Ever been described as just plain lazy?

Carlton · Post by **Carlton** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 11:11 am

Would like to hear from any one who has been miss-diagnosed with anxiety depression ect or just described as plain lazy. I have 20 years of experiance of this and have just been diagnosed with OSA. Start CPAP next week. Would like to hear from anybody who has experiance similar and has overcome. Should I be feeling positive?

capt · Post by **capt** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 11:32 am

I think you are on to something. Many people get diagnosed by psychologists/psychiatrists as being a malingerer. This is the professionals definition for lazy! This seems to come up frequently when one is trying to get long term disability benefits from their employer. The employer then contracts out with a psychologist/ psychiatrist to do an evaluation for them to fight the claim. It makes it a lot of fun for the person who is suffering a major depression to have to confront this when it happens. If you did not feel worthless and were not suicidal before, you quickly become that way.

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 11:46 am

I think a lot of us fight this. And a lot of people have this misconception of the lot of us. If someone has not been through it, they cannot relate to it.

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 1:34 pm

Once diagnosed, you feel vindicated. My husband used to insist that if I didn't just sit on the couch and got up and forced myself to exercise, I would start to feel the energy from that. Of course my reply was, "If I didn't feel exhausted from the second I wake up until the time I go to bed, maybe I could do that." I started, myself, to feel like I was just crazy or lazy, but knowing deep down that the doctors weren't finding something. And I was really afraid to find out what it was.

But when I was finally diagnosed with OSA, I truly felt vindicated, like finally there was a valid reason I couldn't get off the couch and felt so fatigued and exhausted all the time. I think my husband felt bad that he just thought it was a case of my not getting up and out and doing things, but he realizes now it was far more than just being lazy. I think a lot of us probably share something along these lines when it came to pre-diagnosis.

cornpop16 · Post by **cornpop16** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 4:36 pm

hey I have been told I am lazy for years when really I just didn't have the energy or motivation to do anything. I guess depression was possibly a big factor for me! Can't wait for cpap to work well for me

Debbie

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 12:51 am

You guys can write all my responses for me. I concur with everything above. Keep up the good work. What am I going to say next?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 10:53 am

I'll Take it one step further....My Boss thinks "If you went to the Gym, lost some weight and got in Shape you wouldn't need to strap on all those hoses to get a good nights sleep."

What he didn't realize that with Untreated OSA I used to Bike 100+ miles, Lift weights and exercise all the time...but I needed Ephedrine Tabs and Coffee to get through my day....There was a time my boss worked out with with me and ran out the door Puking his guts up from doing Squats. I had OSA then as well...even though I was in shape!

Ignorant people think OSA is something we can avoid like heart disease or Diabetes...and that we are all sleepy/lazy individuals. I go to AWAKE meetings and only 20% of the people that show up are overweight. At every meeting the same question comes up...."Can't I just loose 60-70 pounds an not have to use the machine anymore?" To which the reply is...Yes...by all means loose the Weight, it's good for your health....but you still will have OSA....perhaps you can use a lower pressure, but you will still have OSA!

I am a believer that OSA can be a root cause for Obesity.....It makes you tired, It demotivates you to work out, sleep events raise Cortisol levels!

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 11:34 am

Uh, diabetes can be avoided?

Get your facts straight, it is genetic. You can help keep it in check, by keeping weight down, but not prevent it.

LoneRider · Post by **LoneRider** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:48 pm

Anonymous wrote:
I am a believer that OSA can be a root cause for Obesity.....It makes you tired, It demotivates you to work out, sleep events raise Cortisol levels!

I believe that I snack excessively, especially at work to help keep myself awake. As well, I need the diet Cokes, ie caffeine, to keep me going which in itself gets the insulin flowing, as well giving you the munchies. There are many days that I get home, ready for dinner, but for the most part full.

At least that is my theory, and I'm sticking to it, well until someone proves me wrong

cheers,
Tom

Bigboy · Post by **Bigboy** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:57 pm

I found that when I was accused of laziness it took virtually no effort to extend my middle finger and wish them a good day! This is my usual approach with my brother-in-law, who is my polar opposite in body type, function and politic, when he offers his "well meaning" advice without even the slightest inkling of what it is to be me.

Sometimes the road to your own personal hell is paved with others good intentions!

Jan in Colo. · Post by **Jan in Colo.** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 8:41 pm

My husband has the energy level of a hummingbird...constantly on the move, constantly doing something "productive", from 6 am to midnite. And he really believes that early to bed and early to rise stuff.

