<p>Has anyone been diagnosed with sleep apnea? If so, what kind do you have, obstructive, central, or a combination of both? Are you being treated for this condition? How’s it working for you?</p>
<p>My husband recently informed me that he thinks I should be evaluated for sleep apnea. I do snore, quite loudly, apparently. And H says I sometimes periodically stop breathing for several seconds during the night. I don’t think it’ll take much to confirm the suspected diagnosis. My Dad has it. I know it can be hereditary. </p>
<p>Man, I am so not looking forward to having to do the C-pap thing!:(</p>
<p>I have sleep apnea, and a c-pap machine. It has made my life so much better. I really do get a good night’s sleep. I use to stop breathing while sleeping according to my husband. I broke my ankle a few years ago, and while I was in the emergency room, I dozed off, and the ER doc said that I should be checked out for it. </p>
<p>I waited a couple of years, but I definitely had it. The difference has been extraordinary. I don’t toss and turn during the night as I use to. I don’t have to get up 3 - 4 times a night to go to the bathroom. I am usually getting 7-8 good hours of sleep. I do take an occasional ambien. I am prescribed a 5 mg dose, but I cut it in half. I just need it to fall asleep, then no problem. </p>
<p>My biggest hang-up with the machine is traveling. They don’t want you to pack them, but I do put it in my suitcase. I use a big one and pack it in the middle – well padded. It is a pain to get them out at security at the airport to have them checked. On the other hand, since it is a medical device, it can be a 3rd carry-on with no extra cost. </p>
<p>Oh, I told my husband to get a sleep study because he snored, too. ( worse than I did, but he vehemently denies it.) He has his own c-pap machine. We have matching machines!!!</p>
<p>I was told: the best indicator is a spouse’s observation that the partner gasps for breaths during the night. A lot of sleep studies end up confirming the spouse’s observation, but with a big graph full of blips and blotches.</p>
<p>Aside from C-Pap machines, there are some who address it with dental appliances to reorient the jaw during the night, allowing for more air intake. I was told these are less expensive and less successful.</p>
<p>Do you feel that your sleep quality is poor? Do you scrape yourself out of bed in the morning, even after the appropriate numbers of hours of sleep? </p>
<p>If the sleep-lab study comes back negative and it turns out your only symptom is snoring, fill your husband’s Christmas stocking with earplugs this year.</p>
<p>I have combination obstructive/central apnea, use a C-Pap machine, am constantly working with the doctor to get the air pressure adjusted right. A proper fit for the mask still eludes me because my face is small. If I weren’t so dedicated to improving the situation, I’d have given up 5 times already. I was told that a lot of prescribed machines sit unused on closet shelves because it can sometimes take a year to get settled in with the technology. After 2 years, I’m finally at the right pressure and a new smaller-face mask, just developed, is on order for a better fit. By contrast, 2 of my BIL’s got machines and were delighted from Day 1, no problems adjusting. </p>
<p>I also had to make significant changes in my “sleep hygiene” patterns since I’d developed all kinds of terrible habits over the years to compensate for all this waking up throughout the night. I still miss turning on Frasier reruns at 4 a.m., but in sum I’d rather use a C-Pap machine and be well-rested each day. Before all these sleep studies and machinery prescriptions, I was using sleep-aids, prescribed or OTC. Now they’re quite unnecessary. </p>
<p>Good luck and stay with the program until you get some relief.</p>
<p>I have what the doctor called “severe obstructive apnea.” I would wake up gasping for air multiple times a night. I’ve been using a cpap for several years and it has been a life-changer. The testing was a pain (24 hours at the sleep clinic), but well worth it. I was sleep-deprived for years.</p>
<p>I sleep all night. A couple of nights a week I’ll wake up when my mask gets dislodged, but that’s a quick fix and I go right back to sleep. Once I was sleeping well I didn’t wake for the bathroom anymore. </p>
<p>I take my machine as carry-on, and they do “test” it at security, but it only takes a minute or two.</p>
<p>Being overweight can definitely be a contributing factor and if it’s a major reason for it in a particular individual, losing it can make the apnea go away. Not everyone with apnea is overweight but a lot of people who are overweight have sleep apnea to varying degrees.</p>
<p>My husband settled in with his cpap machine quickly after being diagnosed early this summer. It has been a huge improvement for his (and my sleep). He never thought that he was sleepy during the day, but once he started getting a good night sleep he noticed a big difference in how he feels while awake, too.</p>
<p>ETA: I agree about the weight issue. A coworker of mine lost about 40 pounds and could give up his machine. My husband’s doctor told him that it could make a big difference for him, too.</p>
<p>I’m not and have never been overweight, but the vast majority of the people at the sleep clinic were. i don’t know if it’s genetic, but my mother and her mother both had it (diagnosed by everyone who slept in the same house with them). </p>
