I have had suspicions about OSA for several years. All the symptoms added up, the snorong,  exhaustion, headaches, high BP, weight gains. The final straw was when I started awakening fully, finding myself sitting on the edge of the bed with a pounding headache. I participated in a sleep study in West Virgina three years ago, and was told I did not have apnea. I then struggled for the last few years, using various sleep medications, extra caffeine during the day. I was miserable. I moved to Kansas and found a wonderful primary physician. After I related all of my difficulties, he immediately referred me to a Wichita sleep center. Feb. 22, 2008 I had a sleep study. The atmosphere there was a major change from the West Virginia study. The room resembled a nice hotel, with a very comfortable bed. I had no trouble falling asleep. The staff awakened me at 1:30AM and said my apnea was so severe that they had to intervene. They fitted a mask, and I was able to get back to sleep. I was awakened at 5:30AM and was told the CPAP worked wonders. I went on to work and had the most amazing productive day!
 I had 118 apnea events each hour!! My Oxy level dropped below 65% at times, and was under 90% 2/3 of the recording time. With CPAP at 14cm, only 1.4 events each hour with oxygen levels remaining at 90% or higher.
 The sleep center agreed to let me see the RT only three days later. I was introduced to a Respironics REMstar Plus with C-Flexand ComfortSelect mask. So only ten days from my primary physicians referral, I was heading home with CPAP and mask!
 I must be one of the few lucky souls who have little trouble adapting. I don't use the ramp feature, and actually find the full blast refreshing. I have been 100% compliant from day one, and have noticed a MAJOR difference in my sleep quality and my life in general! I have not needed a weekend nap since starting therapy! My family noticed a difference immediately, commenting on the new "energetic" Dad. I am so relieved that I may be lucky enough to see my little ones grow up. I am 47, and started a family late. I have three kids, a daughter, 13, and two boys who are 7 and 5.
 I had a follow up visit with my sleep doctor two weeks ago. He downloaded my card, and was pleased to see how compliant I was.

 My next challenge will be camping. I am reluctant to spend the $400 dollars for the Respironics battery pack. I looking into the option of a properly fused deep cycle battery for the overnight camping trips.

add me to the success story page
i was one of the uber-lucky ones, went to sleep straight away with the full face mask on, noticed the difference after my 1st 7.5 hours of proper sleep. it's taken me a week to find the most comfortable way to wear the mask.

i've gone from 10 hours a night 'sleep' then being unable to stay awake for more than 2 hours
to having 7 hours sleep and staying awake for the rest of the day.

I just had my 30th birthday party and woke up at 8am that morning, ran around getting things ready all day - and went to bed at 4am the next day.

unheard of for me only just one week ago.

i cry a fair bit though now thinking of the past few years i've wasted
my partner is happy to not be living with a zombie, but is now having troubles sleeping herself as she is unnerved by no noise or movement coming from my side of the bed

I've been lurking here quite a bit and getting a lot of great info. Thank you all so much!

I've snored all my life.  My spouse started noticing that I would stop breathing in my sleep, and I thought it wasn't a big thing... after all, I always started again, right?   I would also sweat at night and have to remake my bed every morning due to the tossing and turning.

Almost a decade ago, I started waking up in the middle of the night choking on my own stomach acid.  My doctor prescribed antacids, then stronger and stronger medications such as Losec and Nexium.  I had no heartburn, but after about two hours of sleep, I would wake up with this horrible event.  The doctor said I had GERD and to just keep taking the Nexium.  I bought an adjustable bed to raise my head, and I could not eat anything within four hours of going to sleep.  If I wanted to go to sleep sooner, I could set an alarm to wake me up once per hour until the four hours had passed.  Sometimes I would ignore the alarm though or shut it off without fully waking up, so that was a tactic only to be used in desperation.  

After looking on GERD forums, I realized that I had none of the other symptoms that the GERD patients did.  I started searching around and found one site that said GERD could be caused by sleep apnea.  Hmm, so that's why I would "hold my breath" for a few seconds while I was asleep.  

I told my doctor that I wanted to be tested for sleep apnea.  She referred me to a specialist.  He agreed that my acid inhalation could be caused by GERD causing a pressure differential.  He told me I could wait for the gov't program (Canada) that might take two years to test me, or I could pay $75 to get a take-home test from a local company.  I was desperate to stop the horrifying acid episodes, so I did. The test results were frightening, and confirmed my self-diagnosis.

I managed to wear the test equipment for six hours.  During the first hour and a half, I was experiencing two apnea events every minute that would last up to 15 seconds.  So 120 per hour.  My blood oxygen levels dropped to about 90%.  When I went into deeper sleep, my oxygen levels bounced between 30% and 50% for an hour!  I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen the graph myself!  No wonder I was waking up with my body screaming for air!

