1 in 10 men- Sleep Apnea, educate yourself. (Long, but important)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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1 in 10 males wake in the night, gasping for air. 1 in 10 males sleep for 8 hours and wake up tired and un-rested. 1 in 10 males are sleeping their way to high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, memory problems, weight gain, impotency, and headaches. Sleep apnea is extremely common and affects more than twelve million Americans[sup]1[/sup]. The overwhelming majority of sleep apnea cases have not been identified.

“Apnea” literally means “without breath.” Sleep apnea is the reduction or absence of airflow during sleep and there are three types: obstructive, central, and mixed[sup]2[/sup].[ul][li]Obstructive: can be caused by sinus congestion or, more commonly, the relaxation of the soft tissue in the throat leads to blockage of the airway; []Central: the brain fails to signal the bodies muscles to breath;[]Mixed: a combination of both of the above.[/ul]In addition to sleep apnea, there is hypopnea (Hypopnea" also comes from Greek: “hypo” meaning “beneath” or “less than normal” and “pnea” meaning “breath.”) Hypopnea differs from apnea in that it is not the complete pausing of breath, but rather a lessening of airflow or a struggle to breathe. Both cause the level of oxygen saturation in the blood stream to drop. Both cause the brain to briefly arouse from in order for the person to resume breathing. Put simply, the brain never gets to rest and as a result, sleep is extremely fragmented and of poor quality.[/li]
Risk factors for apnea include:[li]being male[]being overweight[]being over 40[/li]However, it can also affect women, children and men at any age.
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PERSONAL INFORMATION

I’m 28, male and maybe 10# overweight, but fit and active by any standard. My apnea was first noticed by my roommates in college, ten years ago. Then, I was in excellent physical shape and three years later, when I joined the Marine Corps, I was arguably in the best shape of my life.

I took the second of a two-part sleep study last night. My symptoms include[li]snoring, []daytime drowsiness, and []non-restorative sleep (I wake up feeling unrested.)[/li]Out of 433 minutes recorded time, I was “asleep” for 406 minutes. Broken down, my sleep stages percentages were:[ul] [li]Wake: 2.6%[]Stage I: 13% (normally 2-5%)[]Stage II: 68.5% (normally 45-60%)[]Stage III/IV: 0% (normally up to 40% of sleep time) []REM: 15.8% (normally 20-25%)[/ul]I had, on average, 66.7 episodes of apnea/hypopnea (84.5 during REM.) Normal sleepers have <5. Again, broken down, the numbers fall out like this:[ul][]Central apnea: 0[]Obstructive apnea: 87[]Mixed apnea: 2Obstructive hypopnea: 364[/li]My brain had to wake up enough to tell my body to breathe 463 times in 6 ¾ hours.[/ul] My blood oxygen sturation, essential for the repairs that occur during sleep, had a mean of 95%, but a minimum of 78% (not good!) and I spent >25% of my sleeping time with a SatO[sub]2[/sub] below 90% My body was not able to rest and make proper repair to itself because of this.
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I give you all this information so that you might understand the gravity of sleep apnea. It can happen to anyone, but it can be corrected and it can be controlled.

If you snore heavily, wake up feeling tired or unrested, no matter how long you’ve been “asleep,” have had people tell you that you stop breathing or gasp in your sleep, or wake up cranky and irritable regularly, ask your doctor about participating in a sleep study.
[sub]*: To understand why this is bad, contrary to popular belief, it is stage 3 & 4 sleep, or delta sleep, that is the “deepest” stage of sleep (not REM) and the most restorative. It is delta sleep that a sleep-deprived person’s brain craves the first and foremost[sup]3[/sup]. [/sub]

Further information and source material:
1: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (National Institutes of Health)
2: American Sleep Apnea Association
3: SleepDoctor

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My brother was just diagnosed with sleep apnea, and his current treatment is sleeping with some type of mask. He’s hoping to avoid surgery.

I have chronic insomnia (since the hormones hit at age 12 or so), but not sleep apnea, so I know what it’s like to some degree. It initially takes me a long time to get to sleep - sometimes hours - and I wake very easily, though I can usually get back to sleep fairly easily.

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The mask is part of a CPAP system. CPAP (Continuous Postive Airway Pressure) devices produce postive airway pressure which is delivered through a hose connected to a nasal or nose & mouth mask. The positive pressure prevents the collapse of the airway during sleep. They don’t breath for you, they just keep air flowing or force air to flow when the body stops. It’s a good thing.

Again, (obstructive) sleep apnea is extimated to affect eight percent of the general population. The National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research has extimated that 80 percent of patients afflicted with sleep disorders remain undiagnosed.

