How many here are young, thin females?

[CAsleep]

I am just getting a complex because a lot of people...multiple doctors, including sleep specialists, down to nurses and DME suppliers....have all made comments to me that "you don't look like the typical apnea patient." To the point that even the sleep specialist that ordered the overnight study, only did so because it was required to do the Narcolepsy test (found out I don't have narcolepsy). So he didn't even think apnea was a possibility, probably because of my weight, age, etc. I am 26 but I am very small-boned....people will often think I'm a teenager. But my jaw isn't "receding"(?) either.

This is making me: doubt the diagnosis of obstructive apnea (maybe it's central? But I hear the sleep study would have told me that)....and also worry. For example, if it's not from weight, it must be a structural problem, and in that case....will PAP therapy work as well for me as it does for everyone else? So then I wonder if there are so few like me (apparently?), will the treatment even work?

I dunno if that makes any sense. I hate to bring this up, because people dislike talking about weight, age, etc. But it's to the point that it's making me question things, so I figure I should ask.

I would feel better if there was anyone out there like me, especially any success stories. Feeling outside the norm when it comes to a disease that affects your health this much feels a little strange.

Also, my results showed that I was on the lower end of moderate. So that further makes me wonder if this is the cause of my daytime fatigue (I also have very bad dark circles around my eyes). The good news is, that the study said I had 0 apnea after they got my pressure to 7. So does that mean there's hope? Does that mean I will be treated like everyone else, and this will hopefully work?

So far I'm not feeling better from therapy, but I haven't been keeping my mask on much during the night....very new at this. Thanks.

[CAsleep]

Just found this in an article: http://wiki.medpedia.com/Sleep_Apnea_an ... e_in_Women

"However, it’s been recently shown what even young, thin women that don’t snore can have significant obstructive sleep apnea. I see patients like this daily in my practice. This also applies to young thin men as well. Whenever these people are diagnosed officially on a sleep study, they always comment that their medical doctors comment, "you don’t look like you have sleep apnea." This just goes to show that there is no "typical" sleep apnea patient."

HELLO! Thank you. But still, it would be nice if doctors weren't making us feel like aliens.

And it would be nice to still here from anyone else out there that's young/slender.....just to help boost my morale with this, make me feel like I'm heading in the right direction.

[sister]

Hi, I felt like I was reading my post there for a minute. I too get the same comments everywhere I go,[ you can't have sleep apnea, you are too small].Believe me, i do even though i too am small framed and have been small all my life. I have gained weight since I've had sleep apnea for the first time in my life,I am 5'6 and weigh 130 lbs. at the present time.I have been in the 120's all my life. I have severe sleep apnea that has nothing to do with weight but everytime I go to the dr. or anywhere else that the subject comes up, someone will say.oh, you can't have sleep apnea.
please let me tell you the treatment does work,[even for thin people]. I have had a really hard time adjusting to my mask because I have severe allergies and was allergic to all the mask,but i have finally found one that doesn't touch the face,[comfortlite 2] and for the last week or two i am sleeping so good! Just try to ignore these people that bug you, or take it as a compliment because you are small. i have always been thankful to my mom and dad for giving me good genes!
I figure it probrably is a structural problem,but either way it's still sleep apnea and we have to treat it!!!!!
You get in there with both feet and try with all you've got! if I can win this battle, you can too! I'm not saying i have won yet,but i have come a long way! And you can too!!!!
You are in the right place to get all your questions answered,these are the best people on earth. They have helped me so much in just a few months! just put your questions out there and they will answer.
BE GLAD YOU ARE SMALL !!!!! GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS YOU !!!!!!!!!!!

[CAsleep]

Thank you so much for responding.

Do you mind if I ask why you ended up getting the sleep study done? What symptoms were you having? For me it was excessive daytime sleepiness, and sleeping too much. The tiredness was so disabling, that I had to drop out of school, and I don't have a job because of the fatigue, and because I oversleep severely. It has basically ruined my life. I was always a very high-acheiving person, so when I started sleeping my life away, it became a big mystery. I'm hoping the mystery is solved, but I can't really claim that until I start feeling better.

[JayC]

I have to make this brief for now.....

Yes, when I began having problems I was young and fit and female!!

I kept getting blown off, and didn't get proper testing nor diagnosis when I was actively seeking such at just slightly older than you by 2 or 3 years.

So some of my weight (25 pounds over ideal) is sleep issues, some of it is hormones, some of it is the interrelationship of those two......

I have a small jaw internally, but it has never been called receeding by anyone......

The dark circles are greatly faded to nonexistant, depending on how my sleeping/insomnia is going.....so hopefully you will see that improvement in your treatment as well!!

You are blessed to be honing in on proper treatment at your young age.......I went near 30 years with being blown off, underdiagnosed, and certain other things being blamed for all my daytime symptoms......when they were likely more of an artifact of the sleep issues!!

You are not alien, you are blessed to be getting treatment, so work with it and give it time to show good effect!!

Warm regards,
J

[sister]

Thank you so much for responding.

Do you mind if I ask why you ended up getting the sleep study done? What symptoms were you having? For me it was excessive daytime sleepiness, and sleeping too much. The tiredness was so disabling, that I had to drop out of school, and I don't have a job because of the fatigue, and because I oversleep severely. It has basically ruined my life. I was always a very high-acheiving person, so when I started sleeping my life away, it became a big mystery. I'm hoping the mystery is solved, but I can't really claim that until I start feeling better.

I never have been able to sleep much, I had surgery in 2006 and when I woke up in the recovery room the anesthesia dr. told me, you have sleep apnea! I had no idea what sleep apnea was! I probrably had it all my life!!!

[CAsleep]

Thank you!