I paid to rent a test machine from the company to determine my pressure levels and to see if I could tolerate CPAP.  It was a Respironics M series APAP with humidifier, and a ComfortGel nose mask.  When I tried it on in the office and the therapist had me sit back in a recliner and relax while he tested the fit and pressure, he left the room for five minutes and I fell asleep!

The first two nights were amazing.  I woke up before the alarm and felt awake!   I got up and made our lunches for work.  I realized what the "brain fog" was that everyone was referring to.  Previously, I was always thinking about sleep.  Could I nap after work, before I ate?  When could I eat and still get to sleep early?  How much longer until I can sleep?  Can I take a nap in my car at lunchtime at work?  The biggest event on my weekend planner was extra sleep.

The next few nights I wasn't as totally exhausted, and so ended up noticing the mask more than I had before.  When I felt a bit claustrophobic I would just lie on my back and breathe slowly.   I wore the mask all night for the first week, and slept a bit under seven hours a night.  

To my dismay, I was feeling tired again.  I checked the forums and saw that many other people had the same experience.  The brain fog was gone, but now the sleep debt had to be paid back!  It was still so amazingly good to just feel tired and not feel DEAD tired.  

I realized by Tuesday that I could not spend another night's sleep without a CPAP machine.  I called my doctor and begged him to send me my prescription so I could buy a CPAP of my own before I had to return the rental.  He agreed, but of course I'll be following up with him and the results of the week's data will be given to him.  

So I've purchased a Respironics APAP with humidifier and the comfortgel nose mask.  I don't even know right now if it will be covered by my work insurance, but I consider it to be a more important purchase than a car or anything else right now.  It's saving my life and giving me my waking life back, and that has to be my priority.

My AHI on APAP was 3.5.  So nice.

After a Week and a half of Cpap Therapy, I think there is enough consistently positive results to believe that CPap has been a successful therapy for me.

These past 10 days have resulted in consistently good sleep that has helped me to function well throughout the day. No longer am I sleep deprived, or wake up in the middle of the night feeling horribly sick or scared that I may die of a heart attack or a stroke. With my Full-Data capable APAP machine, I can be confident that my nightly AHI is low (<5) and therefore, my body is receiving restorative rest and sleep.

I recommend everyone who has problems sleeping to get a Sleep Test done. And if it is confirmed that you have Sleep Apnea, please get yourself a Data Capable CPap machine if it is possible.

For me, I am grateful, and so happy that Sleep is no longer Hell, but Heaven. :)

-Former SleepIsHell Sufferer


_________________
5'9 234lbs 37 years Old Male
Original Sleep Study: AHI = 30

Owner of Remstar Auto A Flex M series
ResMed Ultra Mirage Full Face Mask
Viewer 1.0 Software, Smartcard Reader
Integrated Heater/humidifier
Prescribed setting: 7-10 Cm

For many years I've known I had sleep apnea. I remember my father had it really bad. I remember watching him on the couch and wondering how long he would go before breathing. I quit smoking and put on about 20lbs, and I think that was the straw that broke the camels back. Finally, my ENT talked me into going to get a sleep study. I was woken up and cpaped because I was so severe (108 events/hr 67% o2) and I took to it like a duck in water. Those few short hours I had no idea what I was missing for all those years. Sleep, glorious sleep!! Still working out a couple small bugs, but it's been wonderful. I'm awake during the day, no more napping when I come home from work. I'm actually going to the gym, and I've dropped 15 pounds, my BP is coming down, and I feel like a new man. Thanks to everyone here that got me on the right track, and guided me to fighting for the right equipment. Cpaped and never looking back!

Found this website by accident the other day and spent several hours reading. Ill start with an introduction and tell my story... My name is Justin, I am a 27 year old daddy of 2, and soon to be married. Before my daughter was born back in sept. of 2007 I had a car wreck, totaled out our car a month before she was born. I fell asleep driving and was about 2 blocks from where I work. I thought at first that it was because I was about to be a daddy again - you know - the late nights up with the pregnant significant other, and we have a 2 1/2 year old boy as well....

In November, I had another wreck in our new minivan. I fell asleep at the red light and tapped the chick in front of me and got a $700 ticket out of it. I figured I might need to see a doctor about this problem I was having before I got hurt. As I sat in the waiting room at this neurology clinic filling out a questionaire, I reflected back on symptoms I had been having. For one, I remembered falling asleep driving to work on several occasions and coming to as my tired hit the shoulder on the road. I should say that I am a computer network technician for a company and I travel alot for Murphy Oil - who is based out of the town I work in - and roughly a 55 minute drive from my house. I would fall asleep on the airplanes during travel and my snoring almost caused a fist-fight on several occasions.

