Sleep Apnea Venting (Long)

[HisServ]

I have a need to vent. To those who might read other forums, sorry for the repeat information. I did go through a sleep study here are my results:

Sleep time: 225 min
Bed time: 453 min
Sleep onset latency: 30 min
Sleep onset latency to REM: none seen

Stage 1: 40%
Stage 2: 38%
Stage 3: 7%
Stage 4: 15%
REM: 0

2 apneas both obstructive. longest was 14 seconds. 28 hypopneas longest being 29 seconds. AHI of 8. Desaturation to 95%

There was a majority of spontaneous and a few respiratory arousals for an arousal index of 21 per hour.

Diagnosis was mild sleep apnea but they said that it did not account for my tiredness.


A couple of things bothered me about this study. Number one the fact that I didn't get into REM and number two I slept on my stomache a lot that night cause I was so uncomfortable. The tech came in towards the end of the study and woke me up and told me to sleep on my side or back, but I never fell back asleep.

Here's the venting part. Went to GP about study. He didn't know anything. Am now waiting to go to Pulmonologist. No none of this was accredited or whatever, but didn't want to drive a long way. Don't want to redo any of this. I'm just frustrated because my AHI is so low but I feel tired during the day. I just don't know what to do. You'd like to think that the doctors would know what's going on every once and while and be able to help, but I've never been convinced that they do. I do drink a lot of caffeine during the day, but don't believe that that is a problem with my sleep because I almost never have a problem falling asleep. Just with feeling tired. I have some memory problems. I feel like I'm more forgetful than usual (only 24), but I don't know maybe I'm just a forgetful person. I put a load of clothes in the washer the other night and went to bed and totally forgot about changing them to the dryer or anything. I am somewhat irritable and cranky and moody, but I'm a woman. I'm supposed to be right? I just am frustrated and don't know what to do. Should I try a CPAP? I've heard so many bad things about it and how your sleep can be MORE fragmented than before you got it. I don't know I just needed a little bit of venting and I wish I could find some answers, but no one seems to know enough to answer ANYTHING. I'm considering just forgetting the appointment and forgetting that anything is wrong and just going about with my tired life. Everyone's tired right? I am not THAT overweight, so I don't think weight loss would help (only 35 lbs.) Okay, I guess that's it. Thanks for listening to this venting.

[mikemoran]

More experienced and knowledgable people than me will be answering this, but I do have a few things for you to consider.

From what I understand Apnea has a tendency to get worse instead of better, moving from mild to moderate to severe.

Sleep studies don't get all the data becasue of uncomfortable surroundings, but do get indicators.

You did sleep 50% of the time but never achieved REM.

The reason you can easily sall asleep is youa re deprived of it. Its also probably why you have the memory loss.

You don't have to be tired all the time as alot of people on here will tell you.

Apnea is life threatening.

So whatever you do don't skip your appointment. I mean whats the harm it might only take a little bit of your time. The worse that can happen is you might end up with life saving therapy and more energy. If its not apnea it may be something else and you need to know. Ignoring it won't make it go away.

[mikemoran]

BTW the above came from a guy who supected he had this for quite a few years but never went to the doctors about it because they might confirm I did have it.

[wading thru the muck!]

HisServ.

The night you describe does not sound like a good representation of a normal night of sleep for you.

BTW, You'll need to register (or sign in if you have already) to PM another forum member.

Keep at it... sounds like you are on the right track with your suspicions