **HisServ** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 9:04 am

I definitely think that you need to get treatment for this. Don't rest until the doctors have atleast let you try CPAP. Sometimes they will be reluctant to let you try CPAP if you only have "mild" sleep apnea, but I would urge you to make sure that they let you. Sometimes you don't even know what you can attribute to sleep apnea until you start getting treatment. Then you might find you have much more energy and don't want to eat that extra candy bar or don't want to sleep that extra hour. Please try it!