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Permalink Reply by Eric Thayer on August 3, 2009 at 1:26pm

Basically it was exhaustion and falling asleep at the wheel driving home from vacation. If folks hadn't been awake in the car, we would have probably rolled over. I also snored like a madman; driving out many bunkmates except my wife. I probably have had this condition since at least 1994 to some degree or another. At diagnosis time, I had an AHI of 111 w/ O2 dipping down to 63% so I think I would have been starting to develop serious health issues over time if I let it go much longer.

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Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on August 3, 2009 at 5:40pm

Great post Julia! When I first got into sleep I too was very unaware. i thought it was just going to be another job on a very long list of things that i have done in my life. getting into sleep with no formal medical training is alot like learning how to swim. I sunk at first! it was not until I found sites like this one and binarysleep that my education really began. Sleep awareness and education are just now starting to become important in the public and medical community. Even though sleep and apnea are all around me public awareness is still pretty low. I had a medical student as a patient not to long ago. It was baffling to find out that after 3 years of medical school she was clueless about sleep and the effects of apnea. She was basically a physician, and I had to educate her on sleep. Amazing!

When I first discovered apnea I wanted to educate the world. I found out very quickly, to my dissapointment, that the rest of the population was not as eager as I was. I think that those close to me were in to much shock over the fact that I was doing something with my life to listen to what I was saying. Alot of people assume that I have the most boring job in the world. So far from true. As a result from this I have a short speech on my job and sleep that I give people when asked about my job.. their reactions determine how deep I go with it. Most blow me off, but some are very inquisitive and want ot know. For the most part I stick to sites like this and work for education. I have found through the trials and tribulations of correcting my oldest daughter's sleep(UGH!) that parents are very perceptive to sleep education. i find myself singling out parents with hyper children or confirmed cases of ADD/ADHD. to date i have been able to help three different families get their kids off of medication just by correcting their sleep. of the 500 cases of bad sleep that I have been paid to help with, none have been as rewarding as seeing these children find some balance in their very young lives for free.

No matter what drove any of you to get the sleep study, i am very glad that you did. You all are such a huge part of my life and education now. their is no end to my appreciation of this site and for it's members. Good sleep to all.

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Permalink Reply by bonesigh on August 3, 2009 at 6:29pm

Great post too Rock and thank you for being there for us and your community! As for what got me into apnea therapy....I don't know why I didn't do it sooner. My brother was diagnosed about 8 years ago so I knew about apnea but never applied it to myself. My brother never really talked about it much. Now that my brother is on therapy I actually like him, LOL!

I've been fatigued for years but it's only been in the past few years that it has gotten really bad. I thought "What's wrong with me, am I depressed?" ,"Why am I so irritable all the time, if a noodle fell off my fork I felt like throwing the plate across the room!", "Why am I slurring my words like a drunk while reading to my little one at 7pm?", "Why can't I remember anything." I had been to the doctor and talked to him about my problems but apnea never came up in our conversations. Then 2 years ago I had several incidences where I woke up and thought I heard a freight train runing through my room. I took me a couple of times to realize that it was the sound of my blood rushing, pounding back through my veins! After that I told the doctor that I thought I had sleep apnea and he sent me to be studied.

Unfortunately I'm still working on my therapy. I thought the pressure that they gave me, 18/14, was the right pressure and all I had to do was get used to it. Well it took a year to really get used to it. For the past year I have been wondering why I still feel so bad. Better but still bad. I had heard that therapy just doesn't work all the way for some people. I finally decided that I was not going to accept that! I insisted on another study and after it was done they said my pressure is too high and the new pressure is now 13/9. I'm feeling very frustrated now because I had the study done on the 21st of July and I'm still waiting to hear my full results and they say the soonest they can change my pressure is on the 12th of August. Wish I could change it myself and get some much needed rest and it worries me that I'm still having events and compromising my health, possibly my life.

If any of you still just don't feel right ask for another study! Good luck to you all.

