I Think I Have Sleep Aponea

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This is a condition wherein you can't breathe at night when you sleep and as a result you wake up and never get REm sleep and you feel tired and depressed all day as a result. I have been reading up on it and I really think I have it. However I don't have health insurance so I can't go to a doctor. This sucks.

― Mike Hanle y, Tuesday, 2 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

That *would* suck Mike - my dad has that and he only sleeps well if he's got his air mask on that's attched to this sort of breathing machine... it really helped him though. Can you have someone else watch you while you're sleeping? You ought to be able to find out that way. What will happen if you have it is that you will stop breathing all together for a few seconds, and then all of a sudden, will kind of gasp for your air all at once - which probably wakes you up every time it happens. Maybe even if you tape-record your breathing patterns?

― Kim, Tuesday, 2 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

now that's a chat up line: "can you come and watch me sleep?"

― carsmilesteve, Tuesday, 2 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

thanks Kim. Yes it is pretty muc as I feared with the stopped breathing. It feel s like someone is strangling you in your sleep. And I am always so tired

― Mike Hanle y, Tuesday, 2 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Maybe try some different sleeping postions too, my dad was actually sleeping while sitting up on his bed at one point - didn't look too comfortable tho. Poor Mike! How long has this been bothering you? Really should see a doctor somehow..

― Kim, Tuesday, 2 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

maybe I can qualify for medicare or something. You know this disorder is listed under the Americans with Disabilities act? its serious

― Mike Hanle y, Tuesday, 2 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Mike: maybe you could call the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School, and see if they have a clinic program. Or the local bar association to see if there are any attorneys who do pro-bono public benefits/health law-oriented work. I can't venture a guess about whether sleep apnia would be covered under ADA or Social Security -- it's a pretty complicated area of law.

Good luck, man, seriously.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Tuesday, 2 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Clarification: by law school clinical program, some law schools have programs where law students do actual casework, under the supervision of professors and/or attorneys. Not a "clinic" as in a medical clinic. Still, if UMKC Law has a clinical program, they may be of assistance or at least point you in the right direction.

You might also want to call up or visit the Social Security Administration and whatever agency administers Medicaid in your city, tell them your situation, and see what they have to say.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Tuesday, 2 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

self-diagnosis after reading a reader's digest article is always dubious but there are sleep apnea monitors that are not outrageous, of course they always go off unintentionally and thus would make one probably more paranoid than need be. mild sleep apnea is not the scourge it is made out to be, and you are likely having rem sleep, when deprived of it your body will almost immediately enter rem sleep.

― keith, Tuesday, 2 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

thanks tadez!

― Mike Hanle y, Tuesday, 2 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Huh? You sleep on your knee?

― dinosaur, Tuesday, 2 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

sleep clinics mean i have a 6 hour video tape of my sleeping. my own little warhol. christ mike there are reasons i belive in socialized medicine. i hope there is something someone can do !

― anthony, Wednesday, 3 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

apparently there is this thing that shoots air into your nose when you sleep...

― Mike Hanle y, Wednesday, 3 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

An air gun?

― Trevor, Wednesday, 3 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

made by astralwerks?

― Mitch Lastnamewithheld, Wednesday, 3 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

its like a gas mask

― Mike Hanle y, Wednesday, 3 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

that works in reverse?

― Geoff, Wednesday, 3 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

How many people slumbering around the world are never aware of the many spiders and little insects which crawl over their bodies and take little nibbles while investigating snoozing warm bodies?

― dinosaur, Wednesday, 3 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

naught but lot

― Mike Hanle y, Wednesday, 3 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

four years pass...

revive!

my doctor suggested I might have this, in conjunction with whatever fucking sinus problems I've been having.

I seem to remember Chris V suggesting I might have this about 3 years ago when I mentioned trouble sleeping at night, though at the time I never had the same daytime fatigue as I do now.

So does anyone else have it? I have to get tested next week, at this stage I would settle for any kind of progress.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 21 November 2005 20:17 (nineteen years ago) link

My husband has it, and I believe I do too on occasion. In particular the past week, as I've been snoring like a chainsaw due to a head cold. I got fed up with him waking me up all night long (I swear - just as I would start to drift off! Every time!), tried to drag my gear downstairs, ended up tripping down 3 steps and tearing up my knees. couldn't get any work done whatsoever, endless days of staring fixedly at the computer.

He is convinced I don't have it, that I'm just envious of his high-tech air compressor. But out of desperation, I bought this mouth-thing called SnorBan (which was godawful expensive). It's a pain in the ass to sleep with it wedged in your mouth - so far I wake up each night and wrench it out and my jaw pops in and out of joint for 15 minutes or so. BUT! I'm not snoring, and I'm not waking up over and over again in the night, and my brain is 1000% more functional at work.

