I think I have Sleep Apnea

Strangely enough, there is an app for that that my doctor recommended I use.

Check Sleepscore - there is an ios and android version.

I did a sleep study and they said I was having something like 60 incidents an hour. !!!

So I got the apnea machine and to be honest, I never got used to it. It was awful trying to adjust to this thing strapped to your face. Especially with my partner sleeping next to me who mumbles in his sleep. I

Anyway, what seemed to work for me is the simplest approach. I started eating better and hitting the gym again. I'm not saying losing 20lbs totally cured me - but I sleep way better now and have more energy.

Would it have killed you to have at least posted a picture or link OP? I mean would that have been so hard? Would it? Why don’t you try to think more of others next time before you post?

I have sleep apnea and the CPAP has been a godsend. I sleep so much better with it. I don't sleep too far from the machine so no tangling or movement issues. Once you get the mask to fit right you feel asleep in minutes, or I do. My insurance covers most of the cost.

It's true - the reservoir, mask and hose are all bacteria magnets and must be cleaned or replaced regularly. The air filter must be replaced regularly. (No more candle burning in the house.) A CPAP requires maintenance but it is worth it. The cleaning machines Shatner advertises are NOT worth it. They may work but the chemical smell is horrible. Did you ever have an ionic air purifier from The Sharper Image? Think of that smell x 10.

OP, you state that you are pushing 50 and have "put on considerable weight" the last few years. Is it then safe to assume you are not very active, don't work out much and have a poor diet? Whether you have sleep apnea or not, dropping the extra pounds and exercising needs to be your first priority. You need to do this now as it doesn't get any easier after 50. Talk to your doctor about your lack of energy and see if he recommends a sleep study.

I've been in your shoes - same age, same unhealthy lifestyle. Finally decided to do something about it. Took a few years but I'm now in a much better place physically and mentally. And my daytime fatigue (and horrific snoring) went away over time.

I do have a sedentary lifestyle, but up until April, I was still getting regular exercise. The past 6 months I have been a total couch potato, which has absolutely contributed to my weight gain. A lot of it has come about because of depression, but I understand I have to get off my ass and make a change. I'm just concerned that because of my age, taking off weight is going to happen very slowly, and I'm going to need to come up with some sort of solution for the apnea in the near term.

I have horrible insomnia as is. There is no way I can sleep with a mask like that on my face. So I’m stuck with sleep apnea. Lost some weight - but still have it. Just accepting ill die early.

I had a sleep study once. They found nothing actionable, but I have a multitude of sleep problems. I think I subconsciously knew I was in a study and slept well that night.

Anyway, OP, if you have insurance, you sleep overnight in a lab. They hook you up to monitor practically everything. Brainwaves, heart rate, berating, etc. then you go from there. Maybe you ask your OP as to where to go. I forget the specialist that addresses this.

R8 How can you fall asleep with all those gizmos on you in the sleep lab?

You can also do the sleep study at home in your own bed. They'll lend you a device and give you instructions on placing a few different straps around you; it's not too bad at all. They found I have sleep apnea, after a doctor had suspected it when I checked myself in the emergency room, when I thought I had a heart attack while watching, no fucking shit, Lin-Manuel Miranda and company get the Kennedy Center Award. A doctor on the overnight shift told me to do a sleep study -- I guess he heard me snore a bit among some other kind of symptoms. Anyway, the CPAP is actually not bad when you get used to it. You can choose a mask just for the nose or one covering the nose and mouth, which I did because I think I sometimes open my mouth and don't want to defeat the purpose of having the CPAP. My sleep doctor told me that it's possible if I lose some weight they can do another sleep study and then maybe I won't need the CPAP. My insurance is covering it all. The puffs of air with the humidifier are actually kind of nice, though it's not the sexiest thing to have around, especially if I'm bringing someone home (hide it under the bed). You do need to clean the parts of the machine though. I've a cold and am cleaning it even more often, and it's almost time to swap out a mask pillow (padding), but want to be over the cold before I do so. So I've been washing the mask pillow more often till then, as well as the tube and water tray.

Btw, it was just stress was what they also found in the emergency room, not a heart attack -- too much watching MSNBC, Maddow and Lawrence, among others, though Lin-Manuel was probably the last straw.

I've had two sleep studies done. The first was at a clinic overnight in 2005. I could not sleep with all that shit on me and I tossed and turned like crazy and maybe got 45 minutes of sleep. The overnight tech was a real asshole, too. Their results were inconclusive but leaned towards mild sleep apnea.

About 8 years later I did another sleep study, one that I took home, and that one came back no apnea.

But I'm much heavier now and I know the symptoms and I'm experiencing several of them. Plus I also have a deviated septum. I'm on Day 3 of my diet and tomorrow I'm going back to the gym to start doing some cardio. I definitely need to get some of this weight off and start moving more.

I just was diagnosed with sleep apnea and am on week two of the CPAP machine. I am struggling getting used to the mask but I've heard that there are so many benefits from the CPAP treatment that I'm going to stick with it. I do feel though, that I've gained weight in just one week !

I have one as well. The big pain in the ass though is insurance companies will take them away from you if you're not using them enough. The doctor failed to point out to me, that if you use it any less than 4 hours in a given day, it doesn't count towards your minimum amount of hours at all for that day.

Bingo R14. You have to use it like 25 out of 30 nights. I know I would never get to sleep for days if I had that thing on my face. And then I also travel for work. So it’s almost impossible that I would be able to qualify. So I’m living with apnea. Another death by health “insurance”.

I took it along on a weekend trip; they give you a carrying case. They also encourage you to put on the mask while you're awake and watching tv/reading in bed for a few hours at first so you can get used to it, plus there are different styles of masks, some of which you might find easier to wear than others. But yes, the CPAPs have monitors with modems to let your doctor, as well as the insurance company, know how and if you are using them.

OP has not even been diagnosed and is already asking about surgery. What an idiot.

Well, he probably heard these radio ads lately for something called the Inspire, I think, which requires a short day procedure. I haven't seen yet studies of how effective this is yet, though I might ask my doctor about it at some point.

[quote] OP has not even been diagnosed and is already asking about surgery. What an idiot.

Actually, I said I've had two tests, one of which diagnosed mild sleep apnea when I was much thinner. I don't WANT surgery, I just happened to be looking at what sort of advancements had been made in the CPAP machines in the past 14 years and stumbled onto the surgery information, which I'd never heard of, and was curious about it and if anyone here had tried it.

Asshole.