Camcorded myself sleeping!

[TSSleepy]

I'm a male 41, 5'10", 300 lbs. My septum is deviated left and I have an enlarged turbinate on the right, so I'm a mouthbreather. I can't fall asleep on my back, because as soon as I relax my tonuge rolls back and blocks my throat, and my ability to breathe through my nose is very limited.

I've always lived/slept alone, so it didn't really occur to me that I might have sleep apnea. That is... it didn't occur to me until I crossed some "line in the sand" a couple months ago and started nodding off at work (and even while driving).

I think the hardest part of this phase, is the amount of time it takes to get diagnosed and treated. I literally haven't slept worth a darn since Thanksgiving, and I am a physical, mental, and emotional wreck. As soon as I started reading about sleep apnea, it was like a lightning bolt hit me. So many things about the last 20 years are starting to make sense. All the little physical issues that have cropped up over the last couple years as my weight has gone up are starting to make sense too.

It's sooo hard knowing that I am probably an xPAP away from starting to feel better, but having to spend months going through "The Process". Between weather issues, waiting for an appointment with a general practitioner, waiting for a consult with pulmonology, and now waiting for my sleep study it's been several weeks...and I'm really starting to lose it.

I believe I have OSA, and my ENT and pulmonologist agree that it is very likely. But it's really been preying on my mind, that maybe... I don't!

If I feel this bad and don't have sleep apnea, I'm back to square one of trying to figure out what is wrong. And that terrifies me! Yes, I know being 300 lbs is "wrong", but I've gained 120 lbs between 32 and 41 because my energy levels are shot.

My sleep study isn't until 2/13/09 (yay, Friday the 13th!). But I don't think I can stand waiting that long to know.

So I bought a camcorder yesterday and recorded myself sleeping. I live and sleep alone, so I wasn't even sure if I snored!

Equipment:
Sony Handycam DCR-SR45 (with Nightshot Plus, set to Super Nightshot) and a cheap tripod.

Results:
1. I snore! Yay! I snore good and loud, even when sleeping on my side.
2. I wake up enough to change positions and readjust the covers about 4 times per hour.
3. Surprisingly, I do end up on my back a little every once in awhile, but not for longer than about 10'. From nostril-flare, it looks like I can keep myself respirating at least a bit on my back before I gasp and switch to my side.
4. I can sleep about 20' on a side. My snoring gets louder and louder until I switch positions.
5. When I switch I take a couple of huge lungfulls of air, as I'm moving. I also often brush at my mouth and face when moving, as if making sure that nothing is covering my mouth. That makes sense. But I also often grab the back of my head...not sure what that's about?
6. When I breathe on my side, I obviously mouthbreathe. Not only is my mouth open, but my jaw moves down whenever I inhale. I look like a goldfish. Like I'm gulping for air. I wonder if I'm having to pull my tongue away from the back of my throat to breathe?
7. As the night goes on, my breathing becomes more ragged and choppy, and I get a lot more restless. Near the end of the night, I was even snoring a little on the exhale.
8. When watching the minutes before I shifted position, it looked like I was always trying to breathe. It was a big relief to see that my chest was always rising, even right before I gasped and moved.

It seemed pretty clear that I was having some issues breathing. And it seems most likely that those issues are "obstructive" in nature. I can't imagine having an AHI less than 5, with the amount of times that I woke enough to shift positions. I'd be really surprised if I got much REM sleep.

Anyway, this has really put my mind to ease that I am on the right track. Now all I have to do is keep my head together long enough to get some treatment. Friday the 13th can't come quick enough!

[KengEsq]

Do you dream?

[TSSleepy]

That's an interesting question. I actually dream a lot. And remember them vividly. And am always dreaming right as I wake up. So my hypothesis is that I hit REM sleep start to dream, my muscles go atonal, and an apnea or hyponea punts me out of REM within minutes.

I can't wait to see my sleep study results!

