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Complete novice seeking advice on suspected Apnea - ArtVandelay316 - 05-22-2020
Hi all,
I have been a heavy snorer for years and every now and then, particularly over the last year or so, I've woken up gasping for air. I had always had a thought that I might have Apnea, but because it wasn't effecting me on a daily basis I continued to leave it. I'm 37 now and this seems to be happening more than before.
Living in Milan, I've been in lockdown since end of February and I've become much more acutely aware of any health issues I have due to an increased level of anxiety and some hypochondria. However it has also led me to being a lot more attentive to my sleep quality and what happens at night. I went through a couple of nights where I was waking up very short of breath and I decided to buy a blood oxygen monitoring ring.
The first two nights I wore it, I had several large drops to around 88-90% saturation and some smaller drops to low 90s. The ring wakes me each time by vibrating, so I can interrupt this and go back to sleep again breathing more normally.
I have coincidentally just started an intermittent fasting regime and am doing frequent exercise and actually, since these initial drops, I have noted that for a couple of days I had only one drop and I think this was when I moved more onto my back (I now always sleep on my side to try to avoid breathing issues). But again in the last couple of days I've had a return of more drops (although far less than initially). Last night I had one significant drop to around 90% and some small drops to 94-95%. It seems somewhat inconsistent. I think weight loss is certainly helping, but perhaps not to a point where it can stop these drops.
My question is, what exactly does this sound like to people with experience with Apnea and breathing issues at night? And should I be particularly concerned with the inconsistent drops I've been having? My daytime O2 saturation is almost always at 97% or higher. Also, strangely when I am listening to a sleep hypnosis recording to go to sleep, just as I am about to doze of my ring vibrates to tell me my level is dropping. This has happened twice. I found that odd as I could still feel myself breathing, but I was on my back, before I roll to my side to sleep.
I have tried seeking professional help, but the health service here doesn't have many openings for the test needed to confirm Apnea so I am going to be waiting until mid-July, and I'm a little afraid of going to hospitals during these uncertain times with the virus anyway. I am considering going private instead to try to get this addressed more quickly, but wanted to find out a little more about what people with experience think of what has been happening first.
Thanks in advance,
Andy.
RE: Complete novice seeking advice on suspected Apnea - milboltnut - 05-22-2020
Make an appointment with your primary Dr. or a Pulmonary Dr. with your symptoms. Sounds like severe Obstructive Apnea. But who knows at this point.
RE: Complete novice seeking advice on suspected Apnea - ArtVandelay316 - 05-22-2020
It was my doctor who gave me the referral for the test, which is booked for mid-July. I have found a few affordable private clinics that will do the test, and one of these offer some money back if a doctor referral is provided, so I am going to try calling them tomorrow to see if I can get this done sooner.
RE: Complete novice seeking advice on suspected Apnea - milboltnut - 05-22-2020
sounds like a plan
RE: Complete novice seeking advice on suspected Apnea - mesenteria - 05-22-2020
(05-22-2020, 01:29 PM)ArtVandelay316 Wrote: Hi all,
I have been a heavy snorer for years ...
...My question is, what exactly does this sound like to people with experience with Apnea and breathing issues at night? And should I be particularly concerned with the inconsistent drops I've been having? My daytime O2 saturation is almost always at 97% or higher. Also, strangely when I am listening to a sleep hypnosis recording to go to sleep, just as I am about to doze of my ring vibrates to tell me my level is dropping. This has happened twice. I found that odd as I could still feel myself breathing, but I was on my back, before I roll to my side to sleep...
Many people hold their breaths while they turn over. Also, many of us have CA events while we are drifting off into sleep. I have that myself and sometimes startle back awake and find my breathing accelerated, if just for five or six quick breaths. When we hold our breaths, or when we have a CA event, our O2 sat will fall quickly from 95-98% to <92%, perhaps in as little as 12 seconds, more quickly if we are swimming, say under water.
I know you stated that you can '...feel yourself breathing...', and so do I. But, were' not.
