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Don't just think about it and don't wait till summer.

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my (now ex)girlfriend noticed it and told me to get tested.

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QFT x2

I've probably had it since college. Just about every roommate, girlfriend, wife and child of mine have complained about my snoring :rolleyes: I just chalked it up to, "Well, I snore, wtf...?!" Runs in my family--my dad, brother, even my mom are big snorers. Plus, I don't fit the typical body profile or exhibited other symptoms that guys with sleep apnea usually have.

It wasn't until I took seriously the concerns of my current wife, who is a light sleeper, that I decided to get checked. She said she has to shove me a few times each night to "jump start" my breathing. Now I have a sleep study scheduled for May 14th and we'll see what the clinical data shows, although I am already anticipating the outcome: cpap for me.

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I'm so glad everyone has stepped in and told their stories and offered encouragement. To all that have not had a sleep study please do so and soon. Keep us all updated on your progress. This is such a simple thing to improve the quality of life for your and those that love you.

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Anyone scheduled their test yet? :tt

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Any updates? Who has scheduled their test? Come on boys lets get this done.

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Hey guys, Mike here and I have sleep apnea...I was diagnosed about 9 months ago as a result of my beautiful wife of 20 years kicking me and sick of sleeping with her Ipod on. I use my CPAP faithfully...but I feel no different waking up than I did before the CPAP. I always felt rested, just thought I snored (like a bear as the wife says).

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Welcome Mike. :D

No difference? WOW. First person I have ever heard say that. :hm

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My ultimate problem is my weight and i am working o that, with that said has anyone used one of the moth pieces offered on tv? I am looking for a temp solution until I finish shedding the pounds

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No experience with those Albert sorry.

So your sleep study doctor said lose some weight and all will be ok? :confused:

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That and get my broken nose fixed, until then I was looking for a cheap fix so I don't have to sleep in the yard :D

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Let me clarify, I have a small fracture on the inner part of my nose that has been there for years. When I quit smoking cigarettes 3.5 years ago I gained close to 50lbs and that is apparently the leading cause of my snoring and the break just adds to the noise.

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My name is Mert, and today is 3 weeks post-op for tonsillectomy, reshaping the soft palette, fixing a deviated septum and reducing the turbinate glands in my sinuses. In my sleep study I was found to have 124 apnea events per hour, so my breathing interrupted twice a minute, and my oxygen was down at about 82. I am quite claustrophobic, so pretty much couldn't sleep in any mask...and the cpap had to be turned up so high I panicked because I felt I couldn't exhale, so that led to surgery. Well, that and the fact that my tonsils were 3 and 4 times larger than normal.

As of right now, only three weeks in and still not fully recovered from surgery, I am not snoring, my sinuses are clear and I am actually dreaming again (I couldn't remember the last dream I had before surgery). I would say that the first two weeks were the most miserable thing in my entire life, and I have a history of kidney stones, so I know a little something about being miserable. If you can live with the cpap, do so, cause tonsillectomy and the soft palette reshaping is about the worst thing an adult can go through and not be life threatening, imho.

I am looking forward to this weekend, my first cigar in about 4 weeks!

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So to clarify, you have not had a study and you are only going on Doc Albert's diagnosis. Correct?

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I went to a medical conference years ago and one of the sessions was on sleep disorders. At the time sleep apnea seemed like one of the strangest problems I'd ever heard of and never thought it would affect anyone I knew. Turns out it's a lot more common than I thought; my dad just had his sleep study last night. I'll let you guys know how it went once I find out and if there's any questions he has.

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Went to the Doc he just sent me to an ENT and the ENT looked me over and gave me that diagnosis. I asked both about a sleep study and neither thought it necessary. Just going on my doctors diagnosis ;)

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Do me a personal favor, ask your lovely wife to watch you sleep for an hour or so. If she says you stop breathing AT ALL, EVEN ONCE get a new doctor. K?

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Al...yeah go figure! Every one says they notice the difference with the CPAP machine right away. Doctor says I may not notice it, but I am getting better sleep. So gotta take the doctors word and continue to use the CPAP. Wife enjoys sleeping without her Ipod. Funny thing is, now I notice her snoring...LOL!!

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Will do, I really did try to get a study done. I may just get a new doc and insist anyways. I almost left anyways after that SOB said I might need to stop smoking cigars and drinking bourbon :D

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I have that EXACT same thing happen to me fairly regularly..think I'm choking and wake up in a panic, :confused:
I have it whether I've had an alchoholic drink or not and I'm a fairly fit-ish guy, 32yr old, 5' 7" (nearly 5' 8"!) and 137lbs.