Glad to hear this should help. Unfortunately, I have been suffering with this extreme fatigue for about 8 years now, and have been looking for answers.... but you are right.....I am lucky it was caught now. It was a very sudden onset, too. Which is strange. I'm not sure that makes much sense for apnea. My first symptom was chest pain, then all of a sudden, I was sleeping all the time.

In the beginning, they told me I had Mono. Then, it just never got better. I was in bed a lot. I am not clear on if it did begin with some kind of infectious disease, and then during the time I was sick, the apnea developed (just bad luck, having two problems) or what.

[Mask2sleep]

Good Morning...

Not female here but thought I would pipe in. I'm 34 year old male, 145 pounds. I've probably had untreated OSA for at least 5 years, probably as many as 10, when I was another 15 pounds lighter and your age or younger. Only having a baby finally made me go get it diagnosed and treatment started. Yesterday was my one week mark and having some trouble bringing the AHI down and i'm going to get a new mask next week, but anyways... the sleep tech at my study, RT at my titration, and my primary care doctor all said the same thing when I asked how a young, non-overweight fella has OSA. They said that weight doesn't necessarily have anything to do with sleep apnea, and while it can be a contributing factor, more important is the size and shape of your airway. Even children get sleep apnea. The only person I got the "you're not the typical patient" from was the DME would delivered my equipment.

[jweeks]

I am just getting a complex because a lot of people...multiple doctors, including sleep specialists, down to nurses and DME suppliers....have all made comments to me that "you don't look like the typical apnea patient." To the point that even the sleep specialist that ordered the overnight study, only did so because it was required to do the Narcolepsy test (found out I don't have narcolepsy). So he didn't even think apnea was a possibility, probably because of my weight, age, etc. I am 26 but I am very small-boned....people will often think I'm a teenager. But my jaw isn't "receding"(?) either.

Hi,

OSA is not caused by weight. That is a myth. It is a structural issue that seems to run in families. Weight can be a contributing factor in making it worse. However, age is a much bigger factor in OSA getting worse over time. This disease and its treatment with CPAP is a very modern development. When I first started getting OSA in my late 20s, there was no such thing as a CPAP machine.

Truck drivers seem to be the group that has the most OSA. Why? Because they started to be screened for this disease a few years ago, and folks were astounded at how many have been found to have OSA. What that really means is that far more people have OSA than what was known, but right now, truck drivers are one of the few professions that are getting routine screenings.

Another item that was learned recently is that older folks have pretty high rates of OSA. You hear about people dying in their sleep apparently peacefully without ever waking up? OSA is one of the causes of that. This should be a bit of a wake-up call for you. If the OSA diagnosis proves to be correct, you want to be somewhat thankful that it was discovered despite you not fitting the traditional stereotype. You really don't want to be one of the folks that silently dies in their sleep when you are 45, for falls asleep driving and runs over and kills 3 kids in a crosswalk.

-john-

[CAsleep]

Hope you're not implying I seem ungrateful for the diagnosis (you mentioned being thankful)? I feel terrible everyday and oversleep constantly, so if anything can help with that....I'll be eternally grateful. I don't feel like I need a "wake up call." Glad to just at least have an area to explore as a possibility for those symptoms. I have been searching a long time. Also, not dying in my sleep and not killing people while driving will be bonuses!

[jweeks]

Hope you're not implying I seem ungrateful for the diagnosis (you mentioned being thankful)? I feel terrible everyday and oversleep constantly, so if anything can help with that....I'll be eternally grateful. I don't feel like I need a "wake up call." Glad to just at least have an area to explore as a possibility for those symptoms. I have been searching a long time. Also, not dying in my sleep and not killing people while driving will be bonuses!

Hi,

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply ungrateful. Rather, I was trying to encourage to keep following up on this and treat it pretty seriously. Some folks, including sleep techs and even doctors, still have a stereotype that if you are not built like Reggie White, then you can't have OSA. But just like Reggie White (one of the most famous football players), anyone who doesn't treat their OSA is at risk of going to an early grave. The world needs your contributions, so we cannot afford to lose you to this disease.

-john-

[mrstevegross]

Just echoing the other respondents' responses: Yep, you can have apnea without being overweight. I'm 32, male, and in decent shape (that reads like a personal ad, doesn't it!?). Anyway, here I am with a CPAP set at 10.0 as well. It has indeed improved the condition. So don't sweat it

[BlackSpinner]

I was thin and female when this started- probably when I had my youngest - you can look at my avatar - it was take the year before I had my youngest. During the pregnancy I started to snore very very badly and it never went away. I was given antihistamines and when that did nothing they just shrugged - that was 21 years ago. It got really bad about 4 years ago after a flu & pneumonia. I knew about sleep apnea well before that and tried to get a study but my doctor said I didn't need one. My sister diagnosed me - I snored and gasped like her (traditionally obese ) husband.

The last 4 years got me 40 lbs over weight due to total lack of energy and munching to stay awake.

[CAsleep]

John,

Thanks. It doesn't make sense to me that OSA is only in larger people, so I was definitely not implying that. My experience suggests quite the opposite! Thank you for clearing it up.

And thanks for the additional replies. I am very grateful to have this diagnosis. It is a shame to think young women or young men, or slender people, aren't being diagnosed because of stereotypes. They probably look at me, with my symptoms, and think I'm just depressed or some young basket case who is too lazy to get out of bed.

[sister]

That's true,I was diagnosed as a basket case i suppose, before I knew I had sleep apnea, spent 28 days in the hosp. they thought i had mental problems. I was severely sleep deprived!! I also had a lot of chest pain at that time, they said it was acid reflux! no problems since i've been on c-pap. Even my sleep dr. still says to me, you certainly don't meet the criteria for sleep apnea. good luck to you on your journey!