sleep apnea

[cryptasm]

Hey All, this is an old post but I just started Bipap on tuesday and feel like a fuckin train wreck, got 4 hrs on it on tues, and 7.3 hrs last nite but I feel like I haven't slept in a week.. Did u guys on cpap or bipap have the same issues?
Is it just a matter of time and getting used to it?
I thought that after the first nite of good sleep I would feel better, but I feel worse than I did before using the machine..

 

[stormshadow]

My ex-girlfriend's fiance had Very bad Apnea and could not stand the Cpap, so he had surgery and says its the best thing he ever did. They removed his tonsils, cut back his tongue, and removed alot of soft tissue.

On a personal note, I was told by a girl i was seeing that my breathing was stopping at times during the night. I had a sleep study done and my results were quite good actually. I didn't have any apnea's and my awakenings were from snoring, however I was told to lay in my worst position, which is my back. I have been sleeping with another girl and I lay on my side mostly and she says that I do not even snore...

The doc said that I have a big tongue and surgery is an option for me, but until I get some severe symptoms I'm not going to go through that surgery. I had my tonsils out 3 years ago, and I can say it has to be one of the most painful surgery related experiences there is...

 

[edge250]

going in for my sleep study in august, just like most of you my girl wakes me up when the breathing stops. i'm tired alot even though i sleep most of the time 8 or more hours, doc says i'm not getting enough level 4 sleep. hope i dont have to have the surgery doesnt sound fun. i dropped from 260 to 240 but that didnt help any

 

[cryptasm]

i dropped from 240 to 227, did no good... I need 12 hrs sleep to feel good.
gonna try going to bed tonite at 10 and sleep till 8. that'll give me 10 hrs.
I've heard a few people say they felt better after the first nite, I guess they are the minority.

 

[Coopie]

I don't know if this counts or not but...

When I bulk in the wintertime I generally get up to about 245 or so. For my 5'8" frame, that's pretty heavy. Well, I snore so bad I get kicked out of my bedroom and about once a week I wake up in the middle of the night GASPING FOR AIR.

It feels like something has fallen into my throat and it takes about 5 seconds (5 scary as hell seconds) to start breathing again. Until then, I just cannot get air into my lungs through my throat, and it makes a high-pitched squealing sound when I try to breathe.

Also, my wife tells me that my snoring and breathing COMPLETELY STOP for 10 - 20 seconds at a time throughout the night. It freaks her out.

All this stops around April when I lose the first 15 lbs or so of excess weight.

 

[xcelbeyond]

Well, I snore so bad I get kicked out of my bedroom and about once a week I wake up in the middle of the night GASPING FOR AIR.

It's nothing to mess with - go get a sleep study done.

When I sleep without my cpap, my throat hurts when I wake up (probably from all the activity - closing shut and opening).

 

[Adrenaline Rush]

i was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea,, i can sleep 10 hours and feel more tired than when i went to sleep....i just need to get under my insurance to get the CPAP

cryptasm, get thing adjusted man!!! talk to your doc. maybe get autopap so it can tell you exactly whats going on (maybe there are leaks or the pressure isnt high enough) family members have told me they feel so much better with it

 

[rrtrpsgt]

sleep apnea answers!

I am a Respiratory Therapist, and licensed in sleep medicine for ten years now. Sleep apnea is nothing to mess with. If your spouse has witnessed pauses in your breaths at night you should really get it checked out. Snoring is not normal! Apnea puts a lot of stress on your heart, and can give you secondary hypertension (high blood presure). As far as surgery goes. There's mixed results. First find out if you have sleep apnea, and what degree. Is it mild, moderate or severe. Surgery usually only works for those that are mild, and still there are no guarenties. Moderate, and severe apnea will usually only get results with cpap (continious positive airway pressure). If you snore, and are complaining of daytime sleepiness then you may want to consult with a pulmonologist who is board certified in sleep medicine. If you snore try sleeping only on your sides, and use a couple of pillows to prop you up. Stay off your back, and see if this makes a difference.

 

[Coopie]

XCEL - I know... I really have to get that done. It's scary that it almost seems "normal" to me at this point that it happens.

But, it has not happened since I'm hovering around 210 lbs, and I'm thinking about staying lean throughout the winter and seeing how that affects it.

 

[cryptasm]

i was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea,, i can sleep 10 hours and feel more tired than when i went to sleep....i just need to get under my insurance to get the CPAP

cryptasm, get thing adjusted man!!! talk to your doc. maybe get autopap so it can tell you exactly whats going on (maybe there are leaks or the pressure isnt high enough) family members have told me they feel so much better with it

Thx AR, gonna talk to the doc today..but check this out... last nite i was on for 5 hrs, I wake up sneeze about 10 times, go to take a leak and my nose is dripping snot like a waterfall, I start to sneeze a few more times. so I left the thing off the rest of the nite. When I woke up I was sneezing and had alot of sinus issues.. So I figured out why i felt like shit the last few days maybee, I belive I was catching a cold and just by coincidence it was starting on tuesday, i've been feeling progressivly worse and today It got me..I belive thats my problem..If it continues then I'm gonna get things checked out..but right now I feel like shit and it feels like a cold or the flu...

 

[TONE]

Fuck

I just got in from a doctor's appointment where I was diagnosed with it, although it ONLY occurs when I sleep on my back.

