I don’t know if this is the right forum for this, I thought IMHO was for medical questions. Either way, apnea runs in my family. My dad has a CPAP and my younger brother has trouble breathing at night (although he hasn’t gone in for a sleep test yet).
Both of them talk of being tired all of the time. I know my dads energy improved with the CPAP, but wasn’t perfect.
I have been told I snore, and sometimes when I am half awake/half asleep I can feel myself ‘forgetting’ to breathe. However if I am able to go to bed when I want and wake up when I want I don’t have low energy. As long as I get 8 hours of sleep I feel fine, at least as long as I sleep on a firm mattress. On a soft mattress I get tons of symptoms (headache, dry mouth, fatigue) that sound like apnea. They need to make a diagnostic test that costs less than $2000.
I’ve heard a pulse oximeter along with a video camera can provide evidence for or against it. But do people ever get apnea w/o being tired all the time?
There are a few other at home diagnostics that are more affordable but they would require treatment with an APAP instead of a CPAP since they do not measure breathing. But I assume both machines work as well as each other.
I have sleep apnea. If you are getting a good nights sleep and are well rested, I don’t know why you would think you have it. There are other sleep disorders and problems to consider.
I was sleeping 8 - 10 hours a day and falling asleep at work and feeling terrible all day. My sleep test showed a severe problem with 55 incidents of stopped breathing an hour.
With a CPAP I get 5-6 hours of sleep and have energy to burn all day long. The First night with a mask I think a slept 16 hours, I guess I needed to catch up. To me the energy level is most indicative of apnea, although IANAD.
You can’t just get a CPAP and have it work for you out of the box. If you do indeed have apnea, the doctor needs to adjust the machine’s settings and instruct you how to use it.
I don’t have apnea, but I used to listen to the snoring of a grandfather who had apnea. It was scary and horrible. I don’t know what to do if you don’t have insurance, though.
As I’m finding out with my ongoing war with migraines, the answer appears to be “yes”. I haven’t had any particular struggles with tiredness, but my apnea is “profound” according to the recent sleep study I had. Although the sleep-apnea-wake up-sleep cycle does seem to be causing a migraine loop, I don’t feel sluggish in the morning.
Tomorrow I go in for my CPAP fitting and testing. Maybe with the first good night’s sleep in decades I will actually feel like a sort of superman!
I have sleep apnea, using CPAP and all. I am also an extremely heavy sleeper. Before the CPAP I did not feel tired or had any of the symptoms, I got sent to a sleep study because an oral surgeon was concerned before putting me fully under. I do snore quite a bit while not on the CPAP.
Yes, you can have sleep apnea without feeling tired, speaking from experience. My wife trained my Search And Rescue K9 to break my apnea, so he will climb up into bed as I begin to enter the spiral heading to apnea… and he licks me gently, once, on the nose… which breaks the path to apnea, but doesn’t wake me up. I have a very tight bond to this K9 from all the SAR training, so it’s unlikely that others would be as easily trained to do this… so a machine is likely a better bet for others, and perhaps for me after this boy leaves us… hopefully a long time from now.
My understanding is a way some people are getting around the 2k price of a sleep study is getting a less expensive test done (like the ones I listed in that link, or using a video camera and pulse oximeter) then getting a doctors verification of apnea and a prescription for an APAP instead of a CPAP if the results signify apnea.
I’ve heard the APAP is easier to live with but it doesn’t work as well as the CPAP in eliminating apnea, ie it may only work 80% as well. I’m not sure though, I’m new to this. I sleep fairly well but am mainly looking for my brother. He is in medical school and is not wanting to spend the money on a sleep survey.
Sleep apnea is a lifestyle concern (not least the lifestyles of certain phsyicians and DME salespeople); it does not, like, say, high blood pressure, serve as a bellwhether for more serious medical conditions in the offing.
So, if you are virtually asymptomatic except for snoring (with no consequent functional limitations) and headaches and fatigue status post sleeping on a soft mattress, then (1) buy/retain your firm mattress, and (2) conserve scarce and costly medical resources for those instances where symptoms and functional limitations are present.
Wrong, Kimmy_Gibbler. Sleep apnea greatly increases the risk of hypertension, stroke, heart attack, and various vascular diseases.
My sleep apnea didn’t bother me that much, but I could tell it was getting worse. It was the risk of serious complications (like the heart attack that killed my father in his sleep, back before anyone had ever heard of sleep apnea) that caused me to do something about it.
So does smoking. I’d be interested to know why you haven’t stopped that habit while you insist on treatment for sleep apnea.
I mean, I know the answer: people enjoy consuming medical resources, especially when they can get someone else, like an insurer, to foot the bill. They don’t enjoy going to the gym, eating a healthful diet, quitting smoking, or learning to live with minor symptoms. Unfortunately, this makes medical care expensive for everybody.
Another hosenoser here. When I was diagnosed, I was exhausted all the time and falling asleep at work, plus my blood pressure was going way up. When I got my first CPAP, I felt like a new human being. More energy, no more dozing at the desk, and the only time I am exhausted is after a long, hard workout.
Yes, because the several-day-long migraines I experienced last year which made me suicidal were certainly “minor symptoms”. :rolleyes: Go take your weird attack on another poster elsewhere.
Just to piss you off, actually. I go to the doctor daily, demand surgery on a monthly basis, and have had gazillions and gazillions of dollars of completely unnecessary medical treatment. All just to piss you off*.
(*There are alternative theories, but I’m not allowed to explain them here.)
:smack:
Utter claptrap… sleep apnea in fact leads rather directly to other serious illnesses, INCLUDING notably high blood pressure… which is why my doctor has me checking that regularly.
By this logic, I guess we’d be making gym memberships cheaper for everyone, healthy food cheaper, cigarettes more expensive (which of course would make others who can’t afford them healthier)… wow, we’re great benefactors to the masses…
My husband has it; he was officially diagnosed, underwent sleep studies, etc. He stops breathing every few breaths, then with one huge snore, gets enough air in his lungs, only to start the whole process over again. Two huge breaths, then nothing. All without waking up. I filmed it and he took it to the doctor.
He won’t use his CPAP; he says that water drains down into his throat. He’s probably using it wrong. But he’s not tired all the time.
Guys, guys! Kimmy’s sensible solution is to live with the minor inconveniences of sleep apnea, including suicide-inducing migraines, and other barely-noticeable effects including falling asleep while driving or working. What could possibly go wrong?
Look into getting a CPAP sleeve-- it’s like a $10 fleece cozy you can wrap around the tubing, it keeps the tubing from collecting water and “raining” into the mask. Solves the problem in two minutes flat.