<p>The only person I know who had the surgery died on the table; he was very obese. His heart gave out.</p>
<p>I have obstructive sleep apnea and use a Bi-Pap machine. I had a very difficult time getting fitted. The masks made me feel claustrophobic. I actually got hysterical and cried, which is very uncharacteristic of me. Then I was given a nasal pillow, which just fits inside my nostrils. That was a lot better. It took 1-2 weeks to adjust, but once I did, I was fine. Jump ahead a few years and a new doctor mentioned that the machines were smaller and easier to travel with. Unfortunately he ordered a C-Pap. I hated it and didn’t use it. It dried my mouth and nose out so much, despite the humidifier. After about a year, I mentioned this to the guy who supplies me with hoses and filters and he gave me a used Bi-Pap. I am back to using my machine again. But once in a while, I do like to sleep untethered.</p>
<p>My snoring annoys my husband. I do not feel tired during the day (except for the occasional night of insomnia if I’m stressed out). I had a sleep study done and was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea. They recommended a cpap machine. I knew I would not be happy with one, so I was fitted for a dental appliance (via my dentist) which helps a great deal. My husband says it doesn’t eliminate the snoring, but reduces it to a tolerable level.</p>
<p>DH was diagnosed with central sleep apnea after major surgery. (He’d had major chest surgery and when the respiratory therapist came in to do an evaluation of his lung function after he got out of ICU, I told heh he frequently stopped breathing at night. Long enough that if I held my breath while he was not breathing, it was frightening.) He wore a monitor and was found to to have 5-8 episodes per night. The physicians thought it was likely another manifestation of his myasthenia gravis.</p>
<p>The hospital insisted DH use a CPAP machine (full mask) while he was an in-patient, but DH hated it and refused to use one once he got home. Since he was already using 100% O2 on a nasal cannula, the local pulmonologist did not raise a fuss about DH not using the CPAP. </p>
<p>(The truth is I was quite unhappy with the local lung doc who was much more invested in treating/discussing DH’s sleep apnea than the <em>real</em> medical issue–the fact that Dh had lost part of his lung to cancer [not lung cancer, but metastatic thymus cancer] and had also lost his phrenic nerve on one side of his body and thus had a partially paralyzed diaphragm. The partially paralyzed diaphragm + MG= seriously life threatening situation)</p>
<p>DH didn’t snore at all when we first got married. Then he gained 70 pounds and was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea. He has a BiPAP but refuses to use it because he feels claustrophobic. He’s trying to lose weight, but he’s only lost 15 pounds since we joined a gym in March and is on the verge of giving up.</p>
<p>The most recent Academy of Sleep Medicine guidelines state that “although not as efficacious as CPAP, oral appliances are indicated for use in patients with mild to moderate OSA who prefer OAs to CPAP, or who do not respond to CPAP, are not appropriate candidates for CPAP, or who fail treatment attempts with CPAP or treatment with behavioral measures such as weight loss or sleep position change.”</p>
<p>So the effectiveness of oral appliances may be slightly lower compared to CPAP, but comfort and portability make compliance (the most important factor) much higher. Patients with severe OSA should always try CPAP first. If they fail or are non compliant, they can try a combination approach (wearing an oral appliance can enable much lower pressures on CPAP) or oral appliance alone. They need to be custom fitted by a dentist who has experience in dental sleep medicine: [Find</a> A Dentist - AADSM](<a href=“http://www.aadsm.org/FindADentist.aspx?1]Find”>http://www.aadsm.org/FindADentist.aspx?1)</p>
<p>Oral appliances to treat OSA are covered by most medical (NOT DENTAL) insurance and, as of this year, Medicare. They are also highly successful in eliminating snoring, but that is considered cosmetic (despite mounting medical evidence saying it is not benign) by the insurance industry and not a covered expense.</p>
<p>I think there is a hereditary component to it. My father has it, I have it and one of the kids has it. Used to scare my camp bunk mates and college roommates and my husband when we first married. We (father, me, kid) are not overweight. I’ve been told I snore when I sleep on my back which I also rarely do, but the apnea isn’t related to me being on my back according to my husband. I go through periods of time, years sometimes, never affected and then I’ll go a period of time when it happens. My father has been through sleep disorder testing and elevating the head of his bed has helped him immensely . I started sleeping with my head elevated by three pillows even though I sleep on my side after my dad was tested and I think that has helped me also. But I don’t have trouble sleeping and the apnea doesn’t really wake me up. I’m alittle aware of it because sometimes it feels like I jump or shake when I take that breath. I think as I get older if I have trouble sleeping I’ll go get evaluated.</p>
<p>Stevensmama keep your husband hanging in there. Mine snored horribly as he hit his thirties. He had gained 40 pounds. Apparently at one of his physicals the doc must have read him the riot act because he lost the weight. He doesn’t snore anymore.</p>