Sleep Apnea

[Sporatical_Distractions]

I'm fairly certain that I suffer from sleep apnea. My father has it, his father had it, and his father had it.

I am constantly tired. At first I thought it was caffeine addiction because I can't seem to ever wake up throughout the day without coffee. It has recently been brought to my attention that I breathe irregularly when I sleep but I can't afford to get tested yet so that will be further on in my future.

Now it's to the point where I want to shred, but I can't unless I have caffeine or else I'm just too tired to play.

Do any other shredders suffer from sleep apnea?

Sleep apnea, sleep apnoea or sleep apnœa is a sleep disorder characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep. These episodes, called apneas (Greek: απνοια, from α-, privative, πνεειν, to breathe), each last long enough so one or more breaths are missed, and occur repeatedly throughout sleep. The standard definition of any apneic event includes a minimum 10 second interval between breaths, with either a neurological arousal (3-second or greater shift in EEG frequency, measured at C3, C4, O1, or O2), or a blood oxygen desaturation of 3-4 percent or greater, or both arousal and desaturation. Sleep apnea is diagnosed with an overnight sleep test called a polysomnogram.

Clinically significant levels of sleep apnea are defined as 5 or more events of any type per hour of sleep time (from the polysomnogram). There are three distinct forms of sleep apnea: central, obstructive, and complex (complex is a combination of central and obstructive) with 0.4%, 84% and 15% making up their respective percentages of cases.[1] Breathing is interrupted by the lack of effort in central sleep apnea; in obstructive sleep apnea, breathing is interrupted by a physical block to airflow despite effort. In mixed sleep apnea, there is a transition from central to obstructive features during the events themselves.

Regardless of type, the individual with sleep apnea is rarely aware of having difficulty breathing, even upon awakening. Sleep apnea is recognized as a problem by others witnessing the individual during episodes or is suspected because of its effects on the body (sequelae). Symptoms may be present for years, even decades without identification, during which time the sufferer may become conditioned to the daytime sleepiness and fatigue associated with significant levels of sleep disturbance.

[Benzilla]

can Sleep Apnea cause brain damage?

[ville]

My dad has it. He got a machine that prevents him from having these pauses and allows him to sleep solid through the night. It really increased the quality of his life. Before he was just tired all the time.

Maybe you could ask some other person to check on you while you sleep or film yourself sleeping (could be weird ) or something like that.

[Sporatical_Distractions]

That's the type of machine my dad has.

good idea. maybe i'll have my roomates creep on me while I sleep.

as far as brain damage goes, i don't know. I'll look into it.

[Guest_1]

i do
i'm constantly waking up at night and snoring

[professor]

I think I have it (at least some nights). Both my mom and dad have it. I find that if I can breathe through my nose at night, I have a good nights sleep, but if I'm congested I snore tons. I'm usually only tired in the day if I got < 8 hours of sleep though.

I think you might want to look into the caffeine thing too. Caffeine can really mess with your body.

[Krafty]

can Sleep Apnea cause brain damage?

It shouldn't cause brain damage because you need to deplete the brain of oxygen for 5-7 minutes or so in order to suffer brain damage. The interruptions in sleep should affect your concentration but I don't think it leads to any long-term brain damage.

[professor]

People with sleep apnea have a 30% more risk of heart attack and death. Also it can be associated with stroke ( LINK!). So, it's pretty serious. You should get it checked out.

I had the overnight sleep test because when I was a freshman in college I was really tired during the day. They didn't find anything serious in my test results, so my doctor said that some people need more sleep than others. He recommended me get 9 to 10 hours of sleep a night (ya, right). Now I try and stay within the 8 - 9 hour range and I feel pretty good during the day.

[Rieferman]

The sleep study is worth it, although it is not the most fun exercise (you sleep at a sleep center overnight, and you have all this stuff hooked up to you). If the first sleep session shows you have oxygen issues (from interrupted breathing etc.) or any other related issues, you'll come back for a 2nd session where they hook you up to the mask that others referred to.

I went, and my levels were OK but not great. Borderline. With the mask, they were better. But I couldn't get used to the mask, so I decided to lose 40 pounds instead - in my case, that solved the problem. I don't think weight is your issue probably (you're a young shredder, so I'm assuming your weight is low already).

I've read so much on this topic. If you're snoring a lot, a cheap thing you can try first is Breath Right strips. They're inexpensive, and help air flow through your nose. In some people this reduces excessive snoring and will improve your sleep quality. Even if you buy a box and they don't work well for sleeping, you'll still like having those things around for the next time you have a bad cold.

