Do I really have Sleep Apnea?

I've been struggling with a CPAP off and on for a couple of years. I think I'm ready to give it another shot. But, I'm wondering if I really do have sleep apnea. I do snore like a big ole dog, or so my wife tells me. But, I'm not sleepy during the day at all. I wake up groggy and not real rested, but after I have my coffee and read the paper, I'm OK. The only time I fall asleep during the day is sometimes after dinner while sitting on the couch watching TV I may doze off for a few minutes. I do have high blood pressure and diabetes already. My wife has never mentioned Nighttime choking or gasping spells and says she doesn't see that.

I went to a sleep specialist a few years back because of the snoring. I had the sleep study. They said I had sleep apnea. I got the CPAP and have a very hard time sleeping with it. My wife tells me it slips or something and makes hissing noises. When I did use it for a while when I woke up I felt better and rested upon waking up. But between being hard to sleep and the wife bugging me about the hissing noises I just gave up on it. Now I'm thinking I should probably give it another shot. My doctor has never really explained sleep apnea to me.

My machine is now beeping when I turn it on and the manual says I need to have it checked by a professional. So, I'm going to make an appointment and talk to them about sleep apnea and ask a lot of questions. I'm also going to get a copy of my sleep study. I'm really thinking of trying to find a new doctor. Any tips on finding a good one?

I've been reading the posts and this sounds like a good place to troubleshoot my leak issues and better understand it. It also seems like there is hope in learning to sleep with this thing on.

I guess I'm wondering if it really is sleep apnea since I don't have many symptoms.

Well, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but if the sleep test indicated you have sleep apnea then you probably do. Definitely get your sleep test and post the results here! Lots of people can help you with what it means.

My husband didn't notice any of my symptoms of sleep apnea for a while, either. Not until the doctor suggested a sleep test did he mention that he heard me stop breathing a couple of times. Also, everyone has different symptoms. Some people snore, nap, fall asleep during the day, etc. But some people don't nap at all, have never fallen asleep inappropriately, and they don't snore either. Everyone's different, so you can't just go by symptoms, you have to go by what the sleep test tells you. I don't think I've ever heard of someone who was told they had OSA when they really didn't.

I wonder if you need a new test though. If it's been 2 years, you might need to. I'm not sure, I'm pretty new to this, maybe someone else here will know more.

What kind of machine and mask do you have? Did you notice leaks when you used it or did it leak while you were sleeping?

Definitely stick around, I think you can get a lot of help here!

When I did use it for a while when I woke up I felt better and rested upon waking up

I wake up groggy and not real rested

The only time I fall asleep during the day is sometimes after dinner while sitting on the couch watching TV I may doze off for a few minutes

I do have high blood pressure and diabetes already

I guess I'm wondering if it really is sleep apnea since I don't have many symptoms.

Sorry, mate, you do.
However:

Welcome to the forum - this is the best place for trouble shooting - together, we've got many more successful sleep hours with the machines and masks than any sleep pro you'll meet.

The mask should neither slip nor hiss, and you may find a different kind of mask serves you much better.

You're on the right track, looking for your PSG data and having your machine serviced.

As for understanding sleep apnea - this video takes a while to load - but its worth watching.

http://www.resmed.com/en-us/clinicians/ ... 40x380.swf

Good luck!

O.

Treating your apneas is more than just allowing you to sleep better without snoring. It is about breathing the precious oxygen that keeps your brain, heart, and other vital organs alive.

That is the biggest failure of the disordered sleep specialist industry. They focus on snoring and sleeping and miss that the rest of the forest is on fire

People need to educate themselves of the danger of untreated OSA ... cuz the sleep docs sure don't.

DreamStalker wrote:Treating your apneas is more than just allowing you to sleep better without snoring. It is about breathing the precious oxygen that keeps your brain, heart, and other vital organs alive.

Perfect. Should be put on every sleep doctor's door, under all logos.