It has been very nice to have my diagnosis finally. Lots of PLMD and restless leg...and I found the article that said the worse times for that are between 10 pm and 2 am. YES! FINALLY SOMEONE KNOWS! I have always intended to go to bed around midnite and never quite make it until 2 am. And yes I was just dragging my feet not WANTING to go to bed because then the whole battle of the legs starts and it is NOT FUN. AND the article said that the BEST times for restless legs was 8 am to 10 am....exactly! I've always FINALLY gotten to sleep around 8 and slept well til 10. It was just a perfect description of what I've gone through my entire life.

Which causes friction in my marriage because my husband has worked out, mowed the lawn, paid bills, made some phone calls, etc.,e tc. before I'm even out of bed.

But now he has documentation that when I said I had a bad night's sleep...I wasn't just whistling Dixie! It was an UNDERstatement...like the understatement of the YEAR to describe my nights as simply a bad nights sleep! Yep 50 or 60% oxygen levels during the night tend to make one a little unproductive during the day! 77 arousals per hour...oh yeah, that's a bad night all right.

He's still a little puzzled by the whole thing (after 24 years of marriage, lol) but it really does help him to see things in black and white documentation. He's getting a little more sympathetic. He's trying anyway.

Jan in Colo.

swtsassy65 · Post by **swtsassy65** » Tue Sep 20, 2005 9:52 pm

Hi
I have been told I was bi-polar put on meds for it and the doctors could not understand why they didn't work.
My Mom who I love dearly has called me lazy for years " she now found out she has osa to"
Also allot of people who I know thought the same thing.
Now that I know why I make sure to tell them why I was/ am this way.
It feels good to have a name for it. The therapy is helping. I dont feal 100%
yet but I look at it like I have years to make up for.
My bi-polar just about gone, I have more energy " still like my naps though" and even my kids notice the difference.
I do like to rub it into the people who always called me lazy and make them feel like dimwits. Maybe on cpap now I am feeling vindictive.

akpacfan · Post by **akpacfan** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 10:41 am

I agree with you R&R, avoidable diabetes and high blood pressure... I wish I knew I could avoid those afflictions 33 years ago when I was told I had hypertension. I wasn't overweight then and was told I didn't need medication to control it due to my age at the time. So, on a Physician's advice, I mistakenly let it go till many years later when it was too late to reverse damage. In 1997 I was told I was diabetic and, was not overweight then.

God only knows how long diabetes has gone unchecked as my system does not respond well to most medications and have to take maximum doses.

Now tissue damage is occurring and I have had 5 surgeries to repair tendons and muscle tears within the last 4 years.

My doctor sent me to have the sleep study done because I cannot get the proper rest needed to "self heal" and control the degeneration of soft tissues.

So... Here I am on CPAP therapy for severe OSA. My doctor thinks it'll be good for me to get proper rest with. Now I can get 4 hours sleep in uninterrupted and get up at midnight or 1A.M. instead of 4 hours sleep fragmented throughout the night and get up at 5 A.M.

To think this was all avoidable. Gosh what a dummy I am!

DrainedDad · Post by **DrainedDad** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 12:39 pm

I guess most of us are misunderstood. How can we expect people who have never experience this to understand. It is a lot like depression, people who have never had it will tell you that you just need to choose to be happy. Choose not to be lazy, choose not to take a nap, choose to eat right and exercise, choose, choose, choose! I would get so sick of hearing that. Like I chose to fall asleep driving home from work? I chose to doze off in front of my computer?! I chose to sleep instead of play with my kids?! I chose to crash when my wife was feeling amorous?!

I love my wife but she is an unbelievable picture of health. Had eight babies and never used pain medication. Water-skied, played a doubleheader, and tennis on a broken ankle; all when she was 9 months pregnant! How the heck does she understand the exhaustion of OSA?

Now that I am on treatment and starting to have energy to participate in life again my family is starting to understand. My boss has noticed the difference and has stop dropping the hint that maybe I go to bed earlier.

So in answer to your question of should you feel positively, YOU BET! People will see the difference (not over night) and you will feel better.

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 12:42 pm

DD,

Thank the heavens above that you have a wife like that. What a blessing. And you will be right behind her now that you are getting the help you needed. Like you said, some people are ignorant about this condition, and those who aren't understand. So keep up the therapy and one day you'll give your wife a run for her money.

Ever been described as just plain lazy?

Ever been described as just plain lazy?

I have for years