Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Evelyn Guevara on April 18, 2011 at 4:51am

I am 49 and in menopause...

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Evelyn Guevara on April 18, 2011 at 4:55am

Hello, Ginny, I sent a message earlier asking if people could dscribe their iniital symptoms.  Mine have been crazy and somewhat complicated by menopause and asthma.  But I feel so unhappy about this, I am getting desperate and my doctor so far has not referred me for a sleep study even though I am now in the ER or urgent care every 10 days if not sooner.  They give me breathing treatments, antibiotics and steroids, but even with those, I am jerking awake as soon as I fall asleep and  I am so sick of being afraid to fall asleep because when I do fall alseep I often wake up with teror, and yelling out or making a loud suond like "barking" because I can't breathe in, only out...I used to take my blood pressure when I woke like this and it was high, but woudl go down as soon as I relaxed and had some deep breaths in.  But when it is realy bad, I am just really confused and my heart is pounding.  In addition, when this whole crappy syndrome started 1.5 years ago, I was waking up every hour, not remembering any dreams, my lungs got involved, got asthma, high blood prssure (the pills for that made my lungs much worse and they are still not recovered, even though I quit that medicatoin months ago after realizing what it was doing; my blood pressue is usually normal or very close when I take it except when I have been to the ER for the anxiety and asthma or just anxiety that I can't breathe)  I really need a breast reduction and to lose weight, but for now, I can't do those things quickly, so am just feeling so desperate.  Do you have any advice besides call my doctor again and tell him I need help NOW!?  Thanks a lot.
Ginny Edmundson said:

Welcome to the club! Good luck~

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ginny Edmundson on April 18, 2011 at 6:17am

Hi~getting ready for work, will answer your message after I get home,

Ginny

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gerald Donoghue on April 18, 2011 at 7:28am

I am 51.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ernestine Webster on April 18, 2011 at 8:30am

girl i completely know how you feel, i had a doctor that would not listen to me about my sleep issues for about a year so i took it on myself to find a sleep specialist and called and made an appointment myself, some insurance companies do require your doctor calling another doctor for you but mine does not so i went to see the sleep specialist and he listened to me and asked alot of questions and looked at my throat and said i had a very narrow airway so he suppected i had sleep apnea and said to find out i would need to have a sleep study and i told him to set it up and he did , went 2 weeks later and found out i had obstructive sleep apnea and had to go back for another sleep study with a cpap , so my advise is to take charge of your own health care and find a sleep doctor in your area. i went a whole year and suppect i had it longer then that. i lost a brother to this sleep disorder so please do not put it off.     

Evelyn Guevara said:

Hello, Ginny, I sent a message earlier asking if people could dscribe their iniital symptoms.  Mine have been crazy and somewhat complicated by menopause and asthma.  But I feel so unhappy about this, I am getting desperate and my doctor so far has not referred me for a sleep study even though I am now in the ER or urgent care every 10 days if not sooner.  They give me breathing treatments, antibiotics and steroids, but even with those, I am jerking awake as soon as I fall asleep and  I am so sick of being afraid to fall asleep because when I do fall alseep I often wake up with teror, and yelling out or making a loud suond like "barking" because I can't breathe in, only out...I used to take my blood pressure when I woke like this and it was high, but woudl go down as soon as I relaxed and had some deep breaths in.  But when it is realy bad, I am just really confused and my heart is pounding.  In addition, when this whole crappy syndrome started 1.5 years ago, I was waking up every hour, not remembering any dreams, my lungs got involved, got asthma, high blood prssure (the pills for that made my lungs much worse and they are still not recovered, even though I quit that medicatoin months ago after realizing what it was doing; my blood pressue is usually normal or very close when I take it except when I have been to the ER for the anxiety and asthma or just anxiety that I can't breathe)  I really need a breast reduction and to lose weight, but for now, I can't do those things quickly, so am just feeling so desperate.  Do you have any advice besides call my doctor again and tell him I need help NOW!?  Thanks a lot.
Ginny Edmundson said:

Welcome to the club! Good luck~

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Evelyn Guevara on April 18, 2011 at 12:01pm

Thanks for your reply.   I am seeing my doctor again today and I am going to just call and get teh sleep study done on my own if he will not follow through.  I don't hvae money to pay outside of my insurance but I can take no more of this.  I appreciate your advice and I'm sorry about your brother.  Afraid to ask the details, so don't tell me until I get some relief as that is what I am afraid of that it is either going to cause heart problems (if it hasn't already) or I will just stop breathing, especially since it's complicated with asthma, which apparently, is a common menopausal symptom, also, as well as heart palpitations, sleep apnea, and high blood pressure, all of which I have had or have.  Also can be brought on by thyroid issues, but my thyroid is always fine in blood tests.  Supposed to be getting back more bloodwork test results today as it hasn't been done in several months.  Thanks again for your concern and help.

