"please keep me updated about oximeters "
Sleep Apnea Forum Bringing Power to the Patient
New? Free Sign Up
Then check our Welcome Center to a Community Caring about Sleep Apnea diagnosis and Sleep Apnea treatment:
CPAP machines, Sleep Apnea surgery and dental appliances.
CPAP Supplies
Latest Activity
I'm new
Hello,
I have had sleep apnea from being around 10 years old although never had it diagnosed,sometimes its really bad I wake every 15 minutes during the night gasping for breath,other times i either don't notice it or i dont have it happen,but I know its sleep apnea becasue my friend who is a doctor said it certainly sounds like I have it,bu I dare not go to the doctor because I am not a slim lady I weigh 16 sstone and my doctor will say its causing sleep apnea.
i know I should try and lose weight,but i fail each time I try to diet so i dont bother,
I found recently that sleeping on the floor reduces sleep apnea and I feel like I sleep better I don't know how this happens but it works for me.
does anyone know of any natural cures for this conditon apart from losing weight lol
thank you
Jackie
Views: 210
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Kath Hope www.hope2Sleep.co.uk on
-
Hi Jackie. You've come to the right place for help on here, and I'm just the first of many who will tell you that you MUST go to your GP with your suspiciouns for the sake of your future health. Undiagnosed sleep apnea can be very dangerous. It's not surprising that you're failing at losing weight whilst you're undiagnosed, and I personally have many customers in the UK who have been amazed at the amount of weight they have been able to lose once their CPAP treatment is successful, due to the fact that they normally have more energy. How do you know your weight hasn't been caused by undiagnosed sleep apnea for most of your life? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Please please pick up the courage and see your GP.
-
Permalink Reply by jackie blackmore on
-
Hi,
thank you for this its very encouraging and I must admit I am tired most of the time,I sleep in the afternoons and wake up every morning feeling tired and achy.
I will go to the doctors and ask bout this and I actually do suspect that my weight is due to this condition its been up and down all my life,I need to eat to have energy and its a vicious circle.
When I wake up feeling like I am choking sometimes my tongue is numb and I have to take deep breaths before I feel better,my husband says I wake up in a panic becasue I am gasping for breath its terrifying for sometimes and makes me weak and I then I feel physically sick,not sure if this is what happens but I have suffered it for years and I am 46 no so its a lot of years.
Kath Hope www.hope2Sleep.co.uk said:Hi Jackie. You've come to the right place for help on here, and I'm just the first of many who will tell you that you MUST go to your GP with your suspiciouns for the sake of your future health. Undiagnosed sleep apnea can be very dangerous. It's not surprising that you're failing at losing weight whilst you're undiagnosed, and I personally have many customers in the UK who have been amazed at the amount of weight they have been able to lose once their CPAP treatment is successful, due to the fact that they normally have more energy. How do you know your weight hasn't been caused by undiagnosed sleep apnea for most of your life? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Please please pick up the courage and see your GP.
-
Permalink Reply by 99 on
-
i was diagnosed with two conditions in april 2005 sleep apnea and diabeties
URGENT you will not loss any weight untill you are sleeping properly
I like the idea of sleeping on the floor, it may be due the firmness and should be investigated for apneans
-
-
Sleep your fat away
Study suggests strong connection between sleep deprivation and obesity..
By staying awake when you should be sleeping, you rob the body of precious time to repair damaged cells and rest the mind.
ights: Youngsters are working late hours at call centres, leading to disturbed sleep cycles.
Benita Sen
If you are trying to shed excess kilos, you may just need to sleep a little more! This was the conclusion reached by a study of 68,000 women by Case Western Reserve University, US. Sleeping less than five hours a night can cause you to gain more weight than those who sleep seven hours. It's not the activity of sleeping or keeping awake, but what happens to your body when you are awake that makes all the difference.
Sleep and Hormones
Paucity of sleep plays havoc with the balance of leptin and ghrelin — the hormones that regulate appetite and satiety. Fat cells release leptin to tell the body that it has adequate fat which, in turn, signals the body to eat less. Ghrelin, on the other hand, is the stomach's alarm signal to the brain, calling for food intake. More leptin is released when you are rested with adequate sleep. When wide awake, more ghrelin is produced, prompting you to eat.
So, how much sleep is good for you?
If you get five or less hours of sleep a day, you are 70 per cent more likely to be obese than those who sleep for seven to eight hours. “The overall mortality curve (due to whatever reason) is U shape, that is, high for patients who sleep less than 7-8 hours or more than 9-10 hours,” says Dr Himanshu Garg, Consultant, Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Medanta – The Medicity, Gurgaon. He says people who sleep less than the body's requirement are also at greater risk for diabetes and heart problems.
According to the US study, when sleep-deprived you feel hungry and eat more, not just during the night but even on the following day. Sleep deprivation also appears to affect the choice of food. Even if healthier options such as fruits and vegetable salads are available, the hunger at odd hours sees you reaching out for sweeter, starchier or saltier foods – typically with higher calories.
Sleep-starved and overfed, the body cannot metabolise the food as it ought to and gets caught in the web of hormonal imbalance, appetite increases, poor metabolism and weight gain. Dr Garg adds, “What many do not know is that the body does not burn as many calories when it is functioning on less sleep, and ends up hoarding calories as fat which makes our weight-loss goals more difficult than they need to be.”
Bingeing leaves the body with a dietary hangover the next day. By staying awake when you should be sleeping, you also rob the body of precious time to repair damaged cells and rest the mind. You end up being irritable and jaded, and certainly not as fresh as those who've slept well.
