What led you to your diagnosis of apnea?

My son has RLS and my wife complained about my snoring when the Dr. asked if my son snored during his yearly visit. After a quick consultation I had 2 sleep studies and now I'm a proud owner of a cpap machine. I've been using it or about a month now with no problems.

I have been tired all 56 years of my life. For as long as I can remember I have had problems with sleep (took a long time to go to sleep, woke up often, sometimes could not go back to sleep, very light sleeper, bothered by light and noise, etc.)

My partner of 18 years reported to me that my snoring was getting increasingly worse. Many times after snoring I would get very quiet and she would lay there wondering and worrying if I was breathing. We talked about SA sometimes, but were not convinced it was my problem as I did not have classic signs of waking up gasping, morning headaches, falling asleep at work or behind the wheel, etc.

I managed to lose about 20 pounds and was within 5 pounds of optimal weight, but it did nothing for the snoring. About that time I hit 50 and my GP gave me a referral for a colonoscopy. Right now a bunch of you are going eeewwwww! I did too and didn't follow up on the referral. At age 54 I got my 3rd referral (I had ignored the 2nd one as well).

At that point I was managing a chronic disease prevention program, and could only refuse to participate in good disease prevention medicine for so long. So I had the colonoscopy. While the prep is quite unpleasant, you get great drugs that knock you out for the procedure so you not only don't know what they are doing to you, you don't care. Colorectal cancer is not something to wish on one's worst enemy -- I urge all you 50+ out there to get a colonoscopy. And as one member of this forum said, if you can deal with a hose on one end, you should be able to deal with one on the other end - LOL

Anyway, after the procedure, the gastroenterologist told me everything went fine, but that I had SA and needed a sleep study. The sleep study revealed mild to moderate OSA.

I have been on cpap for almost a year and it is a roller coaster for me. Problems I am dealing with include:

Continuing insomnia
Difficulty adjusting to cpap
Sharp increase in anxiety
Continuing tiredness
Stiff jaw muscles (tension related?)
Painful sore on side of tongue related to stiff jaw
Unpleasant side effects of medications the docs have prescribed to try to address the anxiety, stiff jaw, jaw & tongue pain, and insomnia

Despite that list of "issues", I am so grateful that I am getting treatment for OSA. Here is the upside:

No more snoring
AHI is usually <2
No getting up 2-3 times a night to pee
Seldom nap on weekends
Seldom fall asleep while watching TV

Yes, I am still tired, but I am having a gradual improvement. Given the problems I have had adjusting to cpap, I am sure I could not have been compliant without this forum and all the wisdom I find here.

In reading all the posts in this thread, I see several people mentioned shallow breathing. I have done that all my life. I think cpap is helping some with that.
Even more helpful, I took a few lessons in restorative yoga and learned to do "belly breathing." I now do some deep breathing sessions each day. I noticed that Nodzy posted about getting an inexpensive exercise spirometer. I will be interested in Nodzy's experience with that.

Janna

I have snored for many years but it seemed to be getting worse with time. There were several times when was awakened by gasping, choking and coughing and feeling very panicked with not being able to inhale a breath. The morning after theses "events" occured I was extremely wiped out and felt like I had not been to sleep at all. These episodes were getting more frequent and scared me very much. I usually woke up with severe headaches.

I researched Sleep Apnea and talked to my uncle who has been on CPAP for many years then called my MD. She wouldn't order a sleep study without an appt first so I put it off for a few weeks, until I had another very scary gasping, choking episode. She ordered a home pulse oximetry for that same night (I don't think she was yet conviced I had it) and called me with the results. Her first words were "I think you do have sleep apnea". My O2 Sats dropped in the 80's several times with a few times dropping into the 70's. She ordered a sleep study which I had one week later which showed moderate sleep apnea. I then had a titrated sleep study a week after that.

I've been on CPAP since May 1 and had trouble the first night but have been 100% compliance since. I am feeling so much better now, do not wake up with headaches, have a lot more energy then I did, and am generally less grumpy!

I recognized very similar symptoms in my mother, who since has had two sleep studies. She also is now on CPAP and reports that her life is improving as well!

I very much appreciate the help from the members of this forum. The support and answers to questions and suggestions for help has made all the difference to me! I had lots of trouble my first night and wanted some help/suggestions so called "my" RT and she didn't return my call for one week.
That same day (after not hearing back from my RT) I posted my questions/concerns here and got rapid replys and their suggestions made a huge difference in my being able to tolerate the mask and pressure my 2nd night. I have had no trouble since then and passed along your suggestions to my mother when she started CPAP.
Thank you all! This is a great forum!

