so whats your thoughts on this

just out of curiosity.... whats your thoughts on this... I work in a chemical plant and have for 17 years since I was 18.... anyways still having problems but things have gotten better with the cpap no.. I stopped using it because I felt so horrible I just didn't want the aggrevation. so feeling there is something more going on I saw a neurologist. His opinion was this one of three things mono, sleep apnea or a chemical exposure. but I've seen numerous dr.s since october and the chemical issue has been in my head for a while. Do I have sleep apnea I'm sure I do. But I don't think its that severe in my opinion. I go to bed every night around 10pm usually asleep within 30 minutes back up around 6-7 am. I'm not tired all day long, don't nap throughout the day and never think of it. He has ordered a day time sleep study for me, sounds like they stick you in a room to see if you'll fall asleep? When my sleep study was done my oxygen level hit 85% for 15 minutes and stayed above the rest of the time. Is that enough to put you in a bad brain fog, no concentration, horrid headaches, I know alot of you hit much lower levels in your studies. I thought at first 85% was horrible but now i'm scratching my head wondering?my alt level liver enzymes has been reading high? mono maybe? as I did test posotive for it. but the dizzy always out of it feeling? I would think to get to that point my oxygen level would have to go lower then 85% any thoughts?

I'm no medical person, but I do have *lots* of personal experience with your symptoms.

Few comments:

1) Does your bloodwork check your Potassium levels? I saw some improvement in dizziness and headaches once we figured out that the diuretic I was taking for high blood pressure was sucking all the K out of my system. Don't know if you are on blood pressure medicine or not; blood pressure should be the first thing they checked when you reported chronic headaches though. If you are on a diuretic (like HCT) for blood pressure, different people can begin to have problems with different elements/minerals in the system. And, if it is low potassium, you don't want it to get so low that your heart revolts like it did for a certain woman in Florida these days. Just a thought.

2) Liver enzymes: If you are taking a statin (zocor, crestor, lipitor, etc.) for cholesterol management, that single drug class can result in spikes in several of the different liver enzymes. Statins stress the liver when they are metabolized such that the liver cells literally explode from the stress. When the cell walls break down, the enzymes are released and transfer into the blood stream where they show as elevated levels in your blood work.

3) Does your plant work with Toluenes or Ketones? I worked in a plant back in the 80's when electronic circuit board assembly still used toxic de-greasers to get excess flux off after the soldering process. We had all sorts of handling conditions around those chemicals based on long-term low-level exposure resulting in chronic headaches, dizziness, nausea and the like.

4) Does your blood work include high "eosiniphil" counts? These are the buggers that are generated in the upper portion of the intestinal tract that are responsible for your body's histimic (allergic) response to stimuli. It could be that your immune system is over-reacting to whatever stimulus it doesn't like resulting in the headaches, dizziness, etc. A treatment for the symptoms in this case can be an antihistimine that is able to cross the blood-brain border like Zyrtec, Atarax, Benadryl, etc. The newer "non-drowsy" antihistimines like Claritin, Clarinex, Allegra, etc. do not cross this border and can only treat periphearal symptoms.

Jeff - who reads WAY too much based on the 13 different prescription medications that I take daily

thanks for the input an to answer some of your questions, I am on no blood pressure or cholesterol medications at this time. My blood pressure has been running a little on the high side but my dr says its not bad enough to treat at this time and told me to watch my salt intake.
The plant I work at does use tons of solvents keytone, acetone, styrene, etc. and also some other great items leads, parabenzoquinones etc. I have had extensive blood work done an as far as I know the mineral portion was all in spec. As well as 2 mris ct scans, stress tests, and nothing shows up and this has been since october!! Im just afraid that if its chemical exposure we should be doing something with it but dr.s these days seem to be in a hurry for one thing and thats their money... no offense to our dr.s out there you've worked hard to get where you are but holly cow listen to your patients!!! I had an ongoing fever for three months my dr. looked at me and said you have a fever? I said doc look back through your records you found that two months ago!! the fever seems to be under control for now but I`m still taking antibiotics so we'll see what happens today is my last day for that. ok enough about dr.s but in my mind I've thought for some time it was chemical related

My O2 never fell below 92%, but my RDI was 26 (according to my neuro put me on the edge of severe apnea.) Yes, I had horrible headaches, brain fog, and depression. All of these symptoms, along with the tiredness, have eased quite a bit since I have been on my APAP for the last 5 weeks.

SOunds like symptoms of Sleep apnea to me. Saturation of 85% is definitely low, especially for 15 mins. High blood pressure - yours may be caused by sleep apnea.

okay thanks all I guess I'll dust off the cpap and give this another try I just don't feel like Iamb tired I guess is why I have trouble believing its sleep apnea. I never nap or want a nap during the day hours but I am just mentally out of it!! headaches and focus concentration issues are my big complaints. Constantly catch my self doing stupid things get the milk out of the fridge and put it back in the cupboard type things that have become real irritating to me.