― Jaq (Jaq), Monday, 21 November 2005 21:04 (nineteen years ago) link

Here's the UK link: http://www.snorban.co.uk/

They can't sell them in the US as anti-snoring devices, because of the FDA, so they are sold as sports mouthpieces.

― Jaq (Jaq), Monday, 21 November 2005 21:07 (nineteen years ago) link

I Think I Have Sleep Aponea

The resultant brain damage has left me unable to spell Apnea

Oh wait

All better

― ESTABAN SNOREZ, Monday, 21 November 2005 21:16 (nineteen years ago) link

I would never sleep with a pony.

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 21 November 2005 21:25 (nineteen years ago) link

The equines of the world breathe a sigh of relief at that.

― Jaq (Jaq), Monday, 21 November 2005 21:27 (nineteen years ago) link

I was just thinking " ah- some one thinks that" then I realized it was ME FROM TH E PAST! what a sci fi moment.

― Mike Hanle y (mike), Monday, 21 November 2005 22:15 (nineteen years ago) link

My father had pretty bad Sleep Apnea for a couple years and would never be able to sleep for more than an hour or two at a time. I used to be riding in his car and I'd see him nod off at the wheel for a second and it would freak me out. He got into a couple fender benders that way, never with anyone else in the car. Then he lost some weight (the Apnea was apparently the result of too much neckfat, I guess) and he hasn't had it for a few years now, but the years of Apnea messed up his sleeping habits so bad that he still can't sleep for more than 4 or 5 hours at a time. But he's retired now so at least he's able to catch a mid-day nap and make up for it.

― Al (sitcom), Monday, 21 November 2005 22:59 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh and also, he tried the air mask thing and it was a total wash for him, just could not sleep with it.

― Al (sitcom), Monday, 21 November 2005 23:01 (nineteen years ago) link

I have sleep apnea. I used to think it was because I was a mega-fattie, but I lost 80 lbs. only to find that I still snore like a monster and wake up in the night choking for breath. I got a new job that had Kaiser and finally took care of it. I did a couple visits where I showed them how I can fall asleep anywhere, anytime, in a matter of 1 to 2 minutes. Instead of sleeping over there, I got a home-monitoring kit that you wear one night and it records all the times you stop breathing. Then you get a rating of how bad your apnea is.

Next, a C-Pap machine is fitted for you according to what the results of the first home test were. (the C-Pap is the machine that blows air into your nose).

It's a very surreal sensation, and the first few nights it was hard to take. But now, like anything else, I am used to it, and I am SO GLAD I looked into this whole thing.

I am no longer cripplingly tired (I was falling asleep driving in traffic in the middle of the day and hadn't seen a full movie in 5 years).

Kaiser paid for everything, including the machine, which are usually pretty expensive (you can buy - shudder - used ones on eBay, I think).
The machine is light and easy to transport. My girlfriend is incredibly thankful for it, too.

Good luck with it. Finally getting this treated was literally life changing for me. Let me know if you have any other questions.

― Mugged Outside the Jabberjaw, 1993 (Bent Over at the Arclight), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 00:41 (nineteen years ago) link

I have heard that even skinny people can have apnea, like children have it, and some reshearchers think it may be one of the causes of ADHD. When you dont get enoughsleep you can't concentrate the next day.

― Mike Hanle y (mike), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 02:05 (nineteen years ago) link

I don't think I have it so severely that I wake up choking for air, I don't really wake up but my doctor said it was still possible that was causing alot of exhaustion for me. I don't find myself needing to sleep all the time, from day to day, but I have zero physical energy and my legs and arms feel like I've just run a marathon all the time.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 22 November 2005 13:43 (nineteen years ago) link

four months pass...

man i had crazy sleep apnea last night, this happens once in a while, not often, but it was kinda trippy and awful! i kept waking up and falling asleep again and it felt like it happened about 20 times before i clued in and turned over on my side

(btw can a mod change the thread title so it's more easily searchable?)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 31 March 2006 15:53 (eighteen years ago) link

like children have it

Yeah. Isn't it linked to crib death?

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:19 (eighteen years ago) link

Anecdotal evidence suggests sleeping in a 'knees up' position might help. Link here. The authors said it's not statistically significant but obviously worth a shot.

― badg (badg), Saturday, 1 April 2006 04:25 (eighteen years ago) link

get breathe rite strips

― Mr Jones (Mr Jones), Saturday, 1 April 2006 05:00 (eighteen years ago) link

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