Can you have sleep apnea if you aren't tired

In My Humble Opinion
21

I’ve always been a snorer, but it deevolved into full-blown sleep apnea as my weight increased. At 5’10" 250 lbs, it didn’t bother me. By the time I passed 275 lbs, sleeping was no longer “fun”, but something I dreaded, as I knew that once I woke up I’d feel awful.

I’d always been tired during the day, especially in the afternoon. I’d want a nap every day after lunch (a problem when you’re at work!). Caffeine was my best (only?) friend.

Anyway, finally had a sleep study (thankfully had insurance) and within days was fitted with a CPAP.

It’s everything you hate, and worse. Sleeping is no longer a casual activity, it’s a PITA to wear, keep clean, etc., I got an awful permanent scar on the bridge of my nose from my mask, etc.

BUT… it works. It wasn’t an overnight success-- I didn’t wake up the next day feeling like I had the best sleep ever. It didn’t help me lose weight, it didn’t do anything obvious at all. What it DID do was allow me to sleep like I remembered sleeping, and over time, I stopped feeling as tired as I used to, and didn’t feel like hell waking up in the morning.

I knew it worked the times I went without it. The very next morning I’d wake up feeling like hell. Wear the mask, don’t feel like hell. Pretty soon, I always wore the mask.

Thankfully, thanks to weight-loss surgery I’ve now dropped most of the weight I’ve gained, and still heading south, and the times I’ve chosen not to wear the mask, I’ve had no noticeable problems at all. I won’t say I’m “cured” until I get a follow-up sleep study performed (I’m going to wait until I lose all the weight I plan on losing before scheduling it), but it’s been great news so far.

Bottom line: if you need CPAP, you need CPAP. Apnea worsens everything, and unlike some ignorant posters, it’s a HUGE contributing factor to all kinds of health problems. (The brain kinda/sorta needs oyxgen, m’kay?)

22

You’re many things, but stupid isn’t one of them (chronically aggrieved, on the other hand, …). So I assume you overlooked the part in the OP where he denied any daytime fatigue or any headache symptoms except when he slept on soft mattresses.

But I suppose these days, when so few people can distinguish between wants and needs, personal preferences and medical necesities, having an entire class of mattress ruled out is an intolerable burden that no person ought to be asked to bear. Just like being asked to quit smoking while you send your insurance company a bill for a thousands of dollars in testing and DME.

23

Oh blow it out your ass. Like you’re some expert on sleep disorder, along with all the other stuff you’ve claimed to be an expert on here in the past. Take your “personal responsibility” diatribe elsewhere, hopefully somewhere where opinion is treated with the same respect as fact…i.e., not here.

As for me, I will happily take the opinions of my neurologist over some random guy on the internet who thinks medical problems can be fixed by switching mattresses (BTW, tried that, and mattresses cost more than cpap machines anyway).

But hey, I must be confusing wants and needs when it comes to my migraines. I’ll just LIVE through my week long agonizing headaches because…personal responsibility! “Necesities”!

24

Did you bother to read the goddamn OP? The only symptoms he reported are occasional snoring and not being able to sleep on soft mattresses. That’s what the mattress talk was about.

Now, I don’t know what secret suspicions you harbor about whether your own case is psychosomatic or not and if that’s what’s motivating you to lash out at me, but please do recall that I haven’t said one fucking word about your case. I talked about the OP’s symptoms appearing not to warrant a $2000 round of testing. And the inconsistency of asserting that one needs CPAP treatment for sleep apnea and associated cardiovascular perils while continuing to keep up a smoking habit. Neither of which appertain to you.

25

Yep, I did the same thing, davekhps. I knew I had apnea for about 2 decades before I finally broke down and got tested.

And unlike a lot of people, there was no sudden “OMG it’s wonderful!” reaction to the CPAP. I did know I was sleeping more soundly, as I went from a toss-n-turn-all-night sleeper to a wake-in-the-same-position sleeper. (That part actually required me to buy a new mattress, as I could no longer put up with the ancient one I had, once I quit moving around all night.) But I didn’t really feel any different.

I was pretty consistent about wearing it (started with nasal pillows and never had much trouble), even from the beginning. And then there was the trip where I forgot the cord. Felt like hell, yup, good description.

I’ll still fall asleep occasionally without the mask and, even though I usually wake up at some point and put it on, I will be completely exhausted all the next day.

I’d just been living like that since I was a kid, so I never noticed any problems.

And you’re right, of course. Just because someone may not recognize major immediate problems from apnea doesn’t reduce the health risks of having it.

26

So you have no special knowledge about sleep apnea except to bitch about “personal responsibility.”. Gotcha.

For the record, the OP wanted to eliminate apnea as a cause. He didn’t want to waste $2k on a test he didn’t need. How that translates into “wasting medical resources” is something that only makes sense to you I guess. But I notice that in the past you’ve said the same about std testing so I guess this is your only debate tool or something.

As for why it’s my deal…I guess after years of ill-informed people giving me “advice” on migraines I have a low tolerance for bad medical advice.

27

My husband also didn’t feel tired - or at least he didn’t think he did. Sure, he fell asleep snoring on the couch right after dinner, and I was afraid for him to drive long distances alone, but he wasn’t tired. He finally had a sleep study done because I couldn’t sleep through his snoring- it was just to make me happy, he didn’t have any sleep problems. After about a week of the CPAP he was a different person. He only thought he wasn’t tired before because he didn’t remember what it was like to actually not be tired.