I thought back to all of the "excuses" or "reasons" I was the way I was, but none made sense until I was doing this questionaire. I would fall asleep at work, and got wrote up over it, I gained more weight than I should have, I would fall sleep in the middle of conversations if I sat still for more than 5 minutes. It got really bad in the last few months prior to my doctor visit, almost narcoleptic in nature. I found myself sleepwalking alot, woke up in the closet one night. My fiance woke me up one morning, aparently I had gone outside with my blanket and fell asleep on the porch where it was cool. I always though it was because I was so hot natured, but I realized the cool air made it easier for me to breath and that's where I ended up.

I look back on 10 years ago, when I was in high school, my mom always complained about my snoring - though we always thought it was sinuses. I always had to sleep with a fan blowing on my face or under an air conditioner...some cool moving air always got me really good sleep...never did we connect the 2 together.

I had my sleep study and was miserable for all of 5 minutes of them connecting me to these sensors. The technician said they saw the apnea 5 minutes after I laid down, and I stopped breathing 172 times an hour? Forgive my lack of info, I am not a doctor, I am a computer tech :P I put on a bipap machine 2 1/2 hours after the test started and slept like a friggen champion the rest of the test. I picked my Cpap machine up the following morning after I got out of bed. Aparently I had been like this so long that when I woke from this sleep it was almost like I was coming out of anastesia(sp*). My face was completely numb, slurred speach, and a need to just go back to sleep. It felt ABSOLUTELY wonderful...sleep...my long lost friend.

Now, 7 months later, I have more energy. I have no more problems at work. No more driving and feeling like I'm going to pass out. I have had no more problems on business trips, that sometimes requires me to stay up over 24 hours. If anything, the cpap has caused my purchase of birth control devices to TRIPLE, way more drive than I had before :) The computer geek in me has even put my CPAP on a battery backup UPS, one I got for free from doing a server replacement/upgrade. It runs about 3 hours on that friggen thing. I have recommended getting testing done to friends of mine, I got it under control before I got hurt or worse.

Since I was 17 I've been dealing with episodic depression. Meaning depressed one minute, not depressed the other, one day, not the next, hours, whatever. I always focused on depression as the cause rather than as a symptom because my mother deals with depression and anxiety. As far as the sleep apnea department, it never occurred to me ... didn't overweight men who snore loudly get that? I shared a wall with my parent's bedroom and my father snored so loudly I never could hear myself sleep (joke -- ha ha) ... so it dawned on us that he had it. An inconclusive sleep study later and he would go no further ... he firmly believed that he did NOT have sleep apnea. That was the end of discussion in our family until my brother's wife swore she would retire my brother to another room if he didn't deal with his snoring. About 6 months into wearing his CPAP, he became the brother I never had! This dude was running a construction company, had 2 young kids, and played basketball 2 nights a week starting at 9pm! It was the basketball that made my jaw drop. The idea of exercising any time of day let alone at night was impossible to me. Also, for me, the idea of having children and dealing with sleep deprivation sounded like a visit to the great underworld...I already felt like I was the walking dead and couldn't imagine what true sleep deprivation as a new mother would be like! After learning that I was already living through sleep deprivation for years, it makes sense that I could not bear the thought of "asking for more".

Sadly, my father died before dealing with his sleep apnea. He did not officially die of apnea. Rather, he died from a fall (we think he fell on the ice) and subdural hematoma (he cracked his skull). The sad part is that I'm pretty sure that he didn't realize that he "felt bad" ... he had been feeling bad for years - tired, grumpy, and took afternoon naps, etc. So, when he fell, rather than noticing that he felt "off", he went upstairs for his afternoon nap. Since no one was home with him that weekend, we don't know if he died on his way to the restroom before or after his nap. The saddest part for our family is that all of us said we wished he had dealt with his sleep apnea. He was always so grumpy and tired and we wanted to see another side of our Dad. At this time and because of Dad's death, it started to dawn on me how pleasant my brother was becoming....