[KengEsq]

I didn't dream before I began using my APAP - I had been trying to convince my doctor to give me a sleep study for years beofre he actually scheduled one. Now that I am being properly treated for my OSA, I'm dreaming again and I love it.

[ozij]

Congratulations on managing to put your mind at rest! Maybe you have PCP who will Rx an APAP for you to get sooner?
I'm all for you r having a PSG, but since you seem to have OSA at least - when not start treating it already?

O.

[OutaSync]

That is so interesting. I can't wait until you get your sleep study results, either. I wish you could find a CPAP to get started on before the 13th.

[dsm]

What a great experiment - I had thought of doing this myself (have all the gear) but just never got round to it. It is good that you are able to see yourself going through the process & a great inspiration to get onto therapy.

I think most of us accept that weight gain & OSA are tightly connected & the worse OSA gets, the easier it is to put on weight. There is no doubt at all that weight gain then worsens OSA.

To really make progress and stave off worsening health issues, you 1) must get onto therapy & then 2) figure out a way to force yourself into regular exercise - avoid pushing yourself, just do enough to make it doable & then set some modest goals for reducing weight. Going on cpap therapy is a great time to link the two - better sleep & losing weight. One thing I can promise is that as you get older, losing weight becomes harder and harder.

I am right now employing my own 'force myself' to exercise program & really getting benefit from it. My approach at the moment is not drive to work but to catch a bus & then get off the bus a few kms from home & then walk home. I am thus forcing myself to exercise but have to do it to get home & it is working well. I previously used to get up early & go for a walk and also do same at lunchtime but just found that harder to do after the 1st year & in reality that was because I didn't 'have to' do it. Getting home or to work is a necessity.

Good luck with your program & welcome aboard.

DSM

[kebsa]

Just another thought but have you considered purchasing an oximeter that will record your oxygen saturations and pulse rate over night, i am new to all this too and someone made the comparison of a diabetic using a blood glucose monitor to help monitor there treatment and as a type 2 diabetic that struck a cord! there is no way i would not have a decent Blood glucose monitor. I found an oximeter (CMS 50E) on line for $179 and i am happy with it so far. I was a little worried as after i orderd it i read a thread where at least one person had found it to be questionable. The one thing i would say is that it would possible be less reliable if i were a restless sleeper but i am physically disabled and my sleep studies proved what i thought to be the case, i do not budge when i sleep, i am flat on my back all night (i cannot lie on my side)

Others here have reported using SPO-7500 which is the model i was originally going to purchase but it cost a bit more and budget is an issue, i looks as though it may be less likely to be dislodged if you move as it has a wrist monitor (looks like a wrist watch)

anyway, its just a thought- i expect it to be useful as i am still getting my settings and machine choice sorted- even the data capable machines do not report oxygen levels so it seems to make sense.

good luck with your sleep study!

[Mtnviewer]

Good effort in finding out all that you have. Even though I've started APAP for a few weeks now and have had some good nights (and some bad nights), I do want to video tape my sleep to see what else that I can learn. I know from doing audio recordings of my sleep by using my laptop and a free open source program Audacity, that it was a really valuable learning situation and quite repulsive reliving the sounds of my snoring, wakings and apneas as I know how they make me feel the next day. I don't have a video camera and didn't know that they could work in such low light. I would suggest that if you can or can't try CPAP or APAP before your sleep study, and even if you can, that you do more recordings of your sleep and more analysis as each night of audio for me was slightly different, some really ghastly and some less so. But if I'd hit on recording just one night of not so many problems, I might have thought things weren't so bad.

Could you comment on the quality of the camcorder in low light levels? Did you have any lights on at all? Did it have enough tape or capacity for 8 hrs of recording? How did you play it back without it taking 8 hrs again? Have you read the other thread on video recording sleep? Any comments? viewtopic/t38288/Digital-Video-Recording-Sleep.html

[TSSleepy]

kebsa - Yes, I'm thinking about getting a pulse oximeter, but I haven't looked into them yet. Thanks for mentioning those models, because it gives me a place to start!

