Anyone have sleep apnea?

I had an incident, the night before last, where I woke up unable to breath. Seemed as though I had swallowed some saliva down the wrong tube. Let me tell you, that was some scary stuff. Took a good couple minutes to be able to breath again. I made mention of it, and someone asked if I had sleep apnea. I seem to fit the criteria, and symptoms, but haven't setup anything to get tested.

I guess my question is, does anyone here have it? And what is YOUR remedy. I hate the idea of the CPAP machine, and doubt I would ever use one. I just dread the idea of ever waking up like that again.

My father and father inlaw both have it. They were heavy snorers and would stop breathing for what seemed like minutes at a time in their sleep. They both use the machine now and have seen changes in their health. They aren't tired during the day, they have lost some weight, and we can't hear them snore so everyone wins.

If you do develop it consider the machine. SA takes a pretty good toll on the heart. The way they found my F-I-Ls was because when he "jump started". (both him and my dad would literally jump up off the bed when they started breathing again) he suffered a mild heart attack.

Crap, that seals it. I "jump" awake off and on.

My doctor wants me to do the testing.

i sleep terribly and I think my neighbors can hear me sleep.

My brother-in-law and a coworker both got the machines and swear by them. I'm trying to convince myself to go get tested and see if apnea is my problem, too. I'm always tired and sleep fitfully.

I had it when I was about 3-4 years old. Tonsilectomy solved it for me. I went from being literally the smallest kid in my class to being one of the bigger kids.

My girlfriends dad has it. He lost about 20 pounds on a diet and exercise regimin before treatment and went into a stall weight-loss wise. After 2 months on the machine at night he's lost another 30 pounds.

Friend of mine has a CPAP. Before that and some surgery you could hear him snore across the house. He does sleep better now, but there is an adjustment period. Not having a heart attack, priceless.

My dad has sleep apnea, it took YEARS of feeling like crap for him to finally get tested. Sure enough he had it and was told to use the CPAP machine. After about two months of getting used to it, he now wont EVER sleep without it. He even started to act different, he had more a lot more energy than usual and felt all around better. I say give the cpap a shot, let yourself get used to it and see what it can do for you.

You guys are all scaring me... I don't snore or anything, but i jump awake, and i rarely get more than 3-4 good hours of sleep a night. I'm always tired, though i'd like to think that's a result of my job.

93celicaGT2 wrote: You guys are all scaring me... I don't snore or anything, but i jump awake, and i rarely get more than 3-4 good hours of sleep a night. I'm always tired, though i'd like to think that's a result of my job.

Do you know that you don't snore?

mtn wrote:

93celicaGT2 wrote: You guys are all scaring me... I don't snore or anything, but i jump awake, and i rarely get more than 3-4 good hours of sleep a night. I'm always tired, though i'd like to think that's a result of my job.

Do you know that you don't snore?

The girlfriend tells me that i only snore when i'm sick... i hope that's good enough?

In reply to 93celicaGT2:

Yep, sounds good enough. I only asked cause I never knew that I snored until my roommate mentioned it.

Sigh... I've had a doctors referral for testing since 08... I wonder if its still good.

I guess I should stop ignoring the advice from the mother eh...

Don't have to snore to have it, unfortunately. Could be central sleep apnea. Or, you're just not vocal about it. ;)

I snore like a mofo after a few beers or a late night meal but sleeping on my side solves the problem. Losing 20lbs helped considerably also.

I could stand to lose some weight. My only issue is.... I really like food. :D And good food, at that.

mtn wrote: In reply to 93celicaGT2: Yep, sounds good enough. I only asked cause I never knew that I snored until my roommate mentioned it.

Yeah, i've had arguments with roomates in the past.

"Dude, do something about that snoring, it's ridiculous."

"I don't snore!!!!"

I don't believe I have apnea, but I definitely snore like a diesel locomotive. That used to be solved by sleeping on my side, but that no longer helps. As I get older and heavier it's getting slowly worse.

If I build up some sleep debt by being sick or not enough sack time, my snoring gets worse, but if I'm rested a bit better the snoring eases off.

Hmm. I snore like a chainsaw, but sleep like a log.

I think my girlfriend has mentioned the stopped-breathing-for-a-second thing, but I think I've only done that a couple times, and only when I've been drinking, and I never jerk awake. I know my dad does that pretty often, though, and I definitely learned how to snore from him.

Interesting.

I have Sleep Apnea. I was diagnosed earlier this year.

Ask yourself some questions - Do you snore? Do you have a thick neck? (I am a 22) Do you still feel like crap even after sleeping for 7-8 hours?

I did the testing and the results were that I was awakening on average 32 TIMES PER HOUR!!! That meant that I was sleeping about 2 1/2 minutes per run. SA does terrible things to you. First of all your body thinks you are asphyxiating so it:

• Pumps a bunch of sugar into your blood - result diabetes
• Jumps you heart rate up and dumps adreniline - result - High Blood Pressure and possible heart attacks.
• You sleep like E36 M3, and so does your spouse or significant other. You end up falling asleep when you should be playing with your kids or talking to your partner. (Or wrenching on your car!)
• You are at high risk of falling asleep at the wheel and killing yourself and anyone else with you.
• In Ontario, if you refuse treatment - your Doctor MUST report that to the MTO and they can pull your license.

The CPAP machine is pricey and it takes about 2 weeks to get used to it - BUT you sleep like a baby once you are used to it. So if you want to die young and ruin your relationships - go ahead ignore it. Otherwise get your butt to a Dr. and get yourself tested if you think you have SA.

I am sorry I waited so long.

CPAP= Human TuRbOz yO

...oh, and yes, I have apnea. No, I haven't done anything about it. Yes, I know better.

I hadn't thought about the spouses lack of sleeping, she has been exhausted lately and I think I am to blame.

My mom, dad and wife all have CPAP machines. My wife told me just yesterday to ask my doctor about it because I was snoring like a log and would stop breathing for a few seconds each time.

I only hesitate because there is a deep rooted feeling of the "lets invent a machine and then figure out what to do with it" to me. When my mom got it, she would tell anyone she could that they should get tested for it, almost like she was selling it.

Anything that cures problems that anyone could have (Do you snore? Do you feel tired sometimes? Do you breath in and out? You could have SA), always makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

I'm not knocking anyone on here that has a CPAP, afterall, over half my family does. It just makes me wonder.

-Rob

alex wrote: Hmm. I snore like a chainsaw, but sleep like a log. I think my girlfriend has mentioned the stopped-breathing-for-a-second thing, but I think I've only done that a couple times, and only when I've been drinking, and I never jerk awake. I know my dad does that pretty often, though, and I definitely learned how to snore from him. Interesting.

BTW, I was NEVER aware of waking up. You don't really awaken, only your body does.