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Why so many with Sleep Apnea?
Has anyone wondered why there are so many people with a diagnosis of Sleep Apnea these days - or have a theory as to why? I know I sound a bit conspiracy-theoried, but I am a bit suspicious, as there are an awful lot of sleep centers cropping up. Maybe it is because I am denial about my own diagnosis, but it seems that nearly everyone I meet needs the C-PAP too.
Sorry about my rant,
Becky
Views: 4963
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dawn on
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This just makes me want to cry. A fad diagnosis for doctors to make more money? That's what the sleep centers and CPAP machines are all about? Let me tell you my story.....
My Grandpa, born in Russia in the 1920's came to America in 1942. He snored so bad my Grandma slept on the other side of the house from him. His snoring was considered a nuisance, but nothing more. The fact that he stopped breathing while he slept....hell, he'd breathe eventually. He is an anomally: he did not have high blood pressure, was slim, did not develop heart disease. He died in 1992 from jaw cancer. He smoked a pipe. I know he did suffer from claudication in his legs in his later years.
His son, my dad, also snored just like his dad. He also smoked three packs of Camel straights a day, drank alcohol like a fish and lived on coffee. At age 44 his lower legs began to swell with water. Then his testicles and abdomen swelled. He could not breathe and became very very confused. He was put on lasix and told to stop drinking, as he had cirrhossis of the liver. He did stop drinking on and off for the next one and a half to two years. Just before his 46th birthday he was hospitalized as his symptoms worsened. He turned 46 July 24th 1990 while he was in the hospital. He died of multisystem organ failure five days later, on July 29th. Never during his hospitalization was there any discussion with ANY doctor or medical personel concerning my Dad's snoring and stopping of breathing while he slept --- it was never discussed. It was a non-concern. It was easy to explain everything away with his liver failure from alcoholism.
I was then and still am now a nurse. I had taken care of several people prior to my Dad's death who had died of liver failure, and not one of them presented like my father. They were swollen, yes, but they were all "wet" and oozing fluids out of every crack in their stretched skin. They were funky collors, like greenish and yellowish to pumpkin orange. My dad, though swollen in his abdomen and legs and testicles, was none of those other things. He was dry, he was pale. There was something else in addition to the liver failure, something the doctors missed, but I could not figure it it out back then. I know what it is now.
Fast forward to me in my forties. Suddenly my legs are swelling. I have hypertension I can't control despite being on five medications. I continue to gain weight despite my best efforts to not. I can't breathe either, not well. I have a racing heart that sets itself between 120 and 180, nothing slower ever. Tests show I now have pulmonary hypertension too --- deadly high blood pressure in the lungs only, that will eventually kill me if I can't find the cause. Plans are made to get me to a pulmonary hypertension specialist/lung transplant doctor. Lung transplant doctor? I am freaked out to say the least. Pulmonary hypertension left alone is fatal. FATAL. I am going to die in my forties just like my Dad?????????? What the hell????? I am not an alcoholic. I don't smoke. I freaking used to run long distance races and trialthalons. Why is this happening to me?????????
The nurse practitioner in the office is baffled. She says this should not be happening to me. Do I snore? What? She asks me if I snore. Yes, I have been told I snore. I tell her about my Dad and Grandpa. I go to sleep clinic. I am tested. I only have MILD sleep apnea, but I immediatly feel the benefits of using the CPAP the first night in the lab. After a few months, my legs aren't swelling. My 2D echo shows I have only minimal pulmonayr hypertension, so little they cancel my right heart catherization. I have not changed my blood pressure medication in the three and a half + years since starting the CPAP, although I am in negotiations with my cardiologist about DECREASING the Toprol, since my heart no longer seems to race --- but really I am scared to do so. I think I will be trialing that in 2011. I have seemed to stop the weight gain, but have not lost what I have gained.
Now I know about my Dad, my Dad with practically the same symptoms at the same time as me with the legs swelling and not being able to breathe. Yes, he had liver failure, but he like me, also had pulmonary hypertension from his sleep apnea. That is a really really bad combo to have, liver failure and pulmonary hypertension together. I wish I could go back in time and help him. I wish I could do a sleep study on him and slap a CPAP on him while he slept, and make his snooring go away. I wish I could have been able to do all of those things so that my Dad could be right here with me now today. Who knows, maybe relieving that back pressure of fluids may have even helped his cirrhossis --- I am proof anything is possible.