Mtnviewer - I was pleasantly surprised with the camcorder mentioned above. I had been worried that I would have to try to sleep with the lights on, or I would have done this weeks ago. My sleep is bad enough, without trying to fall asleep and stay asleep with lights on!

But when I mentioned to the saleslady that I wanted to film myself sleeping, she steered me to the Sony Handycam and showed me that it has a nightvision setting (everything turns that pale green), and I could clearly see my face when I filmed in pitch black room. The camcorder and tripod (tall enough to look down at the bed) was $350.

The Handycam had a NightShots switch, which was still pretty dim in a completely pitch black room (but you could also go into settings and turn it to up SuperNightShots). SuperNightShots worked great in a completely black room. I could even shut the view screen while it recorded, so the only lights in the room were the little red LED on the camera and my alarm clock. I had the camcorder plugged into the wall, so battery life wasn't a problem.

It has a 30GB disc drive and will hold ~20 hours at low quality video. The low quality video was plenty good enough to see what I was doing. It will hold 10 hours of "standard quality", but I probably won't use that, because I don't want the resulting MPEG files to be too huge. I transferred it to my computer with the included USB jack, and it didn't take too long.

I'm going to bed now, and am going to record again tonight. Like you said, some nights are going to be better or worse than others, so it will be nice to check a number of nights. It will also be fun to repeat when I have my mask. I'm hoping video will help me make better sense of leak data, and see improvements in restlessness once I'm on xPAP therapy.

[Guest]

Dreaming is a sign of REM sleep. You don't dream in other phases and its usually what I ask people who think they also have sleep apnea. Your doctor already knows what's wrong. You weigh far too much. There are plenty of things you should be doing already besides dealing with your sleep problems. Meet with your GP and discuss it and see what is ok for you to do. There's no reason why you can't do low-moderate impact exercise almost every day barring any health issues. Controlling weight is the answer to most people on the board.

You need to make permanent lifestyle changes if you're putting on that much weight. Energy levels is an excuse. Unless you're bedridden, you can go for a nice long walk every day. You can cut back on bad foods and extra calories. You're putting on 10 lbs per year on a long term basis. You need to make some changes or you see where that trend leads.

[TSSleepy]

Energy levels is an excuse.

Cool, my primary care physician actually comes to the board! Hi, doc! <waves>

I'd like to thank you for once again giving me the diagnosis that I'm just fat and stupid. Maybe if you tell me that enough times, I'll get thin and smart.

But seriously, I'm going to tell Guest here the same thing I told my doc. If I'm too tired to get an erection, I'm too tired to exercise. 'Nuff said!

Let my PCP have 5 hours per night of suffocating/tossing/turning nasty sleep and tell me how successful he is at eating healthy, going for walks, driving without nodding off, being productive at work, etc.

I specially love it when people tell me to make "healthy choices". As if I've "chosen" to be obese?

I guess some thin people like to assume that they are thin because they are more virtuous, smarter, more disciplined, better educated, harder working than people who have weight problems. Why is it so hard to imagine that I may be overweight because of a legitimate health problem? Why does that thought threaten some people?

[dieselgal]

I have actually thought of doing that myself just to see if I am awake as much as I feel like I am but I am to cheap to buy a camcorder that I would only use for that, and I am not sure how I would feel about having to look at myself in very unflattering positions!

[KengEsq]

Use some of this stuff on "guest - the troll" and otherwise ignore the troll:

[loran]

radio shack night vision camers 60$
Diamond one touch video capture 40$
Play back price:)less

do not use Pinnacle Dazzle as record time limits to 2 hours.

if recording auto bipap to see numbers use a bright white light pointed at LCD display sceen as LED's will not record LCD green screen with out white light present.

when viewing playback inport video into Widows video viewer for fast forward and rewind options, view 8 hours in minutes.

Im 8 month old OSA, respitroncs A-Bipap 18/14 FFmask Mirage Quattro M