I went to an ENT for the first time in the mid 1990’s because of what felt like a constriction in my throat. The ENT, probably got license to practice around the turn of the century, asked if I smoked. I said no and he said I was fine.

Advance to 2003…Wife continues to wake me up throughout the night by shaking me awake or taking the covers to get me to stop snoring. So I try the throat sprays, nasal strips, taking allergy meds before bed, sleeping on side, you name it, without relief. I’ve been asking my family Dr for years about ways to control snoring since my wife and I were not getting much sleep. He had no answers. In 2006 I asked again and then told him I wanted names of ENTs. I searched the internet for info on the ENTs. I wanted someone that was not in the “should have retired decades ago and still using horse-and-buggy technology” category. So I picked one that appeared to have a few years under their belt and may actually be trying to keep current with the ever changing medical breakthroughs.

I filled out a small book of questions at the ENT office. There were silly ones like “do you fall asleep while reading?” (of course doesn’t everyone?). I didn’t see how this was going to help my wife to stop bothering my sleep. After reviewing my score the ENT said that I needed a sleep study. I’ve heard of them but that was for other people. I was going to thank the ENT and not follow up on making the sleep study appointment. This must be pretty common because he had me make an appointment before leaving his office.

Ends up that while I may have been doing my wife a favor by going though this ordeal, it is really me that is benefiting the most! Now we can both get a good night’s rest and I can read a book for hours without falling asleep! My worst night on CPAP is much better than my best night without it.

Sleep Deprived. Can't remember if I answered this one.

Anyway, it was last Xmas. I usually share a hotel room with my folks on our annual trek from the Seattle vicinity to the Sacramento vicinity. My mother complained about my snoring long and loud. Claimed she got no sleep. When we finally got to Sacramento, and our usual two-room suite, she insisted on sleeping outside in the "living room" on the hideabed to get some sleep.

We were all wiped out on that trip, and kept napping at my aunt's house, which miffed her severely.

Mom insisted I get a sleep study. Her friend had just got a cpap and was raving about how great it was. She insisted my snoring was worse than it had ever been.

I called the doc, told her my story, and she ordered the study. I called my ex, and asked him if I quit breathing in my sleep. He said ALL THE TIME. I sorta remember him saying that. I also remember him whining about my snoring. But he left the window open all winter long. I figured it was REVENGE... I mean my snoring being revenge against him for freezing my patooties off...

I've been on hose-crack since April 20, 2007. I'm just now returning to pre-cpap levels of energy. The first months were a huge drop DOWN. I have had spurts of MORE ENERGY, but those aren't sustainable. They just randomly happen. But then... I did that before cpap too.

LOL,
B.

I'm on CPAP because my WIFE wasn't sleeping. She spent the night with her hand on my chest and every time I stopped breathing she'd give me a shake to get me going again. One night when she was feeling particularly frustrated (and/or tired) she let me go to see how long it would take for me to start breathing on my own. At a minute and 30 seconds she was afraid I was going to die so she shook me .... I was gasping to get air. I kinda woke up and she was crying. She was afraid I was going to die.

Talked to doc, got sleep study immediately... the rest is history.

I still find it interesting that *I* didn't know I was doing this. AND I never heard myself snoring.

Definately I didn't know that I was snoring... how do you hear yourself... especially when you live alone?

How did my diagnosis happen? I get a massage every couple of weeks... and when it's a good one... I fall asleep on the massage table. My massage person, would tell me that I stopped breathing.

Add that to the fact that I knew that my father had sleep apnea (still untreated) and that I would spend the night going between the bed and the couch never sleeping more than 4 hours at a time. Plus I know that I was waking up coughing and choking, though some of it I attributed to my asthma.

I walked into my GP's office told her my symptoms and she ordered the test. At the time her hubby had sleep apnea... and now she's been diagnosed with it as well.

It might have been several things, such as: waiting for a train & then wakeing up only to find no train on the tracks or any cars in front of me.
Only cars behind me honking thier horns. Or maybe it was falling asleep
while eating, or sitting on the side of the bed & then takeing a header into
the wall. Or maybe when I was standing in front of the frig. on one of those
sleepless nights & falling head long into it. Or the blured vision while trying to fill out papers at work, or blinking my eyes on the drive into work at 1:00AM only to find two center lines going back to one. Or maybe passing out while sitting in a chair & wakeing up on the floor. Yes I did snore loud enough to wake the dead. Well by now you know that I'm pretty thick headed! I thought most of ths was because of the 12 to 15 hours I was putting in at work plus the two hours driving time each day. I guess the main thing was totaling out my truck on the way to work one night at about 60 mph. (ouch thats going to leave a mark) Well I heal pretty fast, or at least I healed better than my pickup.
Then someone told me about this sleep apnea thing & told me to get checked out. I called my skinny ass doctor which told me that the sleep doctor would just tell me that I was overweight, but he would set up an appt. for me if I wanted. I told my doctor that I wasn't overweight just too short for my weight. Since I have been on the hose everything is better, I still feel like crap but after two years but I'm still kicken.
CPAP to me is like Listering Mouth Wash, I'm not overly fond of it but I still use it every day. (100% compliant)

