Sleep Apnea...ugh why???

[Bettina 0]

:phanvan The pulmonary doc called today to tell me i have sleep apnea (moderate to severe-I stop breathing 15 times an hour!) Okay so i know that knowing is better than not knowing and one day just up and stop breathing. But yikes! I really wanted my banding done in August...now they can't make the appt until they know my sleep apnea "number"! The machine they showed me before was like walking nose first into a wind tunnel (no pun intended):notagree So okay I resigned to this fact. I am not fond of looking like Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street but oh well. So okay i call the surgeons office and that was when the receptionist told me they need my sleep nunmber first before they can schedule my surgery. Oh joy! Then she tells me ( and honestly I have know this all along but I think today was just too much of a bummer for me to take) :think

She told me that in really really rare occasions, people do get rejected from surgery......omg nothing like salting the wound.....i know she meant well and she was really sweet about it, but yikes, one bad today is all I can take. So here I sit mildly depressed. And my husband (who is usually very nice but was working in the 102 degree weather roofing today) came home and said "oh you were too upset to do dishes??" Okay I was just told that I stop breathing 15 times an hour, and that 159 times an hour i go into really shallow breathing. And the sleep apnea mask blows air like a leaf blower.......ugh....just put the pillow over my head right now and call it a day. :omg: I am embarrassed about whinning about this when I do know that there are others who are clearly worse off than me:o , its just that i have been "up" for so long --I am not dealing with the mental crash so well. I told the sleep lady that there was no way I was gonna get any sleep over the next few days because this was overwhelming and how could I sleep knowing ahead of time that I stop breathing during the night! :cry

Does anyone else have sleep apnea? :notagree I am in desperate need to get out of my "funk" :paranoid

[imagine 3]

I have it and I would guess most of us do. Yes the machine is a pain in the ass, but the upside is you actually get a great nights sleep with it. In fact I went in today to get a new kind of mask, I can't wait to try it out tonight.

sleep Apnea is a co-morbidity for obesity, in the long run it should help you get approved.

Another good benifit of the CPAP is the humidifier attachment. No more dried out feeling in the morning.

Call your surgeon and see if their office can make and headway with the sleep center. My surgeon was able to get me bumped up for an appointment so I could get my machine dialed in before my surgery (which is tomorrow by the way)

[Bettina 0]

Imagine, thank you sooo much for replying! I have walking around all day like a beaten dog feeling like I was all alone in the world. Haven't eaten all day because of it...lol something good has come from it!

Its good to hear that there is good from it- well yeah i know breathing is good...lol...you know what i mean!

Banding tomorrow huh! Wow I wish you all the best! Let us know how you feel as soon as you can!

Take care!!!

[imagine 3]

This is not something you should worry too much about, in fact I was sort of hoping that I would have it so I would get approved a bit easier.

When the weight goes down, it should go away. Granted chicks don't dig it, but it is easy to hide on date nights!

[legallyblonde2 0]

I have written about this before but I lost my father to sleep apnea. Please don't take it lightly. It upsets me too much to think about it but it is soooo much more dangerous than people think.

[imagine 3]

I am not saying that sleep apnea is not dangerous. I am saying that the CPAP is not something to be concerned about.

It is a great machine that most people love once they adjust to it.

Also, often the apnea goes away once the weight is lost.

Getting diagnosed is a great thing and usually lead to a much better life.

[Bettina 0]

Oh no really !?? I am sorry to hear that. I know not to take it lightly like i said better to know than not know...I think the timing was bad today. Actually the whole process has been somewhat of a joke...always smacking into walls trying to get banded! Thank you for responding back to me..I realize its not an easy thing to talk about ...and I appreciate you sharing that with me.

[legallyblonde2 0]

So often people just speak about snoring as being annoying or bothersome. I hear it talked about in such a light hearted fashion. My father was not overweight and exercised like a pro. He wore a c pap and then a bi pap. He had 4 surgeries to try and correct it.

My message is simply ment to remind everyone to take it seriously. My life will never be the same without the person I loved most in this world. All because of stupid stupid snoring!

Good luck to you in your band journey. Take care of yourself.

[mlt45 0]

I am a sleep Lab technician, and I also have sleep apnea. So does my husband.

My husband suffered 4 heart attacks, by-pass surgery, and now has a pacemaker because of the damage done to his heart. We didn't know he had sleep apnea until after the by-pass surgery. The damage had already been done by then. He now sleeps with his CPAP every night and even during his daytime naps.

After his heart surgery and before the CPAP, he was going to his appts. in a wheelchair. Now he is fishing again, even 4-wheeling on his good days. He still has a damaged heart, but he feels so much better with his CPAP.

The reason the physicians want us to have a sleep study done is because you can run into problems during and after your surgery. If you have sleep apnea, not only do you have respiratory events where you have no air flow, but your oxygen level can go down drastically. That leaves you open for blood clots, heart attacks, strokes, etc. My physician says he has almost lost some patients right after the surgery because of untreated sleep apnea.

I have watched oxygen levels go to 59% in some patients, and their heart rates go down into the 40's. That's not healthy folks.

Sleep apnea can cause so many things in our body, from depression to weight gain. How about that? Headaches, irritability, problems concentrating, decreased sexual drive, just to name a few.

sleeping with a small nasal mask is such a small thing compared to sleeping with a pacemaker or oxygen or even becoming paralyzed with a stroke.

There are many companies that make CPAP masks and you don't have to wear the first one the medical supply company fits you with. Shop around, there are even nasal pillows, which is what my hubby wears now. Much more comfortable. Gel masks are great too.

