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New guy with concerns
#1
New guy with concerns
Hello everyone I dont know if this is the correct section to post a welcome message but this is the only one that I saw. I havent been diagnosed with sleep apnea but im in the stages of where im realizing how serious it is. A few months back me and my wife got a house together and these past few week have been bad. She told me when we were dating that I stopped breathing when I slept and snored very loudly and I knew about the snoring but had no idea that I stopped breathing! Well, these past few weeks ive been dealing with a cold and sinuses problems after the cold and she says it has gotten worse. She recorded me sleeping last night and during a 1 minute and 14 second video, atleast 20 seconds on 2 occasions I didnt breathe. I called my mom up and she is telling me that It was never bad where I stopped breathing, i just snored loud but she did notice it start to get bad since I put on weight after high school. Im about 65 pounds more than I was in high school. Im 23 years old, 5'10, 228 lbs, African American. Im still shopping around for health insurance since my stepdad changed jobs so I lost that. Seems like every company wants an arm and a leg. This problem doesnt seem to affect my daily life, I wake up at 4 am and go to work monday through thursday. I work in a chemical plant, pipefitting. On tuesdays and thursdays I leave work and go straight to school and im home at 9 pm. I dont feel sleepy or groggy all the time, im always energetic.
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#2
RE: New guy with concerns
Welcome

First step is to get tested in a sleep lab. That costs a couple of grand; so, insurance is a must have. If you get the high deductible likely they won't help much. You are still a young man; and the long term effects cause high blood pressure, heart disease, and the list goes on.

Kindest regards,

Mongo
Admin Note:
JustMongo passed away in August 2017
Click HERE to read his Memorial Thread

~ Rest in Peace ~
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#3
RE: New guy with concerns
G'day DRuben, welcome to Apnea Board.

As Mongo said the long term effects of apnea can be serious, including high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. If you're already carrying a bit of weight these problems will be amplified.

In- lab tests are expensive but you might want to investigate a home test. They're not as comprehensive but should give the information you need for a lot less money. Given the long term risks I suggest you talk to your GP and work out a plan to get tested and (if necessary) treated.
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#4
RE: New guy with concerns
Welcome to ApneaBoard DRuben!! Glad you found us!

You might want to google Epworth Sleepiness Scale and take the test.

It is intended to measure daytime sleepiness that is measured by use of a very short questionnaire. This can be helpful in diagnosing sleep disorders.

Keep us posted!
APNEABOARD - A great place to be if you're a hosehead!!  Rolleyes  

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EVERY ACCOMPLISHMENT BEGINS WITH THE DECISION TO TRY!
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#5
RE: New guy with concerns
Hi DRuben,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Hang in there for more responses to your post and I wish you much success with finding out your sleep problems.
trish6hundred
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#6
RE: New guy with concerns
Please, for your own health, the health of your marriage, and the sanity of your wife - obtain a home sleep study and keep us posted. Many good and knowledgeable people here to help guide you through each and every stage of OSA if you have it which I suspect you do.
Coffee

Happy Pappin'
Never Give In, Never Give Up




INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. 
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#7
RE: New guy with concerns
(12-06-2015, 08:07 AM)DRuben Wrote: I work in a chemical plant, pipefitting. On tuesdays and thursdays I leave work and go straight to school and im home at 9 pm. I dont feel sleepy or groggy all the time, im always energetic.

Take it from a retired pipefitter. FIX THIS!
Weight gain is a side effect and causative all rolled into one.
Make sure you look in the upper left quad of this graphic.
[Image: ?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amsvans.com%2Fblog%2...ms.jpg&f=1]
You can do a home test for $300.
Any decent GP can take the info you provided us and write an Rx for you even w/o sleep study. Mine did.
You can craigslist an "auto" machine and let it do it's thing which is what a lot of sleep docs are doing now days. You just cut out the middleman and several thousand dollars.

