Do I have sleep apnea?

Hi, I feel a little silly asking this, but I am not certain how to bring this up with my doctor and parents. I am 21 years old and have, for about the past 10 years, been waking up from my sleep because I wasn't breathing. When it first started, I would have a dream that I was stuck somewhere small (like between the rows of seats in a car) and couldn't move. The entirety of the dream was me struggling to move and ended when I woke up realizing that I had not been breathing during this dream. After a couple years, this type of dream stopped and evolved into what I now experience at night. I am now aware that I am not breathing, it's like my brain wakes up, but not my body... I can't move, can't breathe, and my brain knows it but can't really do anything about it. So I summon up all my strength to wake myself up with a sort of jump of the whole body. It takes a lot of concentration and brain power. For the longest time (10 years) I have blamed this on my sleep position, thinking that I had my neck in a weird angle and was blocking my airway. This whole dream/waking up thing has been kind of random... maybe a few times in a month or a week but not again for several months, or a couple times every month for many months. Lately (the past year) it has been worse, and will happen several times in a night a few times a week. This scares me obviously, as it just isn't right to not breathe while sleeping. So I researched it and found all these sites on sleep apnea and think I may have it. I am constantly tired and even when I do not wake up from not breathing during the night, I am still exhausted during the day. Could it be that I am correcting my breathing without waking up? The sites say mostly older men have it, or obese people, or people with diabetes, and I don't fall into any of those categories. Sorry this is so long, I just wanted some advice from people who have it and know more about it than I do. Thanks for all your input!

Sure sounds like you should have the possibily checked out.

You don't have to snore, be overweight, be old, or diabetic to have sleep apnea.

Risk factors (not required) are being male, over 40, loud snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness, and a neck size 17" or larger.

Do you know if you snore? Has anyone observed you either stop breathing or gasp for air during your sleep?

Many people have dozens of breathing events per hour (believe it or not) and have no recollection of them in the morning.

You should talk to your doctor about scheduling a sleep study (you sleep all night with wires and sensors attached -- it's not as bad as it sounds) for a definitive diagnosis.

Everything jeff said.

O.

I was diagnosed with "mild" sleep apnea 3 years ago and did nothing about it because I didn't "like" the machine....I too had dreams that the ceiling was closing in on me and I had to move in time so it didn't crush me.....I honestly believe that this was happening because I wasn't breathing! I went and had a new sleep study done in May and it went from mild to moderate/severe. I am now using my machine every night.

I think you should definitely have it checked out.

Good luck to you!!!!

Breathing related dreams are not unusual with apnea. A doctor once told me they hear it all the time. I have a journal that I kept for a few years with close to 50 dreams noted. Their tone got progressively more ominous and caused me anxiety about going to sleep. Once I got my apnea effectively treated the dreams went away.

A sleep study will answer your question.

Kathy

One other point - a few people who do not necessarily have sleep apnea will have scary experiences when first awaking. It is as if they are paralyzed (and is called sleep paralysis) - can't move to get up or anything else for a few minutes. It's usually something referred to a neurologist by GP's, but in fact is not particularly harmful or something to worry about and often just goes away on its own. You do sound like you may have apnea, but also possibly sleep paralysis, so you might want to keep that in mind, because they are not necessarily related, though I suppose could overlap, but if you have a sleep study that may be sorted out too.