Ok, so back to me ... I'm getting somewhere with this story. I like to put the family history in here because it really shows how we can develop false beliefs (ie. I only knew of depression as a disease and not as a symptom) and how from a family tragedy can come a blessing. Anyway...17 years old, senior in high school. Top 10 in my class. Off to a good school. The only way I stayed awake to study was with a 100 watt light bulb. In college, I swore I would not become "my mother" and I swore off mental health help (she had the same enabling psychiatrist for 30 years and I was frustrated with her so called progress"...and ....... I ended up in a psychiatric unit after graduation. I often described that depression as if I wore myself out in college. I remember staring at myself in cap and gown in the mirror and swearing to myself that I would not go on to a graduate program unless I wanted it really really bad. I was purely exhausted from trying to stay "awake". So, after the hospital stay I thought better of mental health counseling and continued on the counseling path for 20 years.

During that time, I had managed my depression which became depression + anxiety which became d + a + mood swings and then d+a+ms+attention deficit. I was on a range of meds for all these symptoms/disorders and yes they were helping. However, whenever I did not take the adderal (speed), I was a gonner - sleepy and dysfunctional. Also, I dealt with IBS symptoms and was developing a strong gag reflex. Thyroid tests galore - all negative (I was actually disappointed and then remembered that I didn't want to have a thyroid problem, that that is bad news). Vitamin and mineral absorption tests. Everything fine in that category. Bummer, that would have been an easy fix...and on and on. Headaches were becoming more frequent and it dawned on me that they were actually migraines. Just before CPAP, they were coming on every 3 weeks (and I used to get frustrated by my business partner's migraines!!! She stopped having them and I thought she somehow gave them to me ). Every time I thought I had "figured out" what was wrong with me and what I needed to get better, another symptom would creep up on me.

OK, I'll shorten my diatribe ... so I ask my doctor for a sleep study... I show up for the study and the tech puts in a tape about CPAP. I freaked! I'm not wearing that elephant nose! I'm here to find out if I have a sleep problem, like don't get any deep sleep. He said I should consider the possiblility that it's sleep apnea...So, instead of sleeping, I had an insomnia night ... full of anxiety over that THING! All I could think of was that I was truly doomed to singlehood if I had to wear that thing!

Apparently I did sleep enough for the doctor to call me back to another sleep study ... this time with the CPAP. By that time it was a few weeks and I had gotten over my squeamishness about CPAP ... thanks to the constant support of my brother and his funny stories (he tells funny stories now! He's a funny guy! Amazing!).

OK, back to sleep center. Tech helps me with my Darth Vader mask. Asleep. 7am wake up... What was that? UNBELIEVABLE! I felt GREAT! I can't say "I felt better than I've felt for years" because I've never felt this way. Even as a young child so who knows if I was a moderate even when young? All I know is after that night I was frothing at the mouth to get that ugly rubber thingy and start sucking some juice! Rather than feeling like glue was between my eyelid and eyeball, I felt like I had minty eyeballs (that didn't burn but felt cool)!

It's been 2 weeks since my CPAP's arrival into my home. Each night that I've worn it I've felt great. Just to keep it fresh in my mind that it wasn't just wishful thinking that I felt so great, the power blipped the other night and my CPAP reset itself to standby. I tore the mask off and slept fitfully the rest of the night. No, there is definitely something to this whole thing.

My world has turned around! I take the dog for a walk around the block and don't complain. I've cut my bipolar 2 mood stabilizing medicine down by 1/2 (under supervision of my doctor); I take very little of the adderal; I will be phasing out my antidepressant later this month (slowly and under Dr's supervision) and see if I remain stable. There's so much more to say, just so much more to live!

Finally, I am a woman, I am slightly overweight. I do not snore. If it weren't for my persistence that something was still wrong, for my brother's and sister's support, and sadly my father's death, I wouldn't be here right now writing this long note. For the first time in my life, a solution has lasted longer than 1 week. I have no doubt that I'm a new woman!

TraLaLa!!!!

I'll introduce myself.  I'm a single mom of two wonderful girls - now women!  And...a grandma to four grandchildren!  My grandchildren live about 350 miles from me, and my youngest daughter (26) lives with me. She has a few developmental delays, but she's catching up fast!  She's now driving, and doing almost a better job of it than me!  Talk about 'back seat driving' - I can't get away with anything now when I drive <G>.  My husband was killed in a trucking accident (he fell asleep at the wheel) in 1988.  The more I think about it - he was diagnosed with 'pickwickian syndrome' which when I looked it up, was an 'old' name for sleep apnea!  He'd had the stomach stapling surgery to lose weight - lost half his weight, felt like a 'million bucks' and landed his dream job driving trucks.  He'd been on the road a few weeks, was going to come home for a few days, and was asked to drop an empty off 20 miles down the road.  He was still trying to gain 'brownie points' with his boss - didn't want to say no, tried to hard to get the job, prevoius attempts before weight loss netted bum trips of 100's of miles when companies lied to him that jobs were available until they saw him and his weight...he HAD been on the road more hours than regulated, but I now believe he had sleep apnea!

