Sleep Apnea

First, I would like to state that I am not in the medical profession, so the experiences and explanations given on this page are just my opinion, nothing more. If you suspect you may have Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), check with your doctor. Here is a wonderful site with a lot of information - just remember to check with your doctor about any of this stuff!

Apnea happens when the muscles of your mouth and tongue relax so much, they end up closing off your air passages when you sleep. It makes you stop breathing, then usually you snort or gasp to get a big puff of breath in, and even if you don't fully wake up, your body knows it's been wakened and you are usually very tired when you get up.

For most people, it is due to being overweight. But it can be congenital, too and age can also be a factor. I feel I have had problems since I was a young kid. I have a deviated septum and I am always plugged on that one side, no matter what I take or do. I can remember playing a game of "which nostril do I breathe out of tonight?". I was 7 or 8, ok? And then life further complicated the situation by my being massively overweight as well. I can also remember having suffocation dreams when I was a child.

During testing, I had 300 episodes a night, and that was average. What they *were* concerned about is that because of it, my oxygen levels dropped to 50%. If you've watched ER or any other type of medical show, you know they don't like when you drop to 95 "blood-ox" and start getting panicky if it drops to 92.

There are many symptoms. I had most of the minor ones. Sleepy during the day, often wanting to fall asleep at work. I never felt rested. Extremely loud snoring (window rattling!), with the gasping and snorting. I had hypnagogic jerking, where a body part will spasm as you drift off, or sometimes I felt like I got whapped upside the head. I had hypnagogic hallucinations, where I would hear my name being shouted as I fell asleep. Vivid dreaming, where you can't tell the difference whether you are dreaming or not - very spooky! Most of my vivid dreams were about suffocation.

And the worst symptom I had was waking during sleep paralysis. When you go into the dream state (REM = rapid eye movement), your nervous system shuts down or you would act out what you are dreaming. Basically the hypnagogic jerking and hallucinations are because I was dreaming as I was falling asleep so I *was* acting out - that's not supposed to happen for a good 45 minutes after you zonk out (basically a narcoleptic symptom, but I don't have the others).

But, if you wake during dreaming and your nervous system hasn't switched back on, it is very scary to not be able to move. It doesn't last long, though, just seconds.

Waking during sleep paralysis is what led me to research sleep disturbances, and then I discussed it with my doctor. I was sent for sleep studies and put on a machine. Basically it is a respirator mask that blows room air up your nose, so even if you do stop breathing, your nasal passages are receiving oxygen and it can help remind your body to breathe.

While it is not the most attractive thing, I love it and won't sleep over anywhere without it. Any guys that have slept over have thought it was a soothing noise, like white noise from a fan.

The main thing is that sleep apnea can lead to other problems. It can cause an emphysema-like condition to your heart's arteries, where they expand but do not contract, making your heart work harder. I don't know for sure if this was caused by the sleep apnea, but my heart is 1/3 larger than it should be.

I always said I had a big heart! :-)

My heart was recently tested, both by stress tests and nuclear tests, and no abnormal conditions were found. :-)