POLL: How long do you think you had SA before you 'knew'?

[Dojers]

Since birth here - and I'm 49. And yes, I'm very lucky I didn't die of SIDS. Course, I don't think they'd have called it that back then. Dunno. But I've never slept right through the night. My Mom said she'd come in the room at various times of the night and I'd be awake. I rocked a lot in my sleep which my doc said I was probably doing to keep the air rushing past my face. I slept (sleep) with a fan overhead and to each side so no matter which direction I was sleeping I had air blowing at my face. It also explained why sleeping pills such as Ambien and the like never worked. That was what triggered the sleep test last year - my doctor couldn't understand why the sleeping meds (10mg of Ambien and it didn't even faze me) wasn't doing it's job. That was when I was dx'd mixed sleep apnea and my pressure was set to 14. Still trying to get things righted around with the sleep aspect. Still not sleeping through the night nor waking up refreshed or any of the other "catch phrases" that goes along with being on a CPAP but that part, I think is due to the fact I'm a "tweener". My face size is between small and medium, being closer to small. Medium masks leak too much but small masks are a titch too small. And I have to have a full face mask because I mouth breathe when I'm sleeping. Otherwise the nasal mask would have been perfect. But, as you can see from my profile pic, I had to go overboard in order to sleep with the nasal mask and keep from breathing out of my mouth.

But I refuse to even lay down with a headache without my CPAP in the off-chance I may fall asleep. I do not sleep without my machine!! NEVER!!

[Kiralynx]

I said 6-10 years.

I can pinpoint to the day the hip pain which ultimately led to my diagnosis started -- on the trip to Ohio for my niece's wedding in 2002.

But I suspect it may have been before then.

Whenever I complained about tiredness and hip pain, I was told, "Stop stuffing your face and lose some weight and it will all clear up." Even after I lost 180 pounds, I was told that.

Except that the hip pain didn't clear up until I had effective treatment for my apnea.

[sleepyvetech]

A really long time. My "wake-up call" was when I was on vacation in Mexico with friends. Upon looking at pics, I kept asking, "Where am I in this pic?" or "where was I when this was taken?" The answer was "sleeping in the lobby..." or "napping by the pool". Wow... I slept through the whole vacation! Bummer! My friend really pushed me to get checked out. Turned out, my tiredness and shortness of breath was due to cardiac failure due to severe OSA . I am blessed to still be here. Now I know why me feet looked so puffy in that one pic! I am much better with no more edema, normal blood pressure and my CPAP. Thanks to a good friend.

[Saramorphosis]

My first night with CPAP was last night. I have been fighting admitting to it even though I have known at least 5 years. That big machine and mask make me feel old, sick and repulsive... that's why I fought it for so long. I joke with friends that I have a sexy new bed partner, but I am just cringing inside. First night I had mixed results. I have a chronically stuffed up nose so I had to go with the complete face mask. The air going through my mouth made my throat tickle and I had many coughing fits and post nasal drip made me feel like I was choking also. I am looking into anithistamines and trying to be patient.

[chunkyfrog]

I am certain I have had apnea a very long time.
Please STAY AWAY from HMO's--HMO Nebraska basically FAKED a sleep study; resulting in about 20 years of untreated apnea.
If I could prove anything; the statute of limitations would probably kick in. greedy, dishonest, and sick.
In 43 years of marriage, my DH has ALWAYS stopped breathing at night--but he only got tested less than a year ago--nagging does work.

[gasparama]

I could never remember any part of any vacation because I fell asleep in the car before we ever passed the nearest 7-11. A car ride meant sleep for me, even if I was driving. Now,I know for sure that there are mountains in Colorado. Up until CPAP, Colorado was just a rumor.

[ameriken]

When I set up this poll, I chose '15 or more years' as the maximum because I doubted there would be many answers there. I figured most would be 2 to 8 years. I'm totally blown away by how many people who believe they've had it for over 15 years. I had no idea.

I hope that technology, more informed doctors, and a better public awareness of SA would help more people and doctors recognize it and treat earlier. Anytime I speak with someone about sleep apnea, it seems like they think it's no big deal, afterall, 'no one sleeps well'. That's how I used to think as well.

Since my diagnosis, I am adamate about letting folks know that the sleep issues are just a symptom, and the real issue is 'not breathing'. I ask them to imagine holding their breath for 2 to 4 hours every night and only getting 2 or 3 hours of sleep at the same time, and how would that affect them over many months and years. That drives the point home.

[archangle]

I said 15+.

I had a doctor who wanted me to get tested long ago, but I wasn't interested. "Darn doctors brainwashed into wanting to prescribe something else I'll need to pay for for the rest of my life." He even suggested a overnight pulseox test, but I wasn't really all that interested. People did tell me I snore badly. When trying to diagnose some throat problems, CPAP was one of the suggestions, along with several other things I considered "fad" diagnoses like GERD and allergies. We finally ruled out GERD. I found out I had allergies and took the shots per years, but it wasn't the source of the problems I've been chasing. By the way, I highly recommend the allergy shots. I breathe much better and don't need the shots any more.

I finally got a PSG test, an OSA diagnosis, and a legacy REMstar plus brick machine and used it every time I slept. I wasn't really that convinced I had bad apnea, but I slept better, so I used CPAP every night, every nap since then. My throat problems didn't get better. My CPAP doctor's scheduler called me a few times when I was busy and annoyed me about a return visit, so I quit seeing him. I would probably have gone back eventually if she hadn't ticked me off.

I ended up inheriting a different and better CPAP machine 6 years or so later. I set it up wrong. After a while, I was really suffering from heartburn and nausea. I went to my regular doctor and a heart doctor before I figured out on my own that I had my machine set wrong. Fixing the machine settings fixed my heartburn and nausea problems overnight.