Now I get to go in for a 2nd sleep test with the CPAP machine. They say it's a combination of being born with small airpassages as well as relaxed neck muscles.

The doctor also said that he can pretty much guarantee a patient will have it if their neck is 18'' or larger. Mine is just over 17''.

 

[Starkraven]

i didnt get myself checked since i dont have insurance and cant afford it yet (gonna enroll with work now that im full time) but i think i have apnea. im ALWAYS tired. i dread doing anything. working out is hard. i have to force myself to do it and always think of quitting. work is hard. i could sleep standing up in the shower. its getting so bad i dont know what to do. the summer seems to be worse too. heres the kicker. at night, i dont wake up a thousand times. actually i never do. in the morning i piss and thats it. however, i wake up tired and can sleep whenever i want if i let myself. its that crazy and im sick of it. when i try to nap, i feel oxygen deprived and gasp for air, but not when i go to sleep at night. im fine with that

 

[xcelbeyond]

im ALWAYS tired. i dread doing anything. working out is hard. i have to force myself to do it and always think of quitting. work is hard. i could sleep standing up in the shower. its getting so bad i dont know what to do. the summer seems to be worse too. heres the kicker. at night, i dont wake up a thousand times. actually i never do. in the morning i piss and thats it. however, i wake up tired and can sleep whenever i want if i let myself. its that crazy and im sick of it. when i try to nap, i feel oxygen deprived and gasp for air, but not when i go to sleep at night. im fine with that

I had nearly identical symptoms but never felt oxygen deprived or gasped for air. The doc said my apnea was very severe. They initially had me on oxygen as well as a CPAP.

 

[LATS]

YOU' LL GET USED TO THE MACHINE.. it took me a few days to get used to the feeling of being "hooked up" but, it will go away.. remember that there are several different face masks out there to use.. try them all and see what is the most comfortable.. the machine should have a pressure regulation that is more forceful depending on what the air encounters.. make sure the mask is snug and just relax and learn to adjust to it.. you will feel much better..

 

[moj0]

I've been using cpap for two years now and have considered the surgery but my ENT says that it only has about a 50/50 success rate and is very painful. Just recently I was talking to a friend who is a nurse and she told me about a new procedure where they use radio waves (i guess sort of like a microwave oven) to shrink the tissue in the throat and soft palate. She said the people she knew of that had it had great results with minimal discomfort. I am looking into it because I'm tired of being tethered to that stupid machine. Might be of interest to you as well.

 

[cryptasm]

the surgery is "from what I hear " horrible...
I benn on the machine "bipap" for 2 weeks ... its a no brainer.. surgey sucks don't so it.. suck it up , get on the machine, and pretend its a 20 rep squat... don' tgive up..it takes some gettin used to but...its better than getting your throat cut up.. Dude.. seriously thnre is an easy way and a hard way ...surgery is the HARD way.. so do your homework...getting yur throat roto routered isnt the easy way....

 

[gnpower]

at night, i dont wake up a thousand times. actually i never do. in the morning i piss and thats it.

Hey just wanted to chime in here. Trust me would have no idea you are waking up, because they dont mean waking up fully thousands of times. Its not waking up totally like when you are going to the bathroom. Its having lapses where you are going from one stage of sleep to another, a deeper stage to a lesser stage over and over that is your bodys way of trying to get sleep but waking up just enough to like stage 1 sleep to start breathing again. hope that makes sense.

 

[Starkraven]

Hey just wanted to chime in here. Trust me would have no idea you are waking up, because they dont mean waking up fully thousands of times. Its not waking up totally like when you are going to the bathroom. Its having lapses where you are going from one stage of sleep to another, a deeper stage to a lesser stage over and over that is your bodys way of trying to get sleep but waking up just enough to like stage 1 sleep to start breathing again. hope that makes sense.

well its ruining my life. i dont want to do anything because im so tired. im depressed because of it. all i want to do is sleep. time flies so quick. i work at 1:30, im up at 9am, it just takes forever for me to do something. its hard to work. i have to workout obviously so somewhere during my workout i get a little energy but still, i never feel energetic or anything. im not having the surgery. first i need to get it checked and see how severe it is. thats when i can afford some health insurance.

 

[Starkraven]

Hey just wanted to chime in here. Trust me would have no idea you are waking up, because they dont mean waking up fully thousands of times. Its not waking up totally like when you are going to the bathroom. Its having lapses where you are going from one stage of sleep to another, a deeper stage to a lesser stage over and over that is your bodys way of trying to get sleep but waking up just enough to like stage 1 sleep to start breathing again. hope that makes sense.

yeah that seems to make sense to me. anyone else share their opinion about the masks and how much it helped them?

 

[Snarf]

I pretty much have the same story as everyone here. I had 2 surgeries - they removed my tonsils, fixed a deviated septum, burned off my turbnates and then removed my uvula. The surgeries sucked big time (the tonsilectomy was amazingly painful, I wimpered like a little girl).

Anyway, after all that I still have to use my CPAP machine. I am looking into the radio fequency therapy where they shrink the tissue although most insurance won't pay for it becuase it is considered experimental for that indication.

I don't like using my CPAP but it is the only way to get decent sleep. It took me awhile to get used to it but you have to stick with it.