just diagnosed with sleep apnea....can't believe it.

I am kinda shocked I have apnea, results from sleep study said I stop breathing 17 times in one night, which is significant according to doctor. It seems hard to believe. I don't feel like I have it. I don't feel extremely tired, although once I lay down I am out in less than 5 minutes, most of the time and I do wake up alot in a course of the night, to turn.

Now I am wondering and will have to ask the doctor, is this a serious thing. Like alot of people I don't think of the questions until I leave the doctors office, so I guess I will ask her when I return back to her.


nakita1319

Yes, it is a serious thing. It can lead to unexplained weight gain, depression, daytime sleepiness (like when driving), possible wrecks, high blood pressure, heart attacks and death.

Apnea SUCKS - start keeping a journal on how you slept, ate, and feel for the first six months - once you get treated you'll notice a difference

17 times in one night is not bad at all.

If 17 is your AHI (Apnea/Hypopnea Index which means events per hour), than this would be considered moderate.

If it is indeed for the night, which would give you an AHI of 2.12, assuming an 8 hour night, it would be considered normal. Anything under 5 is.

Regards

woo now Hugh Jass,I am wondering if she said for the hr. or the night, It must be 17 per hour ( will ask) cause she said 5 is normal and mine wasn't normal that is all I know, she told me I said ok, and said I was going for another test with mask.

Thankyou for the reply's it helps with the questions I want to ask the doctor.

nakita1319

What a great idea, to keep a journal. You've talked me into it. No dr. would tell you to do this, and no DME would tell you anything other than BUY ME.

Great posting...
Txs

Clownshow wrote:Apnea SUCKS - start keeping a journal on how you slept, ate, and feel for the first six months - once you get treated you'll notice a difference

Don't fret, you're on the way to the next step where I am !
I had 133 episodes in one night, 124 hypopneas, 7 obstructive and 2 centrals!
When I went for the titration study I had 19, and the dr. said that was GREAT!
I'dve been happier with zero, but my study said that my oxygen did not drop at all. My 2nd study said that the 19 were brief and did not affect sleep quality and no o2 de-saturations. I was at a pressure of 12, which I understand is in the mod-lower-end of high for initial setting. I'm not sure of sign. of all, but it was assuring that the CPAP 2nd study did indeed work.
Get yourself a second study...Pay attn. to this board, there are many many many good people with many many experiences, and you will learn more here than from any doctor and/medical supplier.
ok?
Don't worry, just get yourself a diagnosis, get your papers from the study, and if you need a CPAP, get a copy of your Rx because you can shop and CPAP.com is very helpful, ok?
Check your insurance if you're told you need one, what will they cover.
I've found if we don't advocate for ourselves, we could wind up much worse than your results...........
Good luck
PS--And I haven't even gotten my CPAP yet, it's on order!

hi Nakita, I'm betting the "17" was the AHI - 17 times an hour.

You mentioned:

It seems hard to believe. I don't feel like I have it. I don't feel extremely tired

I never felt extremely tired either, although I'm now sure I actually had sleep apnea all my life. For as long as I can remember, family/friends commented on my snoring. I could function fine with none of the extreme fatigue that others talk about. Until I did a Google search about snoring and started reading about sleep apnea, I wouldn't have believed I had it either - not based on how well I've felt all my life.

But, you know what? After getting on cpap (autopap, actually...much better, imho, than straight cpap) I discovered that what I thought was just a normal "slightly tired sometimes" feeling, didn't have to be that way at all for me!


Before autopap: I could get out of bed ok, but usually felt a little draggy at first - that "Wish I could sleep just a leeetle longer" feeling. Always wondered how "morning people" seemed to actually look forward to waking up early in the morning and hopping right out of bed.

With autopap: I feel like a morning person when I wake up. Surprisingly, even if I've had only 4 or 5 hours of sleep. No desire to stay in bed longer at all. Usually I sleep about 6-7 hours and feel fine now - not sleepy at all in the daytime except perhaps once a week when I might take a nap. I always, always use my machine and mask for every sleeping moment - always at night and always for any naps.

Before autopap: I would get drowsy driving, especially on long trips, but sometimes even on short 30 minute drives. But I thought, "Everyone gets sleepy while driving on long trips." Not so!

With autopap: I never get the least bit drowsy while driving, no matter how long the trip. An amazing difference - besides being much safer, it's a wonderful feeling to be able to drive and drive without that awful droopy-eyed feeling of "Uh oh, I'm getting sleepy..." and the resulting struggle to do things to keep going (sooo dangerous!) or else pull over and take a quick nap.

Before autopap: Even though I didn't think I was tired, I sometimes felt like taking a nap several times a week. But a nap never left me feeling really refreshed. In fact, I'd usually wake up feeling groggy after a nap and took awhile to get going again.

With autopap: I rarely need a nap any more. But when I do take an occasional nap during the week, I feel wide awake when I get up. I would never, ever take a nap without using the machine. As a poster on another board related: She was a patient in a hospital - in for a fairly routine procedure - and during the day asked the nurse to roll her cpap machine over to her so she could take a nap. The nurse remarked, "I thought you only need to use that at night." The patient commented, "OSA doesn't know where the sun is."

Nakita, I never thought I was particularly tired or sleepy or any different from any person getting normal sleep - other than I snored. I never in a million years would have thought I had a sleep breathing disorder, or that something as simple as an autopap machine would make me feel so much more easily wide awake throughout the day. I wasn't struggling to stay awake, other than sometimes.....driving!

Of course, after I started reading about the toll sleep apnea takes on the heart, brain and other organs, I realized that I had been putting my body through an unhealthy amount of unnecessary stress - just by "sleeping"! Or what I thought was "sleep". Autopap sure has made a wonderful difference for me, and I expect it is greatly lessening risk of stroke and heart attack. One walk through any nursing home, looking at people whose strokes have landed them there for the remainder of their lives... well, I'll put up with the slight inconvenience and slight discomfort of using a mask every night from now on.

Of course, after I started reading about the toll sleep apnea takes on the heart, brain and other organs, I realized that I had been putting my body through an unhealthy amount of unnecessary stress - just by "sleeping"! Or what I thought was "sleep". Autopap sure has made a wonderful difference for me, and I expect it is greatly lessening risk of stroke and heart attack. One walk through any nursing home, looking at people whose strokes have landed them there for the remainder of their lives... well, I'll put up with the slight inconvenience and slight discomfort of using a mask every night from now on.

hoo yeah, My gramps has had a few now he's in the home with some alzhiemers as well. He's 96 though