I'd had a sleep study about 6 years ago, and it was negative.  Given all the stuff I've been through, I just figured my constant fatigue was from the chemo and radiation I'd just finished (breast cancer, dx 2001), and as time went on, I ended up having surgery for a huge ovarian cyst (thank god, it was negative!), hernia, more biopsies on the right breast, and a few kidney stone attacks.

Then, in 2004, the bottom fell out, so to speak, and I got on a 'merry go round' of pneumonias and hospitalizations - they thought it might be aspiration pneumonia.  The first one hit the day after an EGD 9/04, and I was diagnosed with pneumonia and septicemia.  For the next 8 months, I ended up in the hospital for 1-2 weeks/month like clockwork.  A bronchcospy in the 8th month bought me 8 months of NO pneumonia, then it struck again in December of 05.  The next month, I had another bronchoscopy, and it was over a year before it hit again.  In the meantime, I was on and off 24/7 supplemental oxygen.

I thought maybe we were out of the woods, but something, I don't know what, put me back on the merry go round, and in Spring of 2007, the pneumonias struck again.  Of the 11 hospitalizations between spring '07 and summer 08, 9 were pneumonias.  We decided to dig deeper - from immunological studies to sleep studies - theory was, with my GERD (moderate hiatal hernia) and COPD, I was waking up gasping for breath, introducing minute particles into my lungs (along with not so minute particles when I would wake up choking and coughing).  This time, I flunked it big time - I even flunked cpap!  It wasn't enough to keep my apnea at bay.;  so we're trying bipap.  So far, so good, but it's been only a week!  Hah...my doc asked, when I was trying the bipap during my last pneumonia, if I'd had any episodes of reflux.  I said "are you nuts...it'd NEVER happen at the hospital! LOL!

My daughter does say that i sleep quieter and go to sleep faster, not as restless.  IMHO, the mask is quite confortable (it's summer here 90's, so I keep the humidity setting on 1 to keep away the sauna).  I actually enjoy it.  Right now, I can't quantify the results (except the longer I go without choking/coughing or pneumonia, the more I know it's working), because I'm still weak from my last stay - I just got out of the hospital last week.  You don't have time to bounce back when you end up in the hospital once/month for months!  I also tend to get very anemic when I'm sick - even to the point of blood transfusions.  (I've had 6 in 4 years - 5 in 5 months).  I woke up this morning coughing, but not choking, so maybe the mask is helping me get stuff up from my lungs, too!  That would be a big bonus, since I don't tend to do that on my own.  I'm paying the piper, so to speak, for 33 years of heavy smoking.  I quit in 2003.

I do light web design (though I've had to take a hiatus), love reading, watching TV, and am a born again, spirit filled christian.  My faith is all that has kept me from going off the deep end through all this.  I forgot to mention that my youngest was born with multiple heart defects, was given a 2% chance of survival - as you see above, is 26 and driving now :)

Hi everyone! I know there haven't been many posts here for a while and its unlikely that many people will read this anytime soon, but thought I may as well share my story  
My name is Jane and I'm 20 years old.
I found out I had Sleep Apnea in 2006 when I was 18.
I was living in a hall at university studying to be a primary teacher!
I started falling asleep duirng classes and whenever I would try to sit down to write an assignment I would have to have 20 minute naps every hour because I would start falling asleep at my computer. I put it down to medication i used for hayfever and lack of sleep (everyone knows what unis like lol).
I was falling alseep here there and everywhere!! Not only was it affecting my life, it was affecting my grades and my ability to get through a day without needing up to 5 naps. At one point.. I actually had to pull over while I was driving because I just couldn't keep my eyes open and it was scarying the hell out of me!!

It wasn't untill I went away on holiday with my parents that I realised something was actually wrong.
I woke up one night to my parents both standing over me.. they were so worried that they were just about to call an ambulence!!
Aparently I was stopping breathing all the time and fighting to breath. They continuously woke me up that night to make sure i was still alive!!
It was really scary for me because I had no idea what was going on. I didn't know it was happening, I was asleep the whole time!
When ever I would stay with friends they would tell me how they would hardley get any sleep because they were always waiting for me to take that breath..

So when I went to the doctors.. He explained that sleep apnea was a major posibility..
In short..
I've always had problems with my sinuses..
I'm what they call a "mouth breather" Lol. It has been my downfall..
I saw my specialist.
And he just confirmed; sleep apnea was it.

I had an operation to fix mine.
I can't remember too much of what it entailed.. but they cut out a bunch of stuff to help me breath..
And that day I got out of hospital.. Things were so much beter..
I've since been checked over again and had a thing clipped onto my finger over night to make sure I am getting enough oxygen.. Everything was good!