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Permalink Reply by wallace j smith jr on August 3, 2009 at 9:15pm

what promted me was almost falling asleep at the wheel of an 18 wheeler and another trucker called my company on me, he saved my life and others probably as well , the micro sleeps had taken over my life and wanting a good night sleep was sooo para mount in my mind i actually started skipping showers for that extra 15 minutes of "sleep" and ultimately it cost me my marraige because of the rages you get when your sleep deprived and the littlest thing sets you off..

bonesigh said:

Great post too Rock and thank you for being there for us and your community! As for what got me into apnea therapy....I don't know why I didn't do it sooner. My brother was diagnosed about 8 years ago so I knew about apnea but never applied it to myself. My brother never really talked about it much. Now that my brother is on therapy I actually like him, LOL!

I've been fatigued for years but it's only been in the past few years that it has gotten really bad. I thought "What's wrong with me, am I depressed?" ,"Why am I so irritable all the time, if a noodle fell off my fork I felt like throwing the plate across the room!", "Why am I slurring my words like a drunk while reading to my little one at 7pm?", "Why can't I remember anything." I had been to the doctor and talked to him about my problems but apnea never came up in our conversations. Then 2 years ago I had several incidences where I woke up and thought I heard a freight train runing through my room. I took me a couple of times to realize that it was the sound of my blood rushing, pounding back through my veins! After that I told the doctor that I thought I had sleep apnea and he sent me to be studied.

Unfortunately I'm still working on my therapy. I thought the pressure that they gave me, 18/14, was the right pressure and all I had to do was get used to it. Well it took a year to really get used to it. For the past year I have been wondering why I still feel so bad. Better but still bad. I had heard that therapy just doesn't work all the way for some people. I finally decided that I was not going to accept that! I insisted on another study and after it was done they said my pressure is too high and the new pressure is now 13/9. I'm feeling very frustrated now because I had the study done on the 21st of July and I'm still waiting to hear my full results and they say the soonest they can change my pressure is on the 12th of August. Wish I could change it myself and get some much needed rest and it worries me that I'm still having events and compromising my health, possibly my life.

If any of you still just don't feel right ask for another study! Good luck to you all.

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Permalink Reply by Moe-jo on August 3, 2009 at 10:43pm

I went to see my family doctor when a series of symptoms got to the point where I knew I had to do something to get control of my life. I was very, very, tired, my snoring was waking me up, and I had just had a sinus infection that put me off work (not normal for me) because I had terrible dizzy spells associated with it. My weight was spiralling out of control, and I was helpless to do anything about it.

When I talked to my doctor, I told her that I needed to see an ENT to get my tonsils out (recommended 7 years earlier, but I was pregnant at the time and never followed through afterwards), and explained all the things as stated above. She said it sounds to her like I have sleep apnea, and need a sleep study done. I told her I don't wake up gasping for air, I just wake myself up because of the volume of my snoring. She told me to get the study done because she wants the ENT to have the results when I see him.

I was surprised to hear the results of my sleep study, the oxygen levels and heart rate were a real slap in the face to me. When I found out about all the symptoms of OSA, it was kind of a relief - the biggest one for me, is the anger. I have been mild mannered my whole life, and was very down on myself for being short-tempered with my kids. I don't want that for them and am so relieved that my treatment will help me address that.

Oh, and I said that I wasn't waking up gasping for air...... that's because I wasn't waking up. When my Resp. Therapist reviewed my sleep study results with me, the first thing she said was that I must be pretty sleep deprived.... I asked why she would say that, and she showed me on the graphs where my apneas were, and showed me that there weren't any arousals associated with them. I was sleeping through the apneas, and waking at other times. I don't know if that's common, but it's kinda scary to me.

I'm also taking to therapy very well, with no real problems to speak of. My numbers are great, apneas always below 2, never any leaks. My REM sleep is still fragmented, but those REM graph lines get a little longer each time. I'm still not feeling completely refreshed and energized, but it's coming. I work weird shifts, and that takes its toll because my body can't get on a predictable schedule.

All in all though, I might just be a CPAP poster child. It's all so very, very good.

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Permalink Reply by The Dreamer on August 3, 2009 at 11:23pm

I was having my annual physical...and day before my 40th birthday. And, I guess that was enough to make me want to tell as much as I could to my doctor during the short exam, of all the things that might be wrong with me. Things I thought were normal, though annoying.... sleep apnea wasn't a problem that I thought I had though. Though my dad getting over prostate cancer was probably something.