I have always been able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat.My wife is envious of that. I got to the point of always being tired,sleepy & finally just being sick to my stomach all the time.When I went to my Dr. for my D.O.T. physical(truck driver) I told him what was going on on with me & after doing a bunch of blood work or stuff & said "There's been a lot of talk about sleep studies lately" (about 4 years ago) "you willing to give it a shot"? The rest is history.Heck I can stay awake all day now! All B.S. aside, I really feel that it has saved my life.

I snore badly, but what got my attention is that my sons said I was holding my breath while sleeping.
My wife also said that as I grew older (54 now); my snoring has gotten worse.

These last 3 months, I have been falling a sleep in the middle of the day. 3-4 PM. I'm a software developer....desk job.
This never happened before

So a trip a specialist said go for the sleep study. They said I had over 200 incidents where the oxygen in my blood went so low
that my brain couldn't even shake me up and my body was suddenly awaken due to this.

Now, after that trip they wanted me back to where a "nose" mask. They now said that I slept like a baby and the results are being
sent to the doctor.

Before I did go for the 2nd trip, I visited the specialist and asked why bother going to the 2nd sleep apnea when he is going to perform
a septoplasy anyways. (deviated septum). He said they needed to know the results of the mask.

So, next month heading for surgery and looking for a VERY portable machine that allows me to carry to exotic countries like
Africa and Papa New Guinea.

Regards Al

a minute and 30 secs without breathing?wow.

Debilitating headaches. They would knock me out for 2-3 days at a time. I held my breath for 112 seconds during the sleep study. 100 % complient for 7+ years except for about 5 nights due to circumstanses beyond my control (diverted to Atlanta at 11:00 PM and have a flight at 5:00 AM. I do not like that airport. Once on a red-eye flight. Once sleeping in a dormatory tent in post Katrina Biloxi, when they turned out the light they killed the power to the outlet I was bunked next to. I spent the rest of the week sleeping in the choir loft of the church. Now I know why they call a church a sanctuary.)

I knew my husband had it; after his first sleep study, the #1 recommendation was he sleep on his side.
#2 was titration. No way, even with my most deft nagging.
One day, after he mentioned that I was the bad snorer; I asked him,"Do I stop breathing?"
He said that he couldn't tell because he can't hear that well.
Then I asked if my snoring was 'broken up' . His answer was in the affirmative.
I made an appointment with my primary doc, told him the story--two studies
(I didn't pass muster for a 'split') and what seemed like an eon later --More like 6 or 7 weeks total--I was 'hosed'

Im an oddball.. never a moment of daytime sleepiness or being tired.. a freakin energizer bunny all day most of the night.

I was an insomniac as a child, and looked forward to the day I would not have to get up early in the morning when I was an adult.
I swore I would never have a morning job, and I didnt.

In college when I was traveling with my team mates on an athletic team, nobody wanted to sleep with me because they said
I made "funny noises" when I slept.

Fifteen years ago when I was up all night with a girlfriend who was having a baby, I fell asleep on a sofa on my back the next morning,
and I woke up, and my heart was beating all over the place, not fast, just stopping and starting a lot..

I look back and realize that was the first time I had a noticable OSA symptom.

I have had the irregular heart beat for fifteen years about once a week, when I woke up, but it always stopped before we made it to
the doctors office.. The doctor (pcp )did not seem concerned, and said most people have irregular heart beats once in awhile.
(mine only happened when I was waking up though) SORT OF A CLUE, GEEZ! It sort of upset me that the doctor didnt even consider OSA,
but that was fifteen years ago, maybe they didnt know about it back then, and I didnt fit the "profile" as I was female and an athlete.

When my husband had a heart attack last year, he made me go to a cardiologist, told her I never slept, and she ordered an oximetry test.

That came back normal because I didnt sleep with it on me. So the cardiologist sent me to a pulmonoligist, and she is the one who ordered
a sleep study.. and here I am..

My cardo dr sent me in because of high blood pressure, waking all night for bathroom breaks and being so tired during the day.