Since all this happened, I'm just glad they could fix things.
I know my story might sound pathetic compared to some of your stories!
But sleep apnea had a great effect on my life.
And thinking about being the age of 18 and having the posibility of spending the rest of my life on a machine every night to help me breathe, to be honest, scared the hell out of me.
Well thats my story!
Thanks for listening..


-Jane.

Hi there,

Im 31 and slim, and been tired for as long as I can remember.  Teachers in elementary school (I was 7) used to get on my back about the circles under my eyes, not to mention i was always sleeping on my desk.  I would even fake being sick to sleep in at the age of 5.  Somehow I managed to do well in school and excel at quite a bit in this state.

As of late, my symptoms, being out of it, disconnected, memory etc had just gotten really bad.  All doctors dismissed the fact that I could have apnea, despite the fact my father has it.  Anyways, 6 years of suspecting and asking doctors for the study, countless blood tests, a botched sleep study bc i didn't fall asleep and the attending doctor couldn't fathom me having apnea, constantly being offered anti-depressants, i finally got a hold of a ENT specialized in sleep apnea.  

5 mins in the appointment he checks out my throat and gasps, said i have the throat of someone in excess of 300lbs, im only 160lbs (5'7").  Fast forward, I get the study, turns out I have a very mild case (10 interruption per hour).  I get a CPAP two weeks later.  5 days on, after a few bad nights of feeling like im suffocating, I have a couple decent nights, and I can tell you that i feel much better already, and Im not getting full nights yet (max 4 hours of uninterupted sleep).  Last night I woke up with the mask off, tossed it on the ground, not even thinking.  At 5am I woke up again, felt terrible, put it on for 2 hours, woke up at 7 and felt soooo much better (noticed the machine was at 11cm h2o b4 i turned it off).

Altho it's still early i cant blv the improvements im feeling without even getting a really good night on the machine in.  I can't wait to get to bed everynight.   Overall tho, it's nice to finally find a reason behind my lack of energy, bad mood, memory, focus and the fact that I am not clinically depressed, which i was starting to think i was (i mean rule all other factors out, i was thinking maybe this is what depression is).  I just hope the medical world becomes more aware of apnea, as I am guessing many who have apnea are on drugs because doctors are misdiagnosing.  I'll add an update in a few days to let you know how the progress is.

a very happy

Jack

Thought I'd celebrate my two-year anniversary w/ CPAP by posting my success story. About ten years ago a friend noticed my gasping and snoring, so I got a sleep study, which concluded I had minor apnea. Told me not to sleep on my back. Meanwhile, my extreme daytime sleepiness continued and got worse. (I also have fibromyalgia so figured the sleepiness was a result of that.) About three-four years ago my fatigue got highly troublesome--my life was on hold because I had to nap daily and sleep all weekend. Then I would fall asleep in meetings, and finally, it started affecting my driving during my 40-minute commute. Then I vacationed with the same friend, who said my gasping and snoring were even worse. So another sleep study came up with a finding of severe sleep apnea. In my case it's due to jaw and throat structure. Fortunately hadn't led to other health problems.

I had success after the third night. I was on vacation with friends, and that morning I actually WOKE UP. I had energy, zest, and the world looked brighter. Even though I've had to move to a FF mask and have bad aerophagia (also hate the pressure marks on my face), I have been 100% compliant. I haul the darn thing on all my trips and wouldn't be without it. My life is better than it was for years.

Soon will be exploring a dental device plus nasal pillow CPAP, to lessen pressure on my TMJ jaws and tender skin.

Thank God for CPAP!


_________________
Mayree

In January of 2001, on my regular annual visit to my family doctor, I mentioned my noticeable decrease in energy throughout the day. My doctor said, “Maybe you have sleep apnea.” I replied, “What’s sleep apnea?” He explained that sometimes people stop breathing while they sleep because of various obstructions in their throat and air passageways. The impediment in breathing results in a lack of oxygen, which leads to the body secreting adrenalin into the blood stream, which then leads to gasping for breath and an interruption in restful sleep. He explained that sleep apnea sufferers don’t fully wake up; the gasping for breath occurs just above the level of REM restful sleep but below the conscious level. Later at the University of California at San Diego  Medical  Center  I was tested for obstructive sleep apnea and told that I stopped breathing an average of 44 times per hour as I slept. No wonder I was tired all the time. I hadn’t slept soundly in years.