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Glad they’re working you through it and hope they get you sleeping better soon. You know I’m thinkin’ of ya in this!

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Amen, amen, amen. My father let his apnea go untreated for most of his adult life. It robbed him of energy, increased his blood pressure, damaged his heart, and is a big contributor to his weight problem. If I go on, I’ll sound like I’m whining.

If you suspect that you might have apnea, go to a doctor. If not for you, for the other people in your life. In my case, my dad was often too tired by the end of his workday to go out and do stuff with me and mom…

Best of luck to you, thinksnow.

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I have apnea and sleep with a CPAP. I also had a UPPP (surgery) last year. It was extremely painful and difficult, but, I think, worthwhile.

Anyone with undiagnosed, untreated apnea, is endangering his/her self and everyone around him/her every time they get behind the wheel.

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Elvis, I want to look into surgery, as it seems I’ll have to wear the CPAP at it’s highest setting for any effectiveness (which means strapping it down hard which means a lot of pressure on the ol’face.) How much effect did the UPPP have? My father had LAUP done, in addition to having his sinuses drilled (a seperate, but realted, issue) and he is mask-free.

Supposedly, results vary.

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Thinksnow, you will never know how much this post has meant to me. My boyfriend snores, doesn’t feel rested after even a loooong nap, and wakes up quite frequently during the night. I have been worried about his lack of energy due to the stress it causes him on a daily basis. Maybe now that the pieces finally fit, we can get him to break down and actually go see a doctor. I am sending much care and appreciation in your general direction.
Good luck, my friend.

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Thank you, Cherry and best of luck to you in getting him to a doctor. It really is in his best interest and, supposedly, the results are amazing: improved memory, stamina, alertness, energy and memory. Of course, this is in addidtion to reducing the risk of HPB and coronary damage.

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Well, very interesting.

It seems that I am EXACTLY what you are describing.

A friend and I shared a hotel room on a trip, and he told me that I scared him pretty badly during the night. I was snoring, and then suddenly stopped. Breathing, that is. He layed there and listened for me to restart. Counting. 30. 45. 60. 90. At 120, he got up, and came over to shake me on the shoulder. Just as he reached my bed, he said that I shuddered awake with a very loud snort. And was immediately asleep. Snoring. He told me also that this occurred several times, and that I always snorted loudly, then started breathing again.

Recently, I have suffered from short and long term memory issues, feeling sleepy a lot of the time, to the point of falling asleep at my desk. Waking up feeling WORSE than when I went to bed. I am male, and overweight. Cyclical bouts of depression. Lackadaisical. Not caring.

I don’t want to be like this anymore. I wonder if there is someone in the Tampa area doing this type of research.

O

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Have to chime in here and say…

You Rock!
My Dad was finally diagnosed with sleep apnea this year. It took someone ratting him out to the doctor to understand what the problem was and why he should get it taken care of.

He had fallen asleep in the family doctor’s office waiting for an appointment. Another waiting patient, who happened to be an intern, witnessed him stop breathing several times (once for almost a minute). He told the doctor, who got Dad to go in for testing. He now wears the mask apparatus and sleeps much better. Surgery is probably not necessary at this point.

As for me, my wife has been after me to get tested, and now I believe I will. My symptoms are morning congestion and headaches, and generally feeling unrested after my usual 6.5 - 7 hours of sleep. (I’m only 33, but there are those extra 20 or so pounds around the middle…)

Thanks for the info, and for spreading the word.

Paul

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I had apnea (probably still do), and I had my tonsils taken out, which did a LOT to relieve it. (Of course, my tonsils were the size of small apples…)

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Sleep apnea can indeed be very seriuous. In fact, a friend of mine in high school died as a result of it.

He was completely healthy in all other regards–only fit one of the risk factors for apnea (being male). I had seen him the day before, and there was no indication that anything was awry. He went to sleep that night and simply did not wake up.

This is a rather rare effect of sleep apnea, and I don’t know his history of the other symptoms, but it certainly is enough to get me into the doctor if I develop any of the signs.

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I feel certain that my CPAP machine saved my life. I got tired of falling asleep at stop lights. Always feeling tired. Going out to my car at lunch time for a nap to make it through the rest of the day. Waking up in a cold sweat and my heart racing.

Wearing the mask? Don’t worry about it, you get used to it. IT’S WORTH IT, IT’S WORTH IT, IT’S WORTH IT!

E3

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I had a UPPP/tonsilectomy done back a couple of months ago. My tonsils were enormous, and my soft palate was massive. I had also been woken up by people I had been sleeping near after I had stopped breating for a good 15 seconds. I’ve been woken up many times by someone saying “I thought you were dead!”

