confused

Lola,
Somehow, I get the feeling you are crying here for help. I do not believe that you do not know the seriousness of sleep apnea, but I do feel you might be in denial. Unfortunately, it will not go away. My first step was acceptance. Prior to my sleep study I knew something was wrong with me, but I could not figure out the cause; neither could the Doctors as well! I was gaining weight rapidly, sleeping less then 2 hours a nit, always tired, my temper out of control, severely depressed and I could not concentrate. I was alienating co-workers, friends and family. I knew I was loosing it!
After my sleep study, there was a feeling of relief that there was something really wrong with me. I knew that I had to know everything there was about this diagnosis and treatment in order for me to deal with it.
This site was a life saver for me. The people here were warm, compassionate and so willing to share their experiences. I learned about my disorder, how to deal with my DME in order to get the equipment I required, how to adapt my equipment and most important that I was not alone!
I have good days and bad days since I started treatment. But I know that if I have a problem I have a place to come for help.
Accept your diagnosis, learn from the experience offered. You might find out why so many people come here.
Make no mistake Sleep Apnea is deadly, it is not normal to stop breathing. It affects you mentally and physically. As far as myself, I want a better quality of life then I had.
Seena

Linda,

Please let us know exactly where you are in your therapy.
Did you have a sleep study and if so do you know what the results were?
Do you have a machine and mask mask yet?
If you do what kind?
No need to be confused or to cry all the time you have made a good choice to come here for help.
Now all you have to do is give us some information about where you stand with your therapy and we will be able to help you.
Don't give up Linda give us a try you will feel better!

Anonymous wrote:Linda,

Please let us know exactly where you are in your therapy.
Did you have a sleep study and if so do you know what the results were?
Do you have a machine and mask mask yet?
If you do what kind?
No need to be confused or to cry all the time you have made a good choice to come here for help.
Now all you have to do is give us some information about where you stand with your therapy and we will be able to help you.
Don't give up Linda give us a try you will feel better!

Also always remember to sign in.
The post above was mine.

seenas wrote:Lola,
Somehow, I get the feeling you are crying here for help. I do not believe that you do not know the seriousness of sleep apnea, but I do feel you might be in denial. Unfortunately, it will not go away. My first step was acceptance. Prior to my sleep study I knew something was wrong with me, but I could not figure out the cause; neither could the Doctors as well! I was gaining weight rapidly, sleeping less then 2 hours a nit, always tired, my temper out of control, severely depressed and I could not concentrate. I was alienating co-workers, friends and family. I knew I was loosing it!
After my sleep study, there was a feeling of relief that there was something really wrong with me. I knew that I had to know everything there was about this diagnosis and treatment in order for me to deal with it.
This site was a life saver for me. The people here were warm, compassionate and so willing to share their experiences. I learned about my disorder, how to deal with my DME in order to get the equipment I required, how to adapt my equipment and most important that I was not alone!
I have good days and bad days since I started treatment. But I know that if I have a problem I have a place to come for help.
Accept your diagnosis, learn from the experience offered. You might find out why so many people come here.
Make no mistake Sleep Apnea is deadly, it is not normal to stop breathing. It affects you mentally and physically. As far as myself, I want a better quality of life then I had.

This is very similar to my own story.... I too can't tell you how glad I was to actully know what was wrong. I too wanted a better quality og life.

Thank you preemiern!

Since I have not even diagnosed my problem, I've felt sheepish about posting on this forum. But I believe this was a hit and run post, and I can sneak in here and say something.

I was doing a search for headache, and your post came up.

This is day two of being ill. Talk about agony. Excedrin Migraine won't even touch this.

I woke up on my back last night, yelling. That has only happened three or four times in my life. I was dreaming about sleeping in a jungle, with tigers around my bed.

Anyways...I keep coming here, and I get closer to discovering what I think is apnea.

All I can say is thanks for being here. I'm so tired of being scared of being sick. And your post sounds just like my situation.

I just feel like I'm finally going down the right path.

I'm very stubborn, and very slow to discover. So I've needed all the help I can get.

Ouch. I'm very unhappy today.

GREGG:

Glad to have you here - finally .

I too could have writen that post; in fact, I copied it and sent it to a couple friends. I couldn't have written it any better - so accurate in every way.

I am so happy for you that you've determined your problem. Aren't dreams also revealing? I do hope that you seek out the best help available. Lucky that you found this site and did some reading BEFORE going to the doctor, having a sleep study, seeing a respiratory therapist, and dealing with a DME (durable medical equipment supplier) - and be sure to call your insurance company re your benefits. Quite a list of things to do, but you now have the advantage.

Take care, and good luck in your appointments and discussions.
We're always here, don't forget!

Kathleen

Kathleen, thanks!

I also found another post by Selfseeker that described what I have been experiencing.

I am a bit different than most people. I like to do things for myself. It's good and bad. In 1998 I had a friend tell me he thought I might have sleep apnea. Had I gone to a doctor, I might have solved this problem. And to make things even stranger, I used to work right next to Dr. Dement's office. I always wondered what was going on in that lab. But no...I had to try and figure it out myself. And after all of these years, I am coming back to apnea.

And here I am still doing it myself. At least to a certain degree. I'm working on buying an oximeter. And when I'm done, selling back on ebay. I think it's the best way, and the cheapest. It's partly because I know what dark hole I can fall into if I just start going to doctors. Although I now have a pretty good handle on where to go and what I might have. But at some point, I will have to get to the doctor's. I recently canceled my insurance after they upped my rates. And I'm not anxious to start up again. But after all I've seen, it's actually cheaper and easier to just pay out the cash and be done. I want to be in control. It's why I'm a mechanic, welder, engineer. I've never brought my car in to a shop.

I just hope it's apnea.

What i have learned is that this is an amazing problem. People don't know they have it. And it's really bad news on the body.

So hopefully I'll diagnose and alleviate the problem. I'm kind of finding it hard to communicate about this. But like any complex problem, if I keep researching, and working on it, eventually I'll discover the solutions.

I think the trouble I'm having is that I have never had a good solution to a problem in my life. But this apnea, according to testaments I've read here, fits every problem I have. From the depression to the headaches to the lack of memory and lack of dreams in my life. Maybe even bed wetting when I was a kid. I am dearly hoping for a problem to be cleanly solved this time.

And you're right- I find that my dreams are an indicator. I have gross dreams on the nights before I am sick.

I can't say I'm diagnosed yet. Just getting closer.

I'm kind of hazy. My horrible headache is gone. But I'm beat up. I may have discovered a cure for the incurable headaches. I took a handful of my electrolyte caps that I use for extremely hard bike riding. I had heard they might help. And within an hour my head was under control. So I'm blabbing here, not necessarily making a whole lot of sense.

It's nice to be around such friendly people. I guess I'm still a bit frightened by all of this. And it's really weird to actually hope that this is apnea.