Other things can affect your sleep quality as well. Google and read as much as you can. Get brochures from your doctor. For example, for me, if I sleep in really late on weekends (whereas during the week days I have to get up at 6:30 a.m.) it actually makes me more tired. I'm better off getting up within an hour of my normal weekday schedule if I want to feel good.

But really, all of this is to say: Go to your doctor, get checked out (they'll usually check blood for allergies and defficiencies, and then possibly ear/nose/throat doctor, then sleep study) because sleep is so important. As mentioned above, poor sleep can be a symptom of other problems, or it can contribute to other problems.

Side note: Some sleep centers are "pushers" for getting surgery to remove tissue in the general areas near the back of your throat as this can open up airways and allow you to sleep better. Here's a stat for you as I remember if from about a year ago when I went through all of this: about 50% of people that get the surgery are helped by it. Of that 50%, 1/2 have permanent results, whereas the other 1/2 are back to square one after a period of time. Doing the math, that means 25% of people that go through an incredibly painful procedure (and as a side side note, I personally, as a past major surgery recipient, feel that avoiding surgery whenever possible is most prudent) actually have lasting benefits. Not a good success rate unless you're a middle-of-the order hitter in baseball.

Another side note: If they determine the sleep mask is for you, and if they feel strongly about it, do yourself a favor and get over any embarassment you might feel from having this ridiculous thing on your face. It's definitely humbling to wear it (even for me after years of being married, I felt stupid with the thing on in front of my wife) but MANY people have had amazing results from wearing it.

Quick story on that point: My uncle was literally regularly falling asleep at the dinner table, having trouble staying awake in meetings at work etc. Wife listened to him sleep and he was stopping breathing for 30-40 seconds at a pop throughout the night. Had sleep study, severe apnea. Prescribed the mask. His report (now a couple years later) is that he literally feels like a different person. He estimates it has taken 10 years of age off of him. He's gotten back into hobbies that were long since dropped, and was even promoted at work. All because he's awake and alert.

[CJ]

Hey there,
I was diagnosed with moderate to severe sleep apnea just over a year ago. I also snore like a steam train (especially after drinking or if I'm sick) and grind my teeth pretty bad.
Here in Australia, I was able to get a sleep study done in my own home (and fully covered by the public health system). Someone came by and hooked me up to all the wires and little computer thingy to record everything. In the morning, she came by and picked up all the equipment.
After the diagnosis, I was given a few options - including the mask and machine like in the previous posts. I chose to go with a type of mouthguard. It had to be made to measure and basically it pulls the lower jaw forward slightly and helps keep the airways open. It has the added benefit of stopping the snoring and grinding too, and not cheap but cheaper than the alternatives. The brand here is Snorex, but I have no idea if it's available elsewhere.
Worked for me....
I agree of course to see a doctor - preferably more than one. Maybe you could ask them if they've heard of a mouthguard option.

[smokefree]

yeah i used to wake up gasping for air, still do sometimes, i suffer from sleep apnea but i dont think its that bad for me, cause the gasping has become rarer since i started sleeping in a bed instead of the couch, anyway, im usually pretty tired no matter how much i sleep, but lately ive noticed only exercise wakes me up enough to do anything. BTW the really terrifying thing ive noticed is the arrythmia heart jumpings, thats been just as scary as waking up gasping for air.

Sucks you cant go to the docs for awhile, hope you get better.

[Pinkus]

As a respiratory therapist who works with sleep apnea and hypopnea, I'd say it sounds like you may have sleep apnea. It's not uncommon, and more people have apnea than diabetes (they just never know they have it).

Sleep apnea comes in three forms: Obstructive, Central, and Mixed. Obstructive can be caused by being overweight (even 15 lbs more than your ideal is enough), soft palate deformity, or deviated nasal septum. Central apnea is when your brain forgets to tell your body to breath. Mixed is if you have both types.

I have a few question to ask though:

are you a mouth breather?
do you sleep better on your side than on your back?
do you snore?
are you more than 15 lbs over than your ideal weight?


The mention of heart problems is correct. Sleep apnea can become fatal if the severity is bad.

The machine your father uses is either a CPAP or BiPAP. The CPAP has a single pressure of air that continuously blows air into the nostrils, whereas BiPAP has two different pressures for inhaling and exhaling.

Edit: Bob Reifer is correct about the surgery "fix". Do NOT do it, you will not only waste tons of money, but it may worsen your overall condition. There is a very low success rate on the surgery, and you are much better off using PAP therapy.