Did I avoid sleep apnea?

[Passerby]

Several years ago I worried about sleep apnea - I was waking up with unexplained sore throats, and woke up maybe twice from a sudden stoppage of breath. And I'm way, way, way up in the risk group where BMI is concerned. However, I think I avoided the problem through self-understanding, and thought I should share some observations.

1. After some interrogation, the part of my mind responsible for taking care over sleep gave me an explanation for the sudden stoppage of breath, namely that it was an accident. An accident that was caused because it was already holding the airway closed to just the point where breathing was labored. Holding it at that position myself matched the soreness of the sore throat, and so I was convinced I understood this. And in a further episode I managed to get an explanation for the behavior: because it was comfortable, and minding sleep is always about doing what is most comfortable.

2. But how can it be more comfortable to slowly and laboriously draw in air than to pull it in through an open throat? A little bit might have to do with humidity, but most of it was this: my diaphragm had that funny feeling in it, of a muscle that wanted to be stretched. You get that in your legs before you wake up, and you stretch them. For your diaphragm, you yawn: you throw open your mouth and throat and suck air in deep to give it a good firm pull. But when I was asleep yawning wasn't an option, nor was any deep breathing that would shift and awaken me; but a little bit of that firm pull is achieved when the diaphragm has to fight to take in a breath.

3. The "treatment" I came up with for myself was this: to suck in just about as much air all the way down as I possibly could, and to hold it in for 5-10 seconds, while keeping the airway open. (The instinct of a yawn does this for me; and I don't think doing it in the manner of an actual yawn is harmful; in any case there is no benefit from simply holding the breath in under pressure with the throat) It seemed appropriate to do this about 10 times daily when the problem was noticed - and once started, I found myself doing this whenever I felt the need to stretch without even thinking about it.

4. Now as for recognizing the problem, I've gradually become convinced of a very odd idea: that the breath you sense in a dream is precisely the same breath that you really take. This seems absurd - after all, haven't we all woken up after peeing in a dream, only to find to our great relief that it was only imagination? But where I've been sleeping there is a moldy allergen from the basement, which occasionally is brought up in a draft from a strong wind, and the effect of it is that I get a chirpy creak at some point near midway of breathing in and out, which is different every time. And I find that while asleep, while dreaming, while speaking to people in the dream, I hear precisely that creak and wonder about it while taking a breath in my speech. Now dreams are very good at explaining away inconsistencies - since it is at least difficult to change the breathing rate, I wonder why I keep having to breath at a certain rate, so it tells me I'm out of breath or something.

5. But how can a person be half choking then, and not be aware of it in a dream? I've become convinced that the dream explains it away as laughter - what I might call, "voluntary apnea". I came to realize early on that the sore throat episodes were linked up with funny dreams - especially, with dreams that didn't really seem as funny on recollection as they did when I was having them. Some of that might be a nitrous oxide like effect of reducing total oxygen level. Anyway, after that I pretty much regarded ANY funny dream to be a smoking gun for a sleep apnea episode and would start up the exercise from (3) to prevent recurrence whenever I became aware of one.

It's been about four years since I first noticed this - initially I worried that all my hopes about these little alternative "treatments" and "diagnoses" would soon be crushed by real problems with sleep apnea. But now I hardly ever notice such troubles. So I'm going to take my chances with Mr. Murphy and his law and tempt fate by sharing these observations, to see whether others might possibly be helped by them.

Thanks for providing this forum, and good luck with everything!

[kteague]

Wow! I have to admit your rationale on this subject is so foreign to my thinking my first thought was that this had to be a prank post. But rather than assume that and possibly be wrong, I'd like to suggest you test your theories with a sleep study. Then post the results and tell us how the study results support your perceptions. Any changes in my thinking would have to be evidence based.

[roster]

....

4. .... This seems absurd ....

There is some truth in your post.

Keep passing.

[BlackSpinner]

Several years ago I worried about sleep apnea - I was waking up with unexplained sore throats, and woke up maybe twice from a sudden stoppage of breath. And I'm way, way, way up in the risk group where BMI is concerned. However, I think I avoided the problem through self-understanding, and thought I should share some observations.


It's been about four years since I first noticed this - initially I worried that all my hopes about these little alternative "treatments" and "diagnoses" would soon be crushed by real problems with sleep apnea. But now I hardly ever notice such troubles. So I'm going to take my chances with Mr. Murphy and his law and tempt fate by sharing these observations, to see whether others might possibly be helped by them.

Thanks for providing this forum, and good luck with everything!

A sleep study would clear up the question. Most people don't notice the "problems" until it really starts to ruin their life because it creeps up insidiously.

As for taking chances - you are gambling with Highblood pressure leading to heart attacks and strokes, diabetes, GERD, depression, anxiety just to name a few issues.

Also remember "The doctor who treats himself has a fool for a patient" - old saying

[akcpapguy]

I would suggest you get a Sleep Study and see a Psychologist, in no particular order.

[DreamOn]

Sorry, Passerby. You lost me after the first paragraph.

I think you took the wrong exit off the Information Superhighway and found the wrong forum. Perhaps you were looking for the "Fiction Writer's Forum", just up the road? Or maybe your space ship's navigational system needs repair.

Best wishes to you....

[Julie]

Just for the record - we all have loads of dreams, both prior to and after starting Cpap, a lot of which have been described on this forum. However, in all the dreams that have been recorded here, both just funny ones and serious ones, dealing with personal issues and others, has anyone tried to connect specific dreamt events to what's happening in 'real life'. Yes we may dream we're choking and we really are, but just as often there seems to be no correlation (as checked by sleeping partners, sleep studies, even overnight videos with timing thrown in, and I would certainly not assume I did not have apnea based on any aspect of dreaming. Also, I think your breathing protocol is cuckoo, and again not something to count on as any kind of therapy. If you think you have apnea, get properly tested. If not, stop playing games with your system as you're liable to set off something unexpected, and not necessarily apnea related.

[secret agent girl]

.

[DreamOn]

I find Passerby's imagination and creativity quite interesting, even if it doesn't have much of a fit with my beliefs.

Very creative, yes.

[Jaylee]

Is no one going to admit that they dreamed of peeing and then woke up peeing?

Because I have never done that either

[Wulfman]

In nearly five years of reading on this forum, that has got to be one of the more bizarre posts I've read.
(except for the very last sentence)


Den

[DreamOn]

Is no one going to admit that they dreamed of peeing and then woke up peeing?

Because I have never done that either

I am DEFINITELY not going to admit to having done that, Jaylee, even if it happened on more than one occasion!

[Jaylee]

Is no one going to admit that they dreamed of peeing and then woke up peeing?

Because I have never done that either

I am DEFINITELY not going to admit to having done that, Jaylee, even if it happened on more than one occasion!

I am relieved that you are not admitting to that too Pun intended

[kteague]

Jaylee!! Well, I NEVER!!!!
Kathy
as she repairs her truth-o-meter after the needle flew off the end

[Imacpaper]

One of things that led me to have a sleep study was that I didn't dream and haven't for years! The study showed that with the apnea and leg movements I wasn't entering REM. Since on treatment I have been having dreams (not of peeing ...maybe this explains all the folks with "rainout" issues )