Edit: added DreamStalker as the source of that statement - since jnk's quote of the unedited original made me realize I ommitted it. Such an elegant statement like the above really should not be quoted without the poster's name. My bad.O.

ozij wrote:

DreamStalker wrote:Treating your apneas is more than just allowing you to sleep better without snoring. It is about breathing the precious oxygen that keeps your brain, heart, and other vital organs alive.

Perfect. Should be put on every sleep doctor's door, under all logos.


O.

I agree. And that video should be required viewing after every positive OSA diagnosis.

My suggestion to muddyhounddog is this: Go write down this date, "November 21, 2008," the day you made the post that turned your life around.

Welcome, friend. Pull up a chair. Tell us how we can be of most help to ya.

[Edited to follow ozij's fine example. Good point!]

As Dreamstalker says, treating sleep apnea is about more than treating snoring. It's about keeping oxygen to your brain and reducing arousals caused by a lack of that oxygen or the brains fear that the oxygen is about to be deprived. I myself don't even snore as my test bore out and have very few full apnea's if any. However my hypopneas (reduction in air flow as opposed to full cessation) cause an arousal in my brain even though i am never aware of that when i wake up. Yet for me the effects of those arousals are drastic and dramatic even though the number of them is not great compared to others. I've been very sleepy every day of my life.

The symptoms are going to be different for everybody just like how hypertension or diabetes, while the core disease is the same, the symptomology and how it affects the individual and how it needs to be treated are, well, individual, different for each person. Still some of what you wrote seems to jump off the page. Your groogy on awakening without the cpap and feel better on awakening with.

The fact that a stimulant like coffee makes takes you out of your groggyness is no different than when patients come into the ER where i work and tell me they don't have hypertension or seizures then proceed to list all their antihypertensive or seizure meds. They still have the condition, they have just removed the symptomology. I can't begin to tell you how many patients i have seen with a seizure or stroke becuase they had no symptoms with proper treatment so assumed without speaking to a doc or anyone else that they could stop treatment. Treating a condition like your doing with caffeine or these folks are doing with their meds does not remove the underlying disease, it simply allows you to live life with either a reduction or a resolution of the symptoms, as long that is as you continue treatment or resolve some other comorbid problem.

While i'm very new to this whole CPAP thing, what you describe seems to scream sleep apnea (using that as an umbrella term) to me. As for the mask, yes you can get a better fitting mask. I've only been on cpap a few months and am on mask five and have done some modifying of masks and swapping headgear along the way. I'm not there yet but it's getting better. Stick with it, keep reading, get another test if needed or if too cost prohibitive at the very least learn from all the accumulated knowledge here as i am doing and improve your life. )
cheers,
gregg )

I was never sleepy during the day either but I have moderate sleep apnea. In fact I can't sleep during the day. I think my body chooses to go to sleep based on it's internal clock and ignores how tired or exhausted I am. I would often be so exhausted I was about ready to cry because I wanted to go take a nap but couldn't. I could lie there for an hour in the dark and not go to sleep. I also don't snore and I'm not overweight. Having sleep apnea doesn't mean you exhibit all the easily identifiable symptoms. You only need one symptom, you stop breathing during the night long enough for your body to wake you up into a lighter sleep or for your specific O2 level of your blood to drop below 90% (I think that's the magic number). You may not gasp loudly when you finally catch your breath. It may not even be 10 seconds before you are awakened into a lighter sleep. But it may be as much as a minute or more for some people. Hold your breath for 10 or 15 seconds. Do you gasp when you start breathing again? Probably not. But it could be affecting your sleep.

The point is your sleep is disturbed when you are awakened into a lighter sleep. Then you start getting sleep deprivation symptoms. Or if your specific O2 drops low enough you get hypoxia symptoms too. The snoring is not the issue at all except in the cases were a person snores loud enough to wake themselves up (or the snoring causes abuse from the spouse ).