Ernestine Webster said:

girl i completely know how you feel, i had a doctor that would not listen to me about my sleep issues for about a year so i took it on myself to find a sleep specialist and called and made an appointment myself, some insurance companies do require your doctor calling another doctor for you but mine does not so i went to see the sleep specialist and he listened to me and asked alot of questions and looked at my throat and said i had a very narrow airway so he suppected i had sleep apnea and said to find out i would need to have a sleep study and i told him to set it up and he did , went 2 weeks later and found out i had obstructive sleep apnea and had to go back for another sleep study with a cpap , so my advise is to take charge of your own health care and find a sleep doctor in your area. i went a whole year and suppect i had it longer then that. i lost a brother to this sleep disorder so please do not put it off.     

Evelyn Guevara said:

Hello, Ginny, I sent a message earlier asking if people could dscribe their iniital symptoms.  Mine have been crazy and somewhat complicated by menopause and asthma.  But I feel so unhappy about this, I am getting desperate and my doctor so far has not referred me for a sleep study even though I am now in the ER or urgent care every 10 days if not sooner.  They give me breathing treatments, antibiotics and steroids, but even with those, I am jerking awake as soon as I fall asleep and  I am so sick of being afraid to fall asleep because when I do fall alseep I often wake up with teror, and yelling out or making a loud suond like "barking" because I can't breathe in, only out...I used to take my blood pressure when I woke like this and it was high, but woudl go down as soon as I relaxed and had some deep breaths in.  But when it is realy bad, I am just really confused and my heart is pounding.  In addition, when this whole crappy syndrome started 1.5 years ago, I was waking up every hour, not remembering any dreams, my lungs got involved, got asthma, high blood prssure (the pills for that made my lungs much worse and they are still not recovered, even though I quit that medicatoin months ago after realizing what it was doing; my blood pressue is usually normal or very close when I take it except when I have been to the ER for the anxiety and asthma or just anxiety that I can't breathe)  I really need a breast reduction and to lose weight, but for now, I can't do those things quickly, so am just feeling so desperate.  Do you have any advice besides call my doctor again and tell him I need help NOW!?  Thanks a lot.
Ginny Edmundson said:

Welcome to the club! Good luck~

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ginny Edmundson on April 18, 2011 at 1:01pm

I think "taking charge" yourself is the only way to go.  Keep at the doctor!!  Good luck and let us know how it goes.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ginny Edmundson on April 18, 2011 at 1:16pm

My sleep study was $1,700.  Insurance paying 80% of that, thank goodness.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ernestine Webster on April 19, 2011 at 8:32am

Good morning Evelyn, my brother developed heart problems due to untreated sleep apnea , he did have a cpap and it had been diagnosed but he waited until after the damage had been done so do not put it off. tell your doctor you need to be set up for a sleep study and if he or she does not set it up you will. i had finally after so many times of bringing it up kept a sleep log and i saw out of 7 nights i had slept a total of 17 hours and i took it to my doctor and told her i had something i needed to talk to her and i really needed her to listen to me, she said ok and she put the pen down and folded her arms and sit back in her chair and i gave her the sleep log with 17 hours of sleep in 7 nights and told her i needed help with my sleep issues and she looked at me and said i would say you are right and she wrote me a prescripton for generic ambien, which was the worst thing i could do is take a sleeping pill but did not know that. i took the the prescripton and thought ok then. got the presscripton filled and took the pill that night and boy did i sleep soooo very good, but after taking them every night they got so they did not work anymore , in fact the imsomina got worse so i thought something needs to be done so i started doing research on sleep apnea and started searching for sleep doctors and found the sleep specialist and called and made an appointment . the rest as they say is history, went yesterday and picked up my cpap . that was an experience and the guy set it up and showed me how to use it and he told me to try it at least an hour at first and alittle more each night, i went for 1 1/2 hours with it and never could go to sleep and tool it off and i fell asleep and slept good but i did not sleep at all the night before. i think i should have no problem adjusting to it and will have to get used to it, was not all that bad after i started breathing nomally.  the sleep study will not be any fun but my sleep tech was very nice and she worked with me and made me feel comfortable as possible. the sleep lab was accredited by the AASM,  which i was told to look for and i was able to take a sleeping pill for the sleep study and had all the electrodes hooked up everywhere but the experience was not that bad.