I tell my patients that wearing a CPAP is like sticking your head out the car window or riding in the back of grandpa's pickup truck. Sure it's aggravating, but like the others have said, once the weight goes, the sleep apnea is controlled even better.

Having sleep apnea won't kill you, but letting it go untreated will cause some major damage and will kill you eventually.

Reggie White (NFL player) was diagnosed with it and after his death his wife said he refused to wear the CPAP.

Watching someone come in who has it and hear them say after they are titrated "WOW, I feel better than I have in years!" the morning after is the best part of my job!

[ericsmom 2]

I have severe obstructive sleep apnea...by the time I went to the sleep center to have my test done, I was falling asleep in the middle of conversations, while driving, and at the computer at work. I stopped breathing for 2 whole minutes during my test with little more than a hiccup in that time span. I literally stopped breathing 183 times in 52 minutes. My CPAP has saved my life...yes, I look like Mama Vader when I go to sleep, but at least I get quality sleep now. The test said I should have my machine at "8", but after I used it for a while, he let me bump it up to "10".

When I had my band on July 5th, as I was coming out of my anesthesia, I could hear beeping noises (it was alerting them that my oxygen levels were too low), and the someone would say to me, "Take a deep breath, Stephanie" and I would breathe deeply with the oxygen mask on. See, I didn't have a CPAP hooked up to me at that time and so I was lapsing into Apnea. As soon as I was put in my room, they hooked up my mask that I had brought with me to one of their machines, and I slept perfectly.

I'm sorry your date will be pushed back because of this. I hope the sleep study center can get you in quickly. Good luck to you.

[NancyRN 1]

Hi. I was diagnosed with very severe sleep apnea in January, after I fell asleep at the wheel and totalled my car -- with my daughter in it. Thank God, we were both OK.

The sleep study revealed that I stopped breathing 4 times during the night and my sleep was disrupted more than 100 times by breaths so shallow they didn't allow my body to get the oxygen it needs. No wonder I was exhausted all the time.

I now sleep with a machine that automatically adjusts the pressure I need to keep my airway open. It doesn't feel like a leafblower up my nose; in fact, most nights I have to check just to be sure it's really on. I was stunned at how quickly I adapted to the mask and machine. I don't like wearing a contraption every night, but you know what? Compared to dying in my sleep, it's just a nuisance. We're actually lucky we have a disorder that can be treated -- a lot of disorders can't.

There are some great apnea support sites on the web. Check out www.apneasupport.org, a wonderful site. You can sound off there and everyone will understand what you're feeling. And the members have loads of practical advice to offer. One of the members, sleepydave, manages a sleep lab. You can post the results of your sleep study and he'll explain their significance to you.

You will be amazed at how much better you feel -- physically and emotionally -- once you're getting uninterrupted sleep.:notagree

I'd be surprised if you get rejected for surgery because of the sleep apnea, since so many morbidly obese people have it. It was stupid and insensitive for the staff person to imply you might get rejected because of it. I suggest mentioning it to the surgeon, so he/she can explain to the person about being more supportive.

One important piece of advice: DO NOT DRIVE until your sleep apnea is treated successfully. You're at risk for having microsleeps, like I did. A lot of people think you'll get sleepy before you fall asleep at the wheel, but that's not true -- you can fall asleep with absolutely NO warning. Causing an accident while you have untreated sleep apnea is called reckless endangerment by the legal system. And causing a crash that kills someone is vehicular manslaughter, which can land you in prison.

NancyRN

[mlt45 0]

The "number" they are looking for is what pressure to set your CPAP machine on. We do CPAP titrations for that. You are started out on the lowest pressure, 4cm, and then bumped up until you stop having respiratory events and your 02 levels are not dipping into the 80's anymore.

My husband's number is 11, mine is 8. It's a good idea to go back and be retitrated every once in awhile, especially if you are losing weight. The number might keep going down while you are losing and one day you may be able to sleep without the machine at all!

In some instances losing weight helps, but sometimes you still have sleep apnea despite the weight loss, but losing definitely is a plus!

[waterlily1072 5]

I have a cpap machine too I actually love it. It let's me really sleep. I find it very relaxing and it helps me fall asleep too. I don't use the humidifier though, I hate that function. It makes me feel like I am suffocating. Give me the straight air.

[Yoda 0]

Both my DH and I have sleep apnea and use CPAP. We are like two Darth Vaders side by side when we go to bed.

We looooooooooooooooooove our CPAPS....and the results. It's really nothing to worry about. Yes, it will take some getting used to but once you do, you will LOVE the sleep you get and wonder how you did it before without it.

First of all, 15 times an hour is nothing.....we are both well up over 125 times and hour.

Second of all, my surgeon didn't need to know my # before surgery (he didn't even ask me). The only thing I had to do was bring my CPAP with me because he wanted me to stay overnight because of the apnea.

I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY doubt you will be refused surgery based on this. That is ridiculous and I'm not sure why you were told that.

I, too, hope that I will no longer have it once I lose weight but really it is no biggie. I am not saying apnea is no biggie....I'm saying that using a CPAP is no biggie!!! We're (& you) are just lucky that we know we have it and can do something about it. There is a VERY high %age of people out there (fat and thin) who have it and don't know it and likely will never be tested for it.

[Eficka 0]

Sorry I might sound a bit stupid, but I didnt have the sleep study and normally my pulse goes down to 40's I was on oxgen when I woke up from surgery and I was taking the mask when the nurse came running to me and telling me that she will take it off but I have to breath a lot.

My mom definitelly has sleep apnea, they did the study on her and told her that yes its not good but no oxygen mask needed.

Every morning I feel so tired and exhauste.Could I have sleep apnea?Not that I want to have one, just curious.:-)