Anyways...I was still tired so much, but now it had gotten worse....I was falling asleep for brief moments in the afternoon, despite all efforts not to. Coworkers know me as the guy that has caffeine anything in his cubicle. This was at the end, where he was trying to get me to leave...though I was working hard to remember all the things I wanted to bring up. I often remember things I probably should've said after an appointment....there's a couple things now that are on my mind, that I should've mentioned at my last followup, but I'll have to try to remember for the next followup.

Suddenly, he said I should get a sleep study done, and sent me off to get one scheduled.

Up to the day of the sleep study, I was trying to think of ways to blow it off. The thought of it scared me, and I couldn't see why it would do anything. I had no problems sleeping, its the awake times that I have problems....if I could, I wouldn't mind if I just slept the rest of my life away.....

But, I showed up for my appointment. And, while I thought I was awake for long stretches and slept little, the results showed otherwise. I had the early slot for the sleep study. One sleep tech, has 2 hours to wire up the first person...and then the second slot person shows up and he goes off to wire him up. I could stay up until a normal bed time....but I said I would just go to bed right away....and I did. Out like a light. Never had trouble falling asleep....until about 4.5 months into my CPAP therapy (when getting too much sleep the night before leads to difficulty falling asleep the next night.....it has been so long since I had that problem...)

Sure I was up a bunch of times during the night, but that was normal to me. (and its normal to my parents....)

But, it was a split study, and during the night I was woke up...to have the PAP put on. I thought that was horrible and that I never got any sleep. But, just as I thought I had finally fallen asleep, the tech was there waking me up. First in also means first out. But, later when I got a copy of my sleep study, I was surprised to learn that I had gotten 4 hours of sleep during the second part (and that I slept more during that part than the first part, where I had to get up a couple of times).

It was after the sleep study, that I finally started researching sleep apnea, etc. And, then it was an agonizing wait to hear from my doctor. Finally, I got a letter from my doctor on December 27th (Saturday), I called on Monday (29th) to make an appointment, and got one later that day to see him.

I then went to DME at the medical complex and picked up CPAP, and used it later that night for the first time. And, I've been more than 100% compliant since then. More because there was a stretch where my doctor told me to stop using it for 2 weeks, but I started using it again before the 2 weeks were up.

The Dreamer.

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Permalink Reply by Jamie Ward on August 3, 2009 at 11:33pm

Hi everybody, I'm new here so please be patient....

I began using a CPAP last year. My husband would shake me during the night to get me to breathe. This would happen several times a night. I rarely drove because I was always so sleepy. Snoring was another problem. I went to my doctor who, in turn, sent me to a sleep center. The first night there I never really went into a restful sleep so they figured I was very much sleep deprived. Since using the CPAP, I feel pretty good most days, but I still have some bad nights. Every month, the sleep center reads the card in the CPAP and gives a report to my doctor.

And playing on the internet doesn't help me get to bed early either. So goodnight all!!

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Permalink Reply by D. W. Conn on August 4, 2009 at 7:40am

What got me to wear my CPAP/BiPAP.
As stated in earlier post I have been working in sleep for a very long time. I knew I had sleep apnea and never took it serious. There is no way my apnea was near as bad as what has been laid out before me night after night for many years. Forget about my increasing blood pressure and my ablation for atrial fibrillation. School and dissertations by day polysomnograms by night. A 14 year gig in a cardiac cath lab performing radiofrequency ablations and no vacation 24/7/365 call. Sleeping 4 to 5 hours a night or day was enough to get by…or was it. Aug 27th 2004 I simply died from sudden cardiac Death Syndrome cause from years of sleep deprivation and untreated apnea. Like many my CPAP was covered in sweaters or clip boards and notes. Technologist Heal Thyself! My patient arrived 1 hour early found my blue body dead on the floor and called the code. I am truly blessed she arrived early. And really lucky it was a hospital facility next door to ICU.
Years of healing and my brain recovered from hypoxia and now have an internal defibrillator and pace maker implanted in my chest. My pulmonologist, cardiologist, Neurologist all agree this could have been avoided if only I had been compliant. BiPAP is my best friend.

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