Did you ever go to the docs about it?

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I'm not a doctor but I bet you have it. Get a study done soon and prove me wrong please.

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Thanks for that story, it is interesting to hear about the other types of treatment available. I weighed the possibility of having the procedure you did, but chickened out after reading stories about how bad it was and how there was no guarantee that it would work completely. Sounds like the pain part of those stories was accurate. Of course, my biggest worry popped up when I read some people complaining of loss of taste due to the clamp they use to hold your tounge down. I couldn't bear the thought of not enjoying my cigars anymore, so CPAP for me! I wish you luck in your recovery. I'd love to hear updates as you progress.

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Hi... My name is Trent and I have severe sleep apnea. I now realize I've had sleep apnea since I was a young child. I've always snored excessively and always had trouble staying awake while in school. I had a sleep study done about a year ago which revealed an AHI of 97 in a 4 hour sleep sample. According to the tech, I actually stopped breathing over 400 times for varying durations during the 4 hour sample. My SpO2 dropped to a low of 74%. After the official diagnosis I was placed on CPAP with a relatively low pressure of 8. I had a septoplasty to correct a deviated septum about 7 months ago, and was switched to APAP post surgical.

Now... I would pity the poor fool that would have the grapes to attempt to take my APAP!! I've had 100% compliance since I've been able to tolerate it after the surgery. I use a ResMed Micro Mirage mask with complete success. My AHI is down to 3.4. I haven't fallen asleep while driving since my diagnosis/treatment. I have a ton more energy, and my fiance's absolute favorite... I don't snore!!! I look at my life as before CPAP and after CPAP. Sleep apnea is truly a life altering condition that most people that have it, don't even realize they suffer from it. You don't realize how bad it is until you can experience life without it.

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Thank you for sharing your success story Trent. Getting treatment really does make a huge impact on your life!

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I haven't noticed a loss of taste, but I didn't have the most refined palette before the surgery either! The pain thing...yep, absolutely as bad as they say...I've had a 7mm kidney stone, and this was pretty much dead even with that! Bottom line is, you gotta do something about it if you have it. Good for you that the CPAP worked, that's clearly the better option!

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Well if you are cured and don't have to use CPAP, that is definitely a better option. I'm used to the CPAP now and it helps a lot, but it definitely makes it tough to sleep close to my wife, who is bothered by the exhaust air. It is a little bit of a downside. As you said though, we gotta do something about it.

Enjoy that first cigar!

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Hello my name is Erik and I probably have sleep apnea,

I am in the process of scheduling a sleep study (getting the doctors referral and all that stuff) I already called the sleep institute and after they get the papers from the Doc. I will be in for a study next week. :tu

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Good luck Erik! :tu

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Hi, my name is Claude. I've had sleep apnea for a little over 5 yrs now. I don't remember the exact #'s of my last sleep study 3 yrs ago, but I remember they were bad. I started using a CPAP but could not find a mask that was comfortable enough to allow me to sleep thru the night. I would wake up fiddling with the tubes, or develop a leak. I stopped using the CPAP 2 yrs ago as a result of this. I don't think I want to go the surgery route. My problem with the different masks is that I'm a stomach sleeper and could never get comfy on my back. Funny that this post started because I'm scheduled for another sleep study on the 13th, and reading all the posts makes me remember how serious this is. I hope they've come up with new head gear that will address my problem with not being able to sleep on my back. If any one has, or had the problem with head gear, a heads up on what gear you use would appreciated.

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I'm generally a side/stomach sleeper. I've been using nasal pillows with no issues for a couple of years now. This is the mask I use.

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Good luck Erik and keep us posted!

So glad to read you're going to give it another shot. :dance:
Please keep us posted!

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Gang I am afraid that my wife has sleep apnea. At night I can hear her taking long pauses between breaths, and she snores really bad, and wakes up tired most days. I can’t convince her that she may have an issue. Any ideas on how I can convince her that she needs to get checked out?

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I suggest doing a little research about the affects of apnea and then present them to her. Increased blood pressure, risk of stroke, heart attack, thickening of heart walls, etc. That might scare her into it. I also know there are a couple of CPAP forums which I've linked below where people discuss the night and day difference between how they felt before and how they felt after CPAP started. Those types of threads are usually stickied, so they shouldn't be hard to find. If she is always tired, she may be intrigued by the possibility of not being tired if she gets checked out. If not, visiting the sites may give you more information you need to really press upon her. Good luck! It's an important cause.

http://www.cpaptalk.com/CPAP-Sleep-A...bdb10f1ac586c3

http://www.apneasupport.org/

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She is just convinced it is because of the weight that she put on after having our children. It does scare me. Just the thought of anything happening to her. I will let her know about the forums, and try to get her to take a look at them. I have also been thinking about recording her sleep with a hope that she hears what I do.