Next came the really bad news. I was told nothing could be done to cure my OSA. There was no medication or surgical procedure that could guarantee a cure. I was prescribed a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machine, (CPAP), a medieval-looking, computerized air compressor and mask contraption and was told I had to wear it every night from then on, in essence, for the rest of my  life.  I   tried  sleeping  with  the  CPAP mask and compressor but I couldn’t because of the uncomfortable mask and the noise of the compressor.

While continuing to suffer for years from sleep apnea I began experimenting with various exercises of my jaw and neck muscles, thinking that lack of muscle strength and tone could be the cause of my OSA. After a period of trial and error, I created six simple-to-do isometric exercises that strengthened specific muscles in my neck and jaw and believe it or not, I cured my sleep apnea! The six exercises took less than ten minutes total to do. I did them twice a day: when I woke up in the morning and before I retired in the evening. It took me less than 30 days of doing the exercises to completely cure my OSA. One of the first things I noticed was I was dreaming more. More REM sleep equals more dreams. Second, I was rested after six or seven hours of sleep, whereas before the exercises, I could barely get out of bed in the morning no matter how long I slept and I never felt rested.

I did the six exercises very slowly; I didn't rush them. My idea was to strengthen and increase the tone of the jaw and neck muscles used during each exercise. Each repetition took at least five seconds to accomplish. An easy way to estimate five seconds is to count: one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi, five Mississippi. Each Mississippi is equal to one second. The slower I did the exercises, the better my results. I rested for five to ten seconds between each repetition. I did each exercise for a total of five repetitions to begin with, working up to a maximum of ten repetitions for each exercise. The full six exercises took me about ten minutes to do. You can do the exercises while sitting, standing or lying down. They are isometric and non-aerobic.

The six exercises cured my Obstructive Sleep Apnea. I have continued doing the exercises, just to ensure my cure is permanent. I feel sure my OSA was caused by my weakened jaw and throat muscles. If you have OSA like I did, these exercises are your permanent cure. They definitely were mine. You can learn more about my exercises at My Sleep Apnea Cure.

In January of 2001, on my regular annual visit to my family doctor, I mentioned my noticeable decrease in energy throughout the day. My doctor said, “Maybe you have sleep apnea.” I replied, “What’s sleep apnea?” He explained that sometimes people stop breathing while they sleep because of various obstructions in their throat and air passageways. The impediment in breathing results in a lack of oxygen, which leads to the body secreting adrenalin into the blood stream, which then leads to gasping for breath and an interruption in restful sleep. He explained that sleep apnea sufferers don’t fully wake up; the gasping for breath occurs just above the level of REM restful sleep but below the conscious level. Later at the University of California at San Diego  Medical  Center  I was tested for obstructive sleep apnea and told that I stopped breathing an average of 44 times per hour as I slept. No wonder I was tired all the time. I hadn’t slept soundly in years.

Next came the really bad news. I was told nothing could be done to cure my OSA. There was no medication or surgical procedure that could guarantee a cure. I was prescribed a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machine, (CPAP), a medieval-looking, computerized air compressor and mask contraption and was told I had to wear it every night from then on, in essence, for the rest of my  life.  I   tried  sleeping  with  the  CPAP mask and compressor but I couldn’t because of the uncomfortable mask and the noise of the compressor.

While continuing to suffer for years from sleep apnea I began experimenting with various exercises of my jaw and neck muscles, thinking that lack of muscle strength and tone could be the cause of my OSA. After a period of trial and error, I created six simple-to-do isometric exercises that strengthened specific muscles in my neck and jaw and believe it or not, I cured my sleep apnea! The six exercises took less than ten minutes total to do. I did them twice a day: when I woke up in the morning and before I retired in the evening. It took me less than 30 days of doing the exercises to completely cure my OSA. One of the first things I noticed was I was dreaming more. More REM sleep equals more dreams. Second, I was rested after six or seven hours of sleep, whereas before the exercises, I could barely get out of bed in the morning no matter how long I slept and I never felt rested.

I did the six exercises very slowly; I didn't rush them. My idea was to strengthen and increase the tone of the jaw and neck muscles used during each exercise. Each repetition took at least five seconds to accomplish. An easy way to estimate five seconds is to count: one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi, five Mississippi. Each Mississippi is equal to one second. The slower I did the exercises, the better my results. I rested for five to ten seconds between each repetition. I did each exercise for a total of five repetitions to begin with, working up to a maximum of ten repetitions for each exercise. The full six exercises took me about ten minutes to do. You can do the exercises while sitting, standing or lying down. They are isometric and non-aerobic.