Now I'm a true believer in CPAP and have bought two different progressively better CPAP machines and watch my therapy very closely.

[zeeclass]

As I've gotten older (I just turned 50) my quality of sleep has changed. I used to sleep like a rock. But in the past 10 years, that has changed. During the past year, especially, I rarely woke up feeling well rested and more recently I knew that I was thrashing around in my sleep and even my dreams seemed choppy. Night after night seemed harrowing for no apparent reason. My husband told me that I was twitching a lot in my sleep and shaking the entire bed.

He was diagnosed with OSA a few months ago and learned a lot about SA. He told me that the twitching could be SA. He also told me that all my achiness and depression could be from sleep apnea. Understanding this, I decided to get a study, and sure enough I was having 19 hypopneas per hour. Just started my cpap machine yesterday.

I truly think that I developed this only in the past few years. I never used to snore or twitch, and my sleep had always been pretty good. I'm glad I caught this early. Maybe I'm preventing a lot of problems that could have developed down the road.

[Mr Bill]

It bugs me that doctors ask how you've been sleeping and they usually stop at duration. So, if you claim 6-8hours a night, they think "fine, move on to the next question". But Sleep apnea can happen slowly enough that we don't know we are already down the rabbit hole. We don't know our sleep efficiency has been fatally compromised.

[jabman]

I Believe I had OSA at least 10 years before I was diagnosed. I knew about it for at least 5 or 6 years before I was DXed. I remember, while on break at work one day, listening to a coworker explain the symptoms of sleep apnea and telling him that it sounded like me. I didn't think though that OSA was all that bad, after all I was sleeping or so i thought. My wife would "nag" to go to the doctor because i quit breathing at night. I blew her off thinking it was no big deal. it took High blood pressure to finally bring me in and now I wish I would of never blew my wife off.

[smiles2you]

(New to forum, but using CPAP a year. You guys are so full of info and it is helping me so much. The CPAP Wiki is awesome!)

Is it possible to have had it all my life? I remember my mother taking me to the pediatrician when I was in elementary school because she thought there was something seriously wrong with me because I was so tired all the time, no matter how much sleep I got. It was all attributed to "allergies." (I can really relate to early2rise's comments and others too!) I had a hard time staying awake in afternoon lectures in college. A hard time focusing to complete afternoon paperwork at work. A good vacation was one were I napped all day! I JUST ALWAYS THOUGHT I WAS A WIMP!!! About 10 years ago I developed panic attacks - during the night. I sought help and started an antidepressant/anti-anxiety med. I finally knew I wasn't just lazy after I had kids and the fatigue became so severe that I woke with my arms and legs aching. Doctors said the most interesting things when I reported my symptoms: "You are the mother of young children; of course you are tired!" and "This is your body's way of telling you that you need to go back to work because the drudgery of being a stay at home mom is just not for you!" They did lots of blood work to no avail. I finally became dizzy and nauseous all the time and (thankfully) started fainting for no apparent reason. I was finally referred for a sleep study by a cardiologist. My GP just "couldn't believe the results." Whatever - I am just thankful to be diagnosed at age 42. BTW:

My father is 83 and has dementia. His college nickname was "SLEEPY!" He has snored as long as I can remember and my mother reports that he sometimes seems to stop breathing while sleeping. Yikes! Because of the severity of the dementia, I don't think he would tolerate a full sleep study, nor the use of a CPAP. (I need to look into this more.)I can't help but wonder if he has hypoxic brain damage from lifelong apnea, which contributes to his dementia.

My mother is 80 and has pretty severe heart disease (stents, high BP, etc.) She just developed A-Fib and her cardiologist has referred her for a sleep study August 2nd.

My 5 year old son has been a very difficult sleeper since birth and began snoring at age 3. I took him last Fall to a pulmonologist/sleep doctor at Children's National Hospital. She said his tonsils were "as big as they could get without constantly touching and referred us to an ENT." Our pediatrician had never mentioned the size of his tonsils, BTW. He had a T&A (tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy) in the spring and the changes in his health, sleep, and even eating have been amazing. His attention and endurance have also improved. We are keeping an eye on him and his little sister to continue to keep their sleep healthy.

I know that humans have very complex and delicate upper respiratory tract to be able to produce speech. Our larynx is lower than other animals, which creates a great resonating tube for speech sounds, but also puts us at a greater risk for choking than other animals. I think the development of OSA shows another little glitch in this delicate system.

BUT, alas, we are all fortunate to live in a time when this can be diagnosed and treated, rather than suffer the consequences it can ravage on our bodies. Hang in there everyone! It is definitely not sexy, but better than the alternative!

[wlenz]

Well, I am 67 and waking in the morning has always been a problem. Children do have sleep apnea, I believe the correct answer for me might be 65.

[rested gal]

I'm sure I had it (OSA) well over 50 years, if I start counting from the first time others told me I snored LOUD. Age 13 at "slumber parties." Was told that a LOT during my life. Not any more!

Diagnosed myself and put myself on "CPAP" in the fall of 2003, a couple of months before I turned 59. I guess one could say that was my first foray into becoming a "Lab Rat." Best thing I ever did, health-wise.

My story - why/how I started using "cpap":
viewtopic.php?p=5977#p5977

[Twentysix]

I think I always had it, since I have no other memories than waking up from terrible night mares (choking, drowning, etc) every night ever since I was a small kid. Also in high school was perpetually tired (and hated those grown ups with their remarks of 'I was never tired when I was your age'). In my twenties had to drive a lot for my job and regularly fell asleep mid day WHILE driving. Very often dozed off as a passenger in the car too, mostly in the afternoon. So yeah, born with it probably?