28

I really don’t think I’m tired though. I can play with my nieces, work a 12 hour day, drive 5 hours to visit someone, etc. I once moved an entire apartment’s worth of furniture (except the really big stuff) up a flight of stairs by myself in a few hours. I sometimes have too much energy.

However I take a lot of supplements, some of which are supposed to affect energy levels (coenzyme Q10, alpha lipoic acid, etc) so I don’t know if those are ‘masking’ exhaustion or what. However I wasn’t tired back when I wasn’t taking them either. As long as I can go to bed when I want and wake up when I want I am usually fine as long as I don’t sleep on a soft mattress.

In fact that is a big reason I am confused. If I have apnea (which again, is genetic in my family and I’ve had situations where I am half asleep and catch myself struggling to breathe) I should be exhausted based on everything I’ve read. I do have hypertension (which can be due to apnea) but that is also genetic and stress is the biggest risk factor for that, not my sleeping.

29

Not to mention [del]demands[/del]medical advice from people without medical degrees.

I’m really kinda confused as to why Kimmy is so angry about “unnecessary” medical testing due to costs, when multiple people in the thread have already claimed tiredness wasn’t a component of their apnea. *Especially *when, in another thread, he/she has stated that a squatter has no obligation to move. Surely the squatter is just as selfishly driving up the fees involved in homeownership, if not even moreso than a hypochondriac (which the OP cannot reasonably be accused of) drives up the cost of medical care.

30

I probably wasn’t clear enough. My husband could and did work twelve (or more) hours, participate in sports, move furniture ,knock down walls,etc. It wasn’t that he didn’t have energy before the CPAP .It was that he fell asleep as soon as he stopped moving - that’s why he fell asleep on the couch and I was afraid he’d fall asleep driving. He didn’t think he was tired- it was just that whatever he was watching on TV wasn’t interesting enough.

I’m not trying to convince you that you have apnea, need a CPAP etc. But “feeling tired” is subjective and just because you don’t feel tired doesn’t mean you aren’t.

31

I just wanted to say “YAY!!!” I (unlike other unnamed posters) have been following your migraine saga and am thrilled that you may have found the problem. I am crossing fingers etc. that the CPAP resolves your migraines. And please … just ignore <unnamed poster> and know there are lots of silent folks out here rooting for you!

And yes, in my (second hand) experience, not all who suffer from apnea suffer from profound fatigue you often hear about. But the medical professionals my mum and a couple of friends have seen all agree that apnea is a health issue that should be dealt with.

32

I had sleep apnea but since I didn’t want to see a DR it lead to an accident (I was too tired to drive so I let my friend drive and someone hit us) I now use my cpap nightly and love thismask

33

Addressing the title of the thread: I would imagine so. If your apnea is mild enough, it might not be making you feel tired. In other words if it doesn’t cause enough arousals to seriously disturb your sleep. Of course if you do snore a lot, even “mild” apnea might be disturbing your partner’s sleep and making him/her feel tired. This is why I made Typo Knig get a sleep study 2 years back. He’s not sure the CPAP is helping him feel better but it is definitely helping me :p.

I also have apnea - it took 4 (four) sleep studies over about 10 years before they diagnosed enough to be worth treating. Pretty sure that treating it has made little difference in my fatigue (I have several other issues) - so, while I am fatigued, I’m pretty sure it’s not apnea-related.

34

Yes. Part of my job involves doing intake for patients at sleep clinics and sending CPAP orders to DME companies. There are many people who have moderate to severe apnea who report little to no symptoms of daytime sleepiness. (Part of our paperwork is a subjective evaluation of these symptoms by the patient.)

Sleep apnea is just like any other disorder in that there is a long list of potential symptoms, but not everyone will demonstrate each one at any particular time.

This is pretty much true. An APAP is just a CPAP machine that automatically adjusts the pressure in response to machine detected breathing events. So, at first, the APAP may be slightly less effective than a properly set CPAP, but it should adjust to operating just as effectively.

Some of the newest models of APAP, in fact, have a limited time (I think it’s 30 days, but I forget exactly) in which they will operate as an APAP. After that time, a report is generated and sent to the DME and sleep physician and a CPAP pressure is selected. In this case, it’s kind of like having a month-long titration study to determine the optimal pressure rather than just a 1-night study.

35

Really? That’s amazing! Man, dogs are awesome.

36

Good Lord. I spend hours and hours at the gym every week and have a body better than 99% of women half my age. I eat healthy and live a healthy lifestyle. I would die before even thinking about smoking. I rarely drink, just a glass of wine here and there. The end result is that I am in fantastic shape, look more than a decade younger than I am and have a killer body. I can’t imagine being happy not living a healthy and active life. I have every intention of eventually being that 90 year old woman who beats out 18 year olds doing laps at the pool.

I also have sleep apnea that would have eventually killed me if I hadn’t been diagnosed by an ENT I had seen for what I thought was an unrelated matter.

And the main reason why it wasn’t considered as a possibility earlier was because I was in such great shape.

Sleep apnea is a killer. And if it doesn’t kill you, it will put you in a position where you really cost an insurance company some money after you have a stroke or a heart attack.