The six exercises cured my Obstructive Sleep Apnea. I have continued doing the exercises, just to ensure my cure is permanent. I feel sure my OSA was caused by my weakened jaw and throat muscles. If you have OSA like I did, these exercises are your permanent cure. They definitely were mine. You can learn more about my exercises at My Sleep Apnea Cure.

I became a hosehead on July 11th, 2008.  Here's my story so far.

In June I had gone to my primary care doctor complaining of falling asleep at all hours of the day no matter how much sleep I got and major mental funk.  He said "Sounds like sleep apnea" and sent me to a pulmonary specialist.  THAT doctor said "Yep, sounds like sleep apnea" and set me up with a sleep study.  He explained that the first night would be to determine if I really had SA or not.  If I did, I'd be scheduled for another night to do a titration study to determine the settings I would need.

The night of the sleep study arrived and I showed up early since I had no idea what to expect.  The sleep tech was very nice and explained everything in great detail while she was wiring me up like a christmas tree.    She even told me that in some cases the diagnosis of SA is made early and they sometimes do the titration study the same night.  After she finished hooking me up to the monitoring equipment I settled back to read and relax for a few minutes until time to start the study.

I don't remember much about the first few hours of the study.  I vaguely remember being told to roll onto my side, then to roll back onto my back.  My first clear memory of that night is the same sleep tech, but now very flustered and not so happy, waking me up and telling me the diagnosis part is over, I have obstructive sleep apnea in a big way, and we were starting the titration right away.  The rest of the night was a hell of different masks (nasal and full face), chin straps (mouth breather and I can't stand anything wrapped around my throat), and ever increasing pressures on the machine in various modes.  That went on the rest of the night.

The oddest thing was that in spite of a hellish night, that morning I - FELT - TERRIFIC!   I could not wait to get my own machine.  I called the doctor's office over and over and drove them crazy until the doctor examined my results and wrote a script to my DME supplier.  I felt no shame in this.  I felt better than I had in years and I just HAD to have the machine ASAP!  When the DME tech said it would be a couple of weeks to process it through my insurance I said "To hell with insurance.  I'll buy it out of my own pocket."  That's how desperate I was to have it "NOW!"

My DME tech was great.  She saw I was desperate and scheduled me in the same day she got the script (Yes, I pestered them, too.    )  She went over the sleep study with me in meticulous detail.  I saw that I had started having apneas almost as soon as I fell asleep, many lasting as long as 40 seconds.  She showed me where at one point my O2 saturation dropped to 40%.  She even pointed out that at the end of my study I had started having almost continuous apneas, my O2 repeatedly hit 70% for 20 minutes, and my heart had started to flutter.  My AHI was 93.3 for REM where I spent most of my time there at the end.  That was just three hours into the sleep study.  No wonder my sleep tech was frantic when she hooked me up to the hose for the first time in my life.

My DME tech was also a good sales person.  I bought a used ResMed VPAP III set to CPAP at 19 cmH2O.  She also recommended a Respironics ComfortGel full face mask because of the issues I had with the nasal mask in the sleep study and she said the ComfortGel FF mask has a good reputation at high pressure (justified I have found out by experience.)  I took my loot home and (naturally) went to bed early.

Today is my seven week anniversary as a hosehead.  I had my first follow-up with my sleep doctor day before yesterday.  Prior to that I took my VPAP to the DME supplier and had a report printed of the data it had been collecting all this time.  The doc reviewed my report and complemented me on my compliance (0 days missed, 7:53 hrs ave use) and asked me how I felt.  I said "The first few weeks were HEAVEN!  But lately I feel like I'm loosing it, I'm not doing as well.  Then he showed me where the machine was reporting I was still having apneas every night.  My average AHI / night was only 8.1, but he said we need to do better.  So today I'm taking my VPAP back to the DME supplier to have it reprogramed as a BiPAP

This is my success story.  Its an ongoing story, not finished yet, and maybe never will be.  I hope it helps other new hoseheads to keep up their effort and encourage them not to quit.  In my DME tech's opinion, I would not have lived much longer based on the data in my sleep study.  I like waking up on the right side of the grass.  I plan to keep on as long as I can.  I think the most important thing I can pass on to other new hoseheads is this.  At first you have no idea what you are up against.  READ, READ, READ!  Use the internet and get a PHD in OSA.  Its your life at stake here.  This forum has been invaluable to me.  I've found so may jumping off points to continue my education in OSA and the oldtimers    are just GREAT about sharing their experiences.


_________________
Sleepy Dragon

Treatment since 11-July-2008
Pressure = 19-17 cmH2O
Mode = BiPAP
Machine = ResMed VPAP III w/ heated humidifier
Mask = Respironics Comfort Gel full face

"I would kill for a good night's sleep!"