Sleep Apnoea

Anyone else suffer from this?

I do. Was diagnosed as mild about ten years ago. Now it's 'moderate to severe'.

For those of you who don't know, it's associated with snoring - your windpipe gets blocked while you're asleep and your oxygen level drops. When that happens, you wake enough to restore the airflow but you don't fully wake. The result is, you spend the night with what feels like deep sleep but it's actually very broken sleep and you wake up feeling as though you haven't been to sleep at all.

Well, that's me. I wake up every day shagged out, regardless of how many hours I spend in the sack. It appears I wake about 50 times every hour :eek: It's no flamin' wonder I'm shagged and fall asleep at traffic lights, in waiting rooms, in front of TV, etc.

Well, they've put me on this ruddy air compressor. I get to wear a face mask with straps and stuff around me scone while it pumps air into me throat. The idea is that it acts as an air splint, keeps me airways open, and should give me a good night's sleep.

Well, tonight's me first night. The rotten thing feels like wearing a WW2 gas mask. The compressor sounds like it'd kick start a jumbo jet. I'm really looking forward to it :D Arrr, I know it'll be right (I flamin' hope). Be nice to wake up in the morning refreshed for a change.

Anyone else going through this sort of nonsense?

Richard

"Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone :("

Let's just say that I can relate to that sentence. :(

I don't think I have apneoa (or however you bloodywell spell it) though.
That is, I don't wake up tired out.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

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Originally Posted by Daddles

Anyone else suffer from this?


Well, tonight's me first night. The rotten thing feels like wearing a WW2 gas mask. The compressor sounds like it'd kick start a jumbo jet. I'm really looking forward to it :D Arrr, I know it'll be right (I flamin' hope). Be nice to wake up in the morning refreshed for a change.

Anyone else going through this sort of nonsense?

Richard

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Maybe now you'll stop being a Grumpy old Bugger:D :D

robert34

Daddles[/SIZE], Daddles, Daddles

Wake up! You're snoring!

Sleep deprivation no good Richard...can make life really miserable. Are there other options open to you apart from the mask?

SWMBO is in the healthcare business and has a few friends involved with sleep disorder studies and treatment....will get her to throw together some contacts. Will be Adelaide contacts so might be of use to you.

Cheers Martin

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Originally Posted by kiwigeo

Sleep deprivation no good Richard...can make life really miserable. Are there other options open to you apart from the mask?

SWMBO is in the healthcare business and has a few friends involved with sleep disorder studies and treatment....will get her to throw together some contacts. Will be Adelaide contacts so might be of use to you.

Cheers Martin

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Mate if she can get subsidies on the CPAP machines i would be very interested. I am a Uni student who has a family, and can't afford the outlay for the machine i need. I would really appreciate it if she can do anything for me.
Just pm me, or send us an email.
Mnay thanks.

Daddles,

Everytime you complain about the WW2 gas mask......take 5 and think of the alternative.

A very good friend of mine didnt even know that he had it........sadly he died because of it.
Food for thought!

Cheers
Steve

Richard,
instead of complaining about the WWII gas mask, take it down to the shed and use it as a respirator! :D That way it will have a positive connotation for you when you wear it at night. :cool:

Mick

Richard

There are sleep apnoea machines and sleep apnoea machines. I just spent some time in hospital with three other patients who had sleep apnoea machines and I couldn't hear one of them running and they reckoned they couldn't hear them either although a couple of them reckoned they had to get their machines changed because of noise.

So there is hope for you yet as these guys say they have fantastic nights sleep.

Well, the first night passed. I managed to sleep with the mask - just a matter of getting used to it methinks. The machine itself wasn't noisy, but this is a loan machine - I get my own next week and it's a different model. I still woke up tired, very tired, but not the usual, death like exhaustion, so perhaps it's just a case of catching up on lost sleep now. My son was amazed because I didn't snore at all (I am well past 'impressive' usually). He said he got up this morning and stood at my door just watching me :) .

As for this machine and alternatives. I'm taking part in a study to examine different ways of treating it. Instead of finding a trillion dollars to go to a private sleep lab, instead of waiting for two or three years (no exageration that one) for a spot to become available at the public sleep lab, I was accepted for this study two weeks after posting them my doctor's referral - a case of being in the right place at the right time. Not only was I fast tracked, but it isn't costing me a cent (apart from the machine).

Part of the testing I did yesterday was a really vicious test designed to see what effects the sleep apnoea is having on my mental abilities (memory, etc). I was shocked to see how badly I went at some of the memory tests. It'll be interesting to watch those tests get easier as I pull out of the pit I'm in now - yes, I get to do them again, and again. It's all part of the study.

