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        New Message Board Archives >> 2005 General Board Posts >> Sleep Apnea
        
(Message started by: Karla on Feb 2^nd, 2005, 6:04pm)

Title: Sleep Apnea
Post by Karla on Feb 2^nd, 2005, 6:04pm

Well on 5/25 I get to have a sleep over at the hospital to find out if I have sleep apnea. All the signs are there and my hubby says I quit breating in my sleep and it scares him. My father has sleep apnea also. Get this taken care of folks! My dads dr told him it was no big deal. My dad had surgery and he quit breathing in his sleep while under the anastesia and they were not very happy. Thats when the hospital told my Dads dr he WAS having the testing done and of course he got put on a cpap machine. It isn't anything to mess around with. Plus you feel so much better because you get a sounder nights sleep. Plus I heard that cluster heads are more likely to lhave sleep apnea.

Title: Re: Sleep Apnea
Post by AlienSpaceBabe on Feb 2^nd, 2005, 6:57pm

Thanks for the info, Karla!

Title: Re: Sleep Apnea
Post by mawmaw on Feb 2^nd, 2005, 7:05pm

My husband has sleep apnea and you are right Karla it is nothing to play around with. He wouldn't wake up for me one morning and it scared the life out of me. His oxygen level drops so bad at night that they have run 3 liters of O2 in with his cpap machine. One plus for the spouse, no more loud snoring to put up with ;;D

Title: Re: Sleep Apnea
Post by Tiannia on Feb 2^nd, 2005, 7:15pm

Had one doc want to test me for it, but the insurance took too long to approve it and we had to start the approval over again. Still never got tested and now I'm on a different ins. Gues that would be one way for me to get O2.

Title: Re: Sleep Apnea
Post by ClusterChuck on Feb 2^nd, 2005, 8:37pm

Well, I already went and got evaluated, and YUP, I got it! I now have to go in for another "sleep over" to test me with the cpap or whatever other method they want to try out on me.

Why do I feel that all my doctors are just looking for guinia pigs? Do I have that tattooed on my forehead?

Chuck

Title: Re: Sleep Apnea
Post by high_commander on Feb 2^nd, 2005, 11:42pm

The cpap takes a few days to get used to, but once you actually breathe again at night, you feel sooo refreshed.

But if your mouth drops open when you sleep, you emit a really funny whistling sound.... [smiley=crackup.gif]

My husband was the guinea pig that time.... [smiley=crackup.gif]

Danielle

Title: Re: Sleep Apnea
Post by echo on Feb 3^rd, 2005, 10:38am

I was the poster child for apnea until I had surgery. Now everything is the way it should be.

Now if the beast would let me sleep I'd be good to go.

Title: Re: Sleep Apnea
Post by BikerBob on Feb 3^rd, 2005, 1:57pm

I highly recommend Somnoplasty...

I had OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) for many years. I used a CPAP 10 years ago and again 6 years ago. Both times it worked, but it was very uncomfortable and I stopped using it within a few weeks. I kept thinking "I have to wear this damn thing every night for the rest of my life?"

I did another monitored sleepover 4 years ago. The doc said there are essentially 2 options to the CPAP:

a) the "surgery" (UPPP), in which they cut big portions of the palate, tonsils, etc. out. This is fairly major surgery and can have lasting side effects. The doc said that after the surgery, when some patients drink water it comes out their nose.

b) Somnoplasty, a minimally invasive procedure that takes 2 outpatient doctor appointments a few weeks apart. Basically, it's a 10 minute procedure where they anesthetize the palate area, stick a needle a few places in the palate, apply heat, and shrink the palate and surrounding area.

The somnoplasty worked wonders for me 4 years ago and continues to be effective.

Here's some more info about it...

http://www.entcolumbia.org/osadiv.htm

Bob

Title: Re: Sleep Apnea
Post by echo on Feb 3^rd, 2005, 5:14pm

on 02/03/05 at 13:57:27, BikerBob wrote:

a) the "surgery" (UPPP), in which they cut big portions of the palate, tonsils, etc. out. This is fairly major surgery and can have lasting side effects. The doc said that after the surgery, when some patients drink water it comes out their nose.

Bob

BINGO!!! We have a winner.

Can be entertaining at partys.

Title: Re: Sleep Apnea
Post by john_d on Feb 3^rd, 2005, 6:23pm

that's a scary surgery echo, yikes :o

Title: Re: Sleep Apnea
Post by Redneck on Feb 3^rd, 2005, 10:48pm

I found out I had sleep apnea about 10 years ago. The doc said mine was fixable. :) WOW. So I asked how? A bit of surgery to fix my short lower jaw. The short version: Cut my throat, roll my face up, dis-attach the tounge and muscles, cut both jaw bones, stretch them to the proper length, put them back together with steel plates, reattach tounge and muscles, roll face back down and sew it up. >:(

Informed him that I had a short ugly &&&&$&# jaw for 40 years and it would damn well stay that way.

Started on the cpap then, quit after about 6 months, killed my sinuses. Just started back on the cpap last spring, tolerating it ok now. Not as tired during the day but it hasn't been a cure all, and didnt stop the damn headaches from coming back either.