In general, UPPP is recomended for people with sleep apnea in the absense of surgical risk factors like obesity or old age.

A sleep study determined that I stopped sleeping 45 times an hour, but my O[sub]2[/sub] levels were fine. The ENT guessed that my youthful heart compensated well for the crap breathing I was doing. But as I got older, an overstressed heart would become more and more life threatening.

I went in for the surgery, which was the first time under the knife. General anesthesia. Went right out. I was kept under observation for around four hours in the hospital and was sent home. Aside for being forced to watch too much People’s Court, I was fine. Oh the anesthesia made me puke, but that apparently runs in the family.

It was very painful for a couple of days, irritating for a week or two and it was about a month or so before I was completely back to normal. It was a combination of pain as well as irritation caused by the stitches rubbing against my tongue. I was given a steroid to reduce swelling, amoxycillin to prevent infection and a big bottle of codeine solution.

I spent my week and a half recovery time sleeping, playing a lot of Everquest and drinking water. Tons of it. That’s the key to fast healing, IMO.

I am sleeping much better now. I fall alseep faster and my sleep is much more sound. Additionally, the ENT told me that my enormous tonsils were very infected. She guessed that I was spending a lot of energy repressing that latent infection. I snore much much less. Apparently I saw off a log or two in the first few minutes but its quiet breathing after that.

Glad I got it done.

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I have not had a formal sleep study done since the surgery, and I still sleep with my CPAP, but on the whole I think it was beneficial. I very rarely fall asleep during the day since the surgery, and I am more alert during the day. I cannot claim that it was a complete solution, since I still wear the CPAP, and still have some serious fatigue.

The surgery itself was very unpleasant, though I did lose quite a bit of weight (since I couldn’t eat). If you are going to do it, I would suggest: 1. find a surgeon who will admit you as an inpatient and keep you for one night after the surgery. Mine was done outpatient and that first night sucked for everyone. 2. Look into laser options. After my surgery I consulted with another ENT who said he likes to use a laser and it can be less painful that way.

Good luck!

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yer preachin’ to the choir here TS but don’t think I don’t appreciate it.

For quite a long time, I watched my SO go through this - he’d be horizontal for 98% of a weekend (be awake from about 3 am to 6 am or so), couldn’t wake up, would doze off while driving; while in bed would wake up, sit on the side of the bed and doze off while sitting, sometimes fall to the floor/table whatever.

“go to the doctor” was my middle name for quite a while. I’d bring him data on apnea etc.

He got to the point where he’d wake up with near convulsions. I finally got him to promise to go to a doctor.

By that time his blood pressure was dangerously high, etc. He’s now on meds, and on the road to health. Stubborn? apparently. It is life threatening to ignore.

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I mentioned this to the folks at the hospital (where the study was), but I’ll throw it out here, too: I get strep throat about 3 times a year. I’ve never given it to anyone (I guess I’m a carrier, but it doesn’t travel) and I don’t have it enough to warrant tonsillectomy (6+ times/year.) I wonder, though, if that might be part of it, causing or being caused by. They did recommend seeing an ENT doc, so that’s my next step, even though they went ahead and ordered a CPAP machine (with humidifier :slight_smile: .)
Misc. clean-up: []My brain had to wake up a total of 453, not 463, times;[]Central [apnea]: the brain fails to signal the bodies muscles to breathe;[*]Both [apnea and hypopnea] cause the brain to briefly arouse from sleep or rest in order for the person to resume breathing.

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Well, I had my tonsils out at the age of 19, while in the Navy. It might have saved my life, as I had tonsilitis…

One of the issues that I have is a small nose, and nasal passages. This makes it nigh impossible to even breathe through it, occasionally.

O

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Thanks for posting this, ts. My dad has sleep apnea (sleeps with a CPAP for the last 5 years, continues to serve as a lab rat in sleep studies), and before it was diagnosed, it made all of our lives a living hell. His snoring sounded like trucks downshifting on the highway–no one in our house could sleep (Think of my poor mom!) and I remember the neighbors complaining once or twice. Mom was afraid to sleep, knowing that she would be jarred awake every time he stopped breathing. He complained of constant drowsiness and frequent microsleep during the day, but he never saw a doctor about it–until he drifted off behind the wheel as he drove the family home from a weekend event. We went coasting through a semi-busy intersection. I still don’t know how we made it through unscathed. He sought help soon afterwards.

If you think you have the symptoms thinksnowdescribed, you owe it to yourself and–more importantly–to the people you love to have yourself checked out.