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Junior... I am a woman, a mother, a wife, and I SWEAR, just reading this forum made me eager to find out if I had it. I called hubby and asked them if I had a normal sleep and, apparently, I do. My best tip, for your situation, is to suggest your wife to read this entire thread.... and if trhe scary stuff doens't convince her, the amazing love in your tone and your genuine concernes about something happening to her WILL convince her. Gee... I almost cried....

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Thank you I will try to get her to read it tonight. Wish me luck. I don't know what I would do with out her.

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Tell her you love her and you want to spend many, many years together. Then ask her to get tested "for you".

If that doesn't work make an appointment, tell here your taking here to lunch and deliver here at the doc's office! :D

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This is the only mask that I could get comfortable with and honestly, after several months, I hardly noticed it anymore.

http://www.amazon.com/Puritan-Benett...1717472&sr=8-2

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So I thought I would keep a list of who needs to schedule their test. This way all of us that are treating our Apnea can hound those that aren't until they do. All confirmed apnea people please feel free to send reminder PM's on a regular bases to the following. :D

mediccook - Ryan
eber - Eric
beeradvocate - Travis - (Father-In-Law)
dentonparrots - Carl
kaisersozei - Gerard
tripp - Tripp
ggainey - Greg
emjaysmash - M.J.
awsmith4 - Albert
jkim05 - Jeremy - (Dad - awaiting results)
junior - (wife)


Please update the list with the date of your scheduled test. :tu

Well? What are you waiting for? Get going! :tt

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mediccook - Ryan
eber - Eric
beeradvocate - Travis - (Father-In-Law)
dentonparrots - Carl
kaisersozei - Gerard May 14
tripp - Tripp
ggainey - Greg
emjaysmash - M.J.
awsmith4 - Albert
jkim05 - Jeremy - (Dad - awaiting results)
junior - (wife)


Yo, I'm psychic--mine was scheduled before the thread started!

I was planning on posting up some pictures next weekend once it's all done, just to give folks an idea of what the test is like.

G

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I already have the equipment I just don't use it. :r

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eber - Eric
beeradvocate - Travis - (Father-In-Law)
dentonparrots - Carl
kaisersozei - Gerard May 14
tripp - Tripp
ggainey - Greg
emjaysmash - M.J.
awsmith4 - Albert
jkim05 - Jeremy - (Dad - awaiting results)
junior - (wife)


Updated List. :)

Well, I'm disappointed but it's your life. :(

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Im giving my father in law an oximeter to wear over night to see what his O2 stats drop to. I am hoping he can take the report to his doctor and that Dr will see how bad his sleep apnea is, and just bypass the sleep study and prescribe him a CPAP.

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Good idea Travis. Hope it works. :)

Let us know.

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He will still have to go through some form of titration study for the CPAP. I can't really see a physician skipping the sleep study entirely though, but every doctor is different so who knows. The important part is he seeks the treatment he needs.

Best of luck! A new life could be on the horizon for your father-in-law.

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They will still need to determine what CPAP pressure setting is necessary through a study, so he won't be able to skip it entirely. You could save him one of the two trips though.

One thing I hadn't mentioned before but should have is that my dad actually had the studies conducted at home. They came out and set everything up before bed, and returned in the morning to get all the equipment, data, etc., so he could do it from his own bed. One of the most unpleasant parts of the sleep study is sleeping in the lab (though they do a nice job of making it kind of like a bare-bones hotel room as opposed to a hospital). If you can avoid that aspect, perhaps some of you who are reluctant to go through with the process will give it a shot.

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Some doctors (around here anyway) will have the patient skip the sleep study all together, and prescribe them a Bipap machine that has a vairable pressure setting. I work for a medical supply company and sometimes Dr's will send a patient over with his O2 sats and an RX for a Bipap machine.
It just depends on how bad their sats are.

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I think I'll get this checked out when I get back home. My wife thinks I may have an issue, but I don't have problems with my sleep. I do snore, but I don't ever recall waking up short of breath. I'm mostly a side sleeper, and sometimes sleep on my back.

However, if there is a potential issue, I want to get it taken care of ASAP.

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nothing funny about that Ryan.

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Ian, I never noticed waking up with gasping for breath, even though I have severe apnea, so that is no indication.