And yeah, I'm aware of the heart stresses, etc that OSA (obstructive sleep apnoea) can cause. I'm at the 'falling asleep at the wheel' stage. Seriously. I start to drift off at traffic lights and sometimes have to fight it when moving. Not good at all, particularly when you consider the amount of driving I do for the kids. It's a killer, and most people never think about it because the outward sign is snoring - admit you're a snorer and you get ridiculed :rolleyes:

Ah well, being tired beats being nuts :D

Richard

Yup; chronic. One night I was tested I stopped breathing 477 times. The longest time in excess of 1 1/2 minutes. Has a slight stroke and the apnea was the likely culprit. $2000 for the machine was money well spent.

You will get used to the machine and eventually wont be able to sleep without it. Mine is one of the computerised ResMed versions. Good luck with it. Don't fight the machine and try an relax. It certainly makes the learning process easier.

For those who haven't seen or used one; think of sleeping with a gas mask on and the exhaust pipe of an old type vacuum cleaner blowing into it.

A real treat is when some d**khead hits an SEC pole and puts the power out. Now that is a RUDE awakening with no air.:eek:

Ken

Daddles,

my dad is going through the same.

He's just been diagnosed (at age 75), and it explains why he's spent his life snoozing at every opportunity. (Probably also why he took the lid off one car by driving it under a truck after he fell asleep!)

When he had his night in hospital, they mentioned that anything over 10 "wakings" per night was serious, and he clocked in at 74!!

He's got his CPAP machine, and I had to buy Mum some earplugs, but now they're both happy with it. He's noticeably much more alert, and that's been less than a month with the machine.

Hope it works well for you too!

Cheers,
Andrew

My SWMBO has always snored badly and is booked in to be tested for sleep apnoea. In the meantime, I find I can stop her snoring with an extra pillow. Just have to hold it over her face long enough. :D

My wife will tell you that women don't snore. They breathe heavy. ;)

HWOMBWUWAE-G* is lucky as I consider him my night-time lullaby, you know, the provider of that lovely 'white noise'. Wot's that?? talk into the other ear, this one's deaf.

Seriously, I hope you feel heaps better real soon. SA is no fun at all for the sufferer and the sufferee who has to listen..... and occaisionally uses the elbow to good effect. (gently!!!! that is)

cheers
RR

*He Who Occaisionally Must Be Woken Up With An Elbow - Gently!

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Originally Posted by AlexS

My SWMBO has always snored badly and is booked in to be tested for sleep apnoea. In the meantime, I find I can stop her snoring with an extra pillow. Just have to hold it over her face long enough. :D

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Just a guess, but I bet your wife doesn't read over your shoulder ;) :D

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Originally Posted by rufflyrustic

..........SA is no fun at all for the sufferer...............

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RR,
now I'm a loyal Queenslander too, but paying out on Richard for living in South Australia is a bit low. ;) :D

Mick

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Originally Posted by The Hornet

Mate if she can get subsidies on the CPAP machines i would be very interested. I am a Uni student who has a family, and can't afford the outlay for the machine i need. I would really appreciate it if she can do anything for me. Just pm me, or send us an email.
Mnay thanks.

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Hornet, SWMBO is a nurse and probablly cant help you with the finance side of your problem. If you still want contacts then Ill PM them to you once Im back home (on the job miles off the coast of Oz at present).

Might pay to delete your email from your postl....dont want it there for spammers to harvest. Ill PM info to you.

Cheers Martin

I suffered severly from sleep apnoea and it is no joke . Many times I stopped breathing at night . Always tired from 20 years of age . I suffer less now after stopping smoking but I still snore and dont get into proper sleep .

Its awful and tireing . I too can sleep anywhere , anytime . I once fell asleep while riding my motorcycle , only for a split second though thank God as I had a pillion passenger .

Rick
Tasmania

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Originally Posted by rick_rine

I once fell asleep while riding my motorcycle

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Ooo, wouldn't that be fun. The trouble with bikes is they tend to lie down to have a sleep with you :eek:

Ark, the tiredness. Going through the day feeling dead.

The CPAP machine seems to have got rid of the dead feeling. Funny thing is, I'm waking up with headaches - the mask isn't overly tight though it might still be that. Anyway, it's the weekend now but I'll be seeing the lovely lass handling the study next week - hopefully she'll be able to sort it out.

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RR,
now I'm a loyal Queenslander too, but paying out on Richard for living in South Australia is a bit low.

Mick

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Arrr, I think it's okay Mick. Afterall, I pick on Queenslanders :D Besides, we allow you lot to have your little eccentricities :D

Richard

Yep, doing it myself but getting diagnosed was the hardest part. Went to a doc (quack,quack) ren years ago and all he could say was that at 28 y.o i was getting old and just get used to it....yeah right!!

Just started this week on CPAP. Interesting sensation when you open your mouth, what with the positive pressure. I have severe OSA but apart from the "have to get used to it" sensation, it gives the kids and my wife something to laugh at with my elongated nose.

Keep at it and hopefully your world as well as mine wont look so tiring

Al

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Originally Posted by arnhemal

Keep at it and hopefully your world as well as mine wont look so tiring

Al

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I'm looking forward to being awake enough to actually see the world :)

Richard