General Sleep Apnea Q's

I have never had a sleep study preformed, But my father has to use a breathing machine, because he is so large and i have literally watched him, sleeping (if thats what you wanna call it) without the machine, and he looked like he was drownding. this scared me very much. he is so tired and exhausted, i know many times when he was driving i had to keep the windows down, radio up and keep him talking, sitting even he'll fall asleep in minutes. my aunt, on my mums side, also has to use a machine, she is nowhere as large as my father has become. i am scared, because they have severe sleep apnea, and knew it because they were so tired all the time, falling asleep everyplace, from at the computer to the bathroom. and i am wonderring, the liklihood of actually having it, (less severely) and not knowing. thanx in advance for any info you might provide. keighty tbb early july? dr. ortiz/TJ

From the history I have of it, most people don't think t heir own apnea is sever or that bad, but other people usually have to bring it to their attention tha they may stop breathing in their sleep. If it is not severe, some folks think they just snore. It is the 'stop breathing' part that is scary, not the snoring. My husband used to say, I stayed up all night just to see if I snored, and I laugh. He does snore, but he doesn't believe it. I also think he has apnea, but not severe. Mines on the other hand is severe, and sometimes it scares me, and you get horrible sleep most of the time. I'm getting fitted for my CPAP next week. Hope this helps.

keighty I have used the CPCP for over a year now and I have really seen a difference. I can relate to what you have seen in your parents. My suggestion, do you live with someone? The reason I ask is I am a single parent and several years ago my son (who slept in another room) said I would often wake him up at night with my snoring and all of a sudden stop and he would wait until I started again until he could go back to sleep. I didn't really heed this warning as I have always had allergies and sinus problems. What prompted me to get tested was an observation by a doctor (I had gone in for an xray after injuring my foot and while waiting for the doctor had fallen asleep.) When he came in and awoke me he asked if I had ever been diagnosed with sleep apnea, and I laughingly said no, I was just tired. (I guess you have to hit me over the head). Anyway, a few months later during my commute to work (I drive over 40 miles one way) I was jerked awake by driving onto the rumble strip on the side of the road. I finally realized I had a problem. Don't wait as long as I did. Most insurances will cover the CPAP and the doctors visits. What is costly is the sleep diorders lab. If you have a physician who will send you home with the apparatus for the tests, it is much cheaper and insurance will usually pay. That is what I did. You wire yourself up and go to sleep (ha ha, like you can sleep with all the wires on) but the doctor says they really only need about 40 minutes of uninterrupted sleep to see a pattern. Anyway, you take the machine back the next morning, they analyze it, call you and if it was a positive test you go pick up another machine...do much the same thing and if that comes back positive then they will have you do the last test with a machine similar to a CPAP. Finally after reading that as positive I "got my own CPAP" and I sleep much better. Hope this helps, but as I said, get someone to watch or listen to you sleep, expecially if you find yourself nodding off at the strangest times. Good luck vicki