please let the doctor know how you feel and what you need . don't know if sleep apnea can get worse as times go on but i do know if left untreated it can cause so much damage to your body and internal organs. DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING ELSE FOR AN ANSWER !. SHE OR HE WORKS FOR YOU

thanks for your condolences . please let me know how things go and good luck .                 

Evelyn Guevara said:

Thanks for your reply.   I am seeing my doctor again today and I am going to just call and get teh sleep study done on my own if he will not follow through.  I don't hvae money to pay outside of my insurance but I can take no more of this.  I appreciate your advice and I'm sorry about your brother.  Afraid to ask the details, so don't tell me until I get some relief as that is what I am afraid of that it is either going to cause heart problems (if it hasn't already) or I will just stop breathing, especially since it's complicated with asthma, which apparently, is a common menopausal symptom, also, as well as heart palpitations, sleep apnea, and high blood pressure, all of which I have had or have.  Also can be brought on by thyroid issues, but my thyroid is always fine in blood tests.  Supposed to be getting back more bloodwork test results today as it hasn't been done in several months.  Thanks again for your concern and help.

Ernestine Webster said:

girl i completely know how you feel, i had a doctor that would not listen to me about my sleep issues for about a year so i took it on myself to find a sleep specialist and called and made an appointment myself, some insurance companies do require your doctor calling another doctor for you but mine does not so i went to see the sleep specialist and he listened to me and asked alot of questions and looked at my throat and said i had a very narrow airway so he suppected i had sleep apnea and said to find out i would need to have a sleep study and i told him to set it up and he did , went 2 weeks later and found out i had obstructive sleep apnea and had to go back for another sleep study with a cpap , so my advise is to take charge of your own health care and find a sleep doctor in your area. i went a whole year and suppect i had it longer then that. i lost a brother to this sleep disorder so please do not put it off.     

Evelyn Guevara said:

Hello, Ginny, I sent a message earlier asking if people could dscribe their iniital symptoms.  Mine have been crazy and somewhat complicated by menopause and asthma.  But I feel so unhappy about this, I am getting desperate and my doctor so far has not referred me for a sleep study even though I am now in the ER or urgent care every 10 days if not sooner.  They give me breathing treatments, antibiotics and steroids, but even with those, I am jerking awake as soon as I fall asleep and  I am so sick of being afraid to fall asleep because when I do fall alseep I often wake up with teror, and yelling out or making a loud suond like "barking" because I can't breathe in, only out...I used to take my blood pressure when I woke like this and it was high, but woudl go down as soon as I relaxed and had some deep breaths in.  But when it is realy bad, I am just really confused and my heart is pounding.  In addition, when this whole crappy syndrome started 1.5 years ago, I was waking up every hour, not remembering any dreams, my lungs got involved, got asthma, high blood prssure (the pills for that made my lungs much worse and they are still not recovered, even though I quit that medicatoin months ago after realizing what it was doing; my blood pressue is usually normal or very close when I take it except when I have been to the ER for the anxiety and asthma or just anxiety that I can't breathe)  I really need a breast reduction and to lose weight, but for now, I can't do those things quickly, so am just feeling so desperate.  Do you have any advice besides call my doctor again and tell him I need help NOW!?  Thanks a lot.
Ginny Edmundson said:

Welcome to the club! Good luck~

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Louise on April 19, 2011 at 11:41am

58 I am

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kelly Elliott on April 19, 2011 at 3:04pm

45, have had sleep apnea since age 30.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by loren wolsh on April 19, 2011 at 4:04pm

i am 70 and have been on cpap fo 21 years

• ▶ Reply

▶ Reply to Discussion

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 13
• 14
• 15
• 16
• 17
• Next ›
• Page