Dad I miss you so so so much. And yes, I type this as tears are flying everywhere.
Don't ever ever tell me that sleep centers are a scam or a fad diagnosis to make money for some wayward doctors. People have been dying of sleep apnea forever. I just turned 46 this summer, and maybe, just maybe, I can make it to a good old age before dying because of my sleep center, my sleep doctor, my cardiologist, the nurse who asked me if I snore, and my CPAP machine.
More people should be tested and diagnosed and treated. You snore, get tested. YOu have no idea how much better my life is today. I just wish I could wish a CPAP onto my Dad and Grandpa way back when. I talk iwth my kids about this all the time, and they know to do something about it if in the future they start snoring. It involves the Sleep Centers and Sleep doctors. This is no scam. This is real and has saved my life.
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Permalink Reply by Gary R. Munn on
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Dawn said:This just makes me want to cry. A fad diagnosis for doctors to make more money? That's what the sleep centers and CPAP machines are all about? Let me tell you my story.....
My Grandpa, born in Russia in the 1920's came to America in 1942. He snored so bad my Grandma slept on the other side of the house from him. His snoring was considered a nuisance, but nothing more. The fact that he stopped breathing while he slept....hell, he'd breathe eventually. He is an anomally: he did not have high blood pressure, was slim, did not develop heart disease. He died in 1992 from jaw cancer. He smoked a pipe. I know he did suffer from claudication in his legs in his later years.
His son, my dad, also snored just like his dad. He also smoked three packs of Camel straights a day, drank alcohol like a fish and lived on coffee. At age 44 his lower legs began to swell with water. Then his testicles and abdomen swelled. He could not breathe and became very very confused. He was put on lasix and told to stop drinking, as he had cirrhossis of the liver. He did stop drinking on and off for the next one and a half to two years. Just before his 46th birthday he was hospitalized as his symptoms worsened. He turned 46 July 24th 1990 while he was in the hospital. He died of multisystem organ failure five days later, on July 29th. Never during his hospitalization was there any discussion with ANY doctor or medical personel concerning my Dad's snoring and stopping of breathing while he slept --- it was never discussed. It was a non-concern. It was easy to explain everything away with his liver failure from alcoholism.
I was then and still am now a nurse. I had taken care of several people prior to my Dad's death who had died of liver failure, and not one of them presented like my father. They were swollen, yes, but they were all "wet" and oozing fluids out of every crack in their stretched skin. They were funky collors, like greenish and yellowish to pumpkin orange. My dad, though swollen in his abdomen and legs and testicles, was none of those other things. He was dry, he was pale. There was something else in addition to the liver failure, something the doctors missed, but I could not figure it it out back then. I know what it is now.
Fast forward to me in my forties. Suddenly my legs are swelling. I have hypertension I can't control despite being on five medications. I continue to gain weight despite my best efforts to not. I can't breathe either, not well. I have a racing heart that sets itself between 120 and 180, nothing slower ever. Tests show I now have pulmonary hypertension too --- deadly high blood pressure in the lungs only, that will eventually kill me if I can't find the cause. Plans are made to get me to a pulmonary hypertension specialist/lung transplant doctor. Lung transplant doctor? I am freaked out to say the least. Pulmonary hypertension left alone is fatal. FATAL. I am going to die in my forties just like my Dad?????????? What the hell????? I am not an alcoholic. I don't smoke. I freaking used to run long distance races and trialthalons. Why is this happening to me?????????
The nurse practitioner in the office is baffled. She says this should not be happening to me. Do I snore? What? She asks me if I snore. Yes, I have been told I snore. I tell her about my Dad and Grandpa. I go to sleep clinic. I am tested. I only have MILD sleep apnea, but I immediatly feel the benefits of using the CPAP the first night in the lab. After a few months, my legs aren't swelling. My 2D echo shows I have only minimal pulmonayr hypertension, so little they cancel my right heart catherization. I have not changed my blood pressure medication in the three and a half + years since starting the CPAP, although I am in negotiations with my cardiologist about DECREASING the Toprol, since my heart no longer seems to race --- but really I am scared to do so. I think I will be trialing that in 2011. I have seemed to stop the weight gain, but have not lost what I have gained.