Day-sleeping
Ideally, you should sleep for straight hours during the night. But if professional or personal life leaves you sleep starved, try and make up for lost sleep sometime during the day. “Sleep debt can be cleared by catch-up naps; people often do that over the weekends. But sleep should be a consolidated episode during the night,” advises Dr Garg.
Agrees Dr Ramanathan Iyer, Sleep Medicine Consultant, L.H. Hiranandani Hospital, “Recovering lost sleep by sleeping during the day is common. But the amount of sleep you get is usually less than the amount lost.”
Moreover, daytime sleep can disrupt the sleep-wake cycle. “The secretion of various hormones happens according to the normal body clock, and it can get disrupted if the clock is disturbed,” he warns.
Indian Scenario
Traditionally, Indians stay up nights for religious or social occasions such as a jagran, late-night wedding, or playing cards all night for a month before Diwali. But in today's globalised economy, thousands of young Indians also stay up working during night shifts at BPOs and media centres. Other professionals, too, such as doctors, nurses, and railway and airline staff work in shifts, running a high risk of sleep deprivation. Dr Suresh Kumar, Consultant, Neurology and Sleep Medicine at Fortis Malar Hospital, Chennai, says there are several kinds of sleep disorders, of which insomnia and sleep apnoea syndrome are the most common. He says there is need for greater awareness on sleep disorders, and even advocates introducing a postgraduate course in sleep medicine.
Common sleep disorders
Insomnia or sleeplessness: Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Leaves you feeling tired and irritable on waking.
Sleep apnoea: This can cause you to stop breathing in your sleep not just once, but hundreds of times in seven hours. Obstructive sleep apnoea can be caused by a blocked nose and leads to low oxygen levels. Leaves you groggy or can even push up blood pressure.
Restless leg syndrome: Can worsen in the evening and night, disrupting sleep.
Chronic insufficient sleep: A lifestyle disorder that leaves you sleeping less than the recommended seven hours.
Others include: Nightmares and night terrors, sleep-walking.
-
-
morning,
I went to the doctors and he useless,he said nobody's tongue stops them from breathing a peson always wakes up,but this is true I know,but he could not offer any advice,only to lose weight ,so I mae an appointment to see the dietition on Thursday,the thing is though I don't eat anything with additives colours artificial sweetners or yeast so I am pretty stuck to plain foods.
My doctor is a good one,but I think they are only taught what they know if you understand my meaning,but I have taken the first step and seen him even though he cant help me.
Kath Hope www.hope2Sleep.co.uk said:Hi Jackie. You've come to the right place for help on here, and I'm just the first of many who will tell you that you MUST go to your GP with your suspiciouns for the sake of your future health. Undiagnosed sleep apnea can be very dangerous. It's not surprising that you're failing at losing weight whilst you're undiagnosed, and I personally have many customers in the UK who have been amazed at the amount of weight they have been able to lose once their CPAP treatment is successful, due to the fact that they normally have more energy. How do you know your weight hasn't been caused by undiagnosed sleep apnea for most of your life? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Please please pick up the courage and see your GP.
-
-
This is not what we wanted to hear, but unfortunately we hear things like this all the time in the UK. Many GP's need educating about OSA. I have several customers who have been to dieticians, and it's actually the dietician who has suspected the patients have OSA. At least by you making the appointment for Thursday, you're doing what the doc recommended so see what that appointment brings. Two people I know were actually on the list for the gastric band until it was discovered they had undiagnosed/untreated OSA. Neither of them needed the operation once they had their treatment for OSA underway. At a local Sleep Apnoea Support Group Meeting I was at, someone asked the question of what to do if their GP wouldn't listen to them if they suspected they had sleep apnoea. The visiting speaker bluntly replied "change your doctor!"
Here's a link to the Epworth Sleepiness Scale which you can fill in, print off and take to the dietician and doctor:-
http://www.britishsnoring.co.uk/sleep_apnoea/epworth_sleepiness_sca...
You have to fight for your rights and, more importantly, your health. Don't take this lying down (excuse the pun lol). Even people who lose weight don't usually cure their sleep apnoea, as it's too late by then, but it can be improved, so you're on the right path of a long road. Don't give up!! Let us know how you get on on Thursday.
Another story for you is another customer of mine who was told by his GP he didn't have sleep apnoea and refused to test him. After much persuading, he changed his GP. The new one listened, he got tested, and was found he had 86 apnoeas per hour and his CPAP machine was rushed through the system as they were so worried about his health! This was 3 months ago, and he's already lost 2 stone and is a new man :-)
jackie blackmore said:morning,
I went to the doctors and he useless,he said nobody's tongue stops them from breathing a peson always wakes up,but this is true I know,but he could not offer any advice,only to lose weight ,so I mae an appointment to see the dietition on Thursday,the thing is though I don't eat anything with additives colours artificial sweetners or yeast so I am pretty stuck to plain foods.
My doctor is a good one,but I think they are only taught what they know if you understand my meaning,but I have taken the first step and seen him even though he cant help me.
Kath Hope www.hope2Sleep.co.uk said:Hi Jackie. You've come to the right place for help on here, and I'm just the first of many who will tell you that you MUST go to your GP with your suspiciouns for the sake of your future health. Undiagnosed sleep apnea can be very dangerous. It's not surprising that you're failing at losing weight whilst you're undiagnosed, and I personally have many customers in the UK who have been amazed at the amount of weight they have been able to lose once their CPAP treatment is successful, due to the fact that they normally have more energy. How do you know your weight hasn't been caused by undiagnosed sleep apnea for most of your life? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Please please pick up the courage and see your GP.
© 2025 Created by The SleepGuide Crew.
Powered by