I use my PAP machine nightly and I feel great!
Updated: Philips Respironics System One (60 Series)
RemStar BiPAP Auto with Bi-FlexModel 760P -
Rise Time x3 Fixed Bi-Level EPAP 9.0 IPAP 11.5 (cmH2O)
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#8
RE: New guy with concerns
I greatly appreciate all of the helpful information and suggestions. By the end of next week I should be purchasing a health insurance plan. I also should have added that I have epilepsy but im taking Depakote 500mg twice a day and I havent had an episode in years (before i was taking it). I did a sleep study a few months ago but it was for my epilepsy and im guessing either she didnt notice or i didnt stop breathing during it because everything came back normal
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#9
RE: New guy with concerns
As far as insurance goes, right now it's open enrollment for the affordable care act. It can be hit or miss. But depending on your income you might be able to get a subsidy and get a much better plan for a much lower cost. Not to get too detailed, but I got a plan from it when my husband switched jobs and we lost our previous insurance. Even though his current job does offer insurance, it's crazy expensive. My plan has a low deductible, low out of pocket limit, low copays, and 10% coinsurance, and I get a subsidy which lowers the monthly cost by a lot, I pay less than $200/month So as far as I'm concerned it's totally worth it. And I'm not worried about it "disappearing" because not having insurance now to take care of my health right now just because obamacare might disappear down the line seems kind of silly to me.

How you don't feel tired doesn't necessarily mean much. I'm pretty sure that if I have sleep apnea now, I've had it for forever, I just couldn't get any doctor to take my progressively worsening sleep problems seriously until I was also over weight enough that the knee jerk "She's over weight so it's sleep apnea" reaction kicked in. I actually didn't ever even suspected sleep apnea because nobody had ever noticed if I stopped breathing or not. It wasn't as bad when I was a teenager. Then I gained a little weight, and then I got more tired, got less active, gained a little more weight, rinse and repeat. The younger you are the easier it is to function and feel less tired even though you're not sleeping well/enough. I'm only 4 years older than you, but there's a big difference between how badly I was sleeping and feeling now just before I started treatment, and how it was 4 years ago. If it's already starting to go downhill, it will just snowball from here on out until it's treated.
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#10
RE: New guy with concerns
(12-06-2015, 02:02 PM)SephixT Wrote: I'm pretty sure that if I have sleep apnea now, I've had it for forever, I just couldn't get any doctor to take my progressively worsening sleep problems seriously until I was also over weight enough that the knee jerk "She's over weight so it's sleep apnea" reaction kicked in. I actually didn't ever even suspected sleep apnea because nobody had ever noticed if I stopped breathing or not. It wasn't as bad when I was a teenager. Then I gained a little weight, and then I got more tired, got less active, gained a little more weight, rinse and repeat.

I've always snored, loudly. As long as I can remember, and I'm 54. I've been on CPAP since 2010, and I've been pretty sure I had OSA for about 5 years before that. I'm stubborn and it took not being able to get past 10 am before I was nodding off uncontrollably at my desk before I'd seek help.

If you snore, especially if you snore loudly, you have OSA. Period. Snoring is caused by an obstruction. The only thing that is in question is "is it serious enough to require treatment." For some people, it isn't. They happily snore away the night and drive their SO crazy... but they don't stop breathing for significant portions of that sleep period. The rest of us, it is, and it's very serious. We snore, sputter, kick, jerk awake, and stop breathing every few minutes, all night.

I never noticed it. It never woke me. My wife did, and she kept nudging. I researched OSA and found that I probably had it - but I didn't think it was worth treating. I was an idiot. I realized that the morning after the very first night with my new machine. The way I felt was *so* not what I was accustomed to. Now, I can't even doze off without my mask on - the *moment* I snore or stop breathing it wakes me up, and that's usually moments after I doze. And I'm okay with that - I've not missed a night since August of 2010 with my machine, and I have no intention of ever doing so.
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