Some common Sleep Deprivation symptoms:
* tiredness
* depression
* heart disease
* hypertension
* irritability, edginess
* slower reaction times
* slurred speech
* tremors
* inability to tolerate stress
* blurred vision
* behavioral, learning or social problems
* problems with concentration and memory

Some common Hypoxia symptoms:
* rapid breathing
* headaches
* fatigue
* shortness of breath
* nausea
* poor coordination
* lethargy
* dizziness
* mental and muscle fatigue
* hot and cold flashes (nightsweats when sleeping)
* tingling
* visual impairment
* Frequent Nighttime Urination (Nocturia, sometimes causing bedwetting)

Most of the symptoms of hypoxia are usually felt for most of the day, sometimes subsiding later in the day once the body has had a chance to recover some. A lot of doctors aren't familiar with sleep disorders and won't tie these symptoms to sleep apnea. For instance I was on medication for general anxiety disorder for a while because of many of the hypoxia symptoms. I don't need these meds now that I'm on CPAP.

I was in a similar situation. Apnea has been killing off the men in my family for years. I just went to my ent and told him to do the operations to fix my problems. After 6 years and 13,000 hours on my machine , I am glad i did. I am still swollen But for the first time I can sleep without it if i need to. Plus he says it will get even better as I heal. Apnea is serious and can kill you. It;s not something to give up on.

From the syptoms you describe I would say you have sleep apnea. Your sleep study is a medical test, like a blood test, X-ray or MRI, used to diagnose sleep apnea. If it says you have it, you do. If you have sleep apnea, you need to have it treated, without delay. Your sysptoms will not go away, but get worse. The good/great news is, that by treating your OSA with a successful CPAP therapy, you will sigificantly reduce your chance of heart disease and stroke. What you need is a CPAP machine that gives you access to your nightly data, such as pressure, leak rate, and average apneas per hour you are experiance. If your doctor wrote you a prescription for a CPAP machine two years ago, that prescription is still valid, and can be used to purchase what you need, which is one of the better Resmed or Respironics machines. I have and like the Elite, others swear by their machines and wouldn't rade them. You need a properly fitted mask, one that will stay on your face and not leak your air out into the room. If you don't leak, you can get proper therapy, and maybe your snoring will go away. Mine did, to the point my wife thought I had died I was so quiet!! Getting the right mask can be tough, there are lots of them out there. A good health care equipment provider will let you try some on and give you a proper fitting, with you laying down and moving around with the mask hooked up to a machine and under pressure. Unless you have had a significant weight gain or loss in the last two years, you probably won't need a new sleep study. If you want a sleep doctor, look for one that is certified to practice sleep medicine.

You know the answer to your question. Your post screams it. You need to accept what you need to do to survive long term.

Thanks to everyone for their input. I'm just re evaluating things a little bit. I need to learn a lot more obviously. I plan on setting up an appointment with my doctor Monday. I'm also going to setup an appointment with a dentist who also specializes in sleep apnea and see what he's got to say. Advertises that he can fit you with a mouthgaurd to control sleep apnea. I know from reading already a lot of you don't buy into this, but I'm gonna check it out anyway.

Thanks again for you comments.

Hey, if that avatar is supposed to be a muddyhounddog, you're definitely feeling the effects of sleep apnea! Just kidding ya. Welcome to the forum and hope you troubleshoot and get things working right for you soon.

Nothing wrong with checking out all your options. I think anyone who chooses options other than cpap should require proof that their endeavor truly is resolving their apneas. It's not unusual for people to lose weight, have surgery, or get a mouthpiece and never followup with a sleep study to know beyond a shadow of a doubt. I know a guy who had surgery and claimed success, but still slept every time he sat still. Then he got a dental device and reclaimed success. Still sleeps every time he sits still. But says he's fine and doesn't need another sleep study. Some do find success by other means, just don't claim it without being sure. Too much at stake. Best wishes.

Kathy

I think you may be better off going to a shrink to help you change your attitude. Sounds to me you are looking for a way out of CPAP use .... unless your OSA is very mild, there are no other options short of a tracheotomy. So good luck with that!

I use a MAD from my dentist. But since my OSA is not the mild variety, I still need PAP therapy.

muddyhounddog wrote:. . . struggling with a CPAP . . . I think I'm ready to give it another shot. . . .

Please do. You will always be welcome here.

jeff