Now I know about my Dad, my Dad with practically the same symptoms at the same time as me with the legs swelling and not being able to breathe. Yes, he had liver failure, but he like me, also had pulmonary hypertension from his sleep apnea. That is a really really bad combo to have, liver failure and pulmonary hypertension together. I wish I could go back in time and help him. I wish I could do a sleep study on him and slap a CPAP on him while he slept, and make his snooring go away. I wish I could have been able to do all of those things so that my Dad could be right here with me now today. Who knows, maybe relieving that back pressure of fluids may have even helped his cirrhossis --- I am proof anything is possible.
Dad I miss you so so so much. And yes, I type this as tears are flying everywhere.
Don't ever ever tell me that sleep centers are a scam or a fad diagnosis to make money for some wayward doctors. People have been dying of sleep apnea forever. I just turned 46 this summer, and maybe, just maybe, I can make it to a good old age before dying because of my sleep center, my sleep doctor, my cardiologist, the nurse who asked me if I snore, and my CPAP machine.
More people should be tested and diagnosed and treated. You snore, get tested. YOu have no idea how much better my life is today. I just wish I could wish a CPAP onto my Dad and Grandpa way back when. I talk iwth my kids about this all the time, and they know to do something about it if in the future they start snoring. It involves the Sleep Centers and Sleep doctors. This is no scam. This is real and has saved my life.
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Sorry, when I hit reply it just repeated your message. I am sorry if I left the impression that sleep apnea is not real. I KNOW it is, and I know I have it. I guess I am just frustrated that I am not feeling any benefit yet. And Doctors DO own Sleep Clinics. THAT is a FACT!! My Doctor is in a building with a Sleep clinic with all the accessories, but he sent me to a different one many miles away, one that is just starting up. The interior isn't even finished, and they have nothing but CPAP machines, no pillows, nothing else. Coincidence? I think not.
I am really sorry your Dad and Granddad did not get the treatment they needed. I am going to keep on keeping on until I find something that will help. Your letter has encouraged me to do just that, so I thank you VERY MUCH!!!
Gary
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Dawn,
What a moving story. Thank you. So glad you are being treated, and can testify to the need for accurate diagnosis and treatment. Too bad about your grandfather and father ... and many others.
Best,
Janie
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Permalink Reply by Rooster on
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As a point of curiosity for those of you that do not like the fact that sleep doctors and other professionals build sleep labs and make money off of diagnosing and prescribing treatments for patients, what type of system do you propose instead?
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In March, I was taken to the ER with some chest tightness, profuse sweating, and SOB. I am 47 years old. Last year I lost my mother at 66 years old of CHF. She did snore really bad. After they determined I was not having a heart attack, they let me go home that night. They ordered a stress test, which was normal except my blood pressure went really high. I went to see my PCP, and thru all of the questions, he asked how I was sleeping. As a matter of fact, over the last year I started snoring out of the blue. Never had before in my life. I told him I was constantly waking up at night. Also, my husband said I made other "weird" noises at night but could not describe them.
As a result, a sleep study was ordered. I am now on my CPAP pressure at 12, since September and there is no more snoring. I am sleeping thru the night, and no more "weird" noises. I am losing weight, so yes, I believe OSA causes weight gain.
I am no longer cranky from lack of sleep. I have tons more energy, and feel great.
For someone to say OSA is not real, is crazy. I often wonder if my Mom's CHF was caused by undiagnosed sleep apnea. I guess we will never know.
Shelly
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well part of the reason may be from the inceased awareness. I would also think it would link to the baby boomers geting older, and the population getting heavier.
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What about home PSG. Use an auto-titrating machine that is hooked up to a PSG that will automatically find the correct pressures, but it can be done in a home setting, where the patient will be spending their time anyway.
Should be less expensive this way too - doesn't require any sleep-techs or hospital/sleep lab time/settings.
Rooster said:As a point of curiosity for those of you that do not like the fact that sleep doctors and other professionals build sleep labs and make money off of diagnosing and prescribing treatments for patients, what type of system do you propose instead?
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