My Life and Sleep Apnea

It seems like there are a million things to worry about in life from health to family to making a living all this stuff constantly gives you reasons for concern (and headaches!). Health matters whether they involve your family or you are right up there at the top of the list. One of my concerns is the amount of rest that I get or don’t get each night. As you probably already know sleep apnea has been a thorn in my side for many years. In fact I can’t remember when I wasn’t affected by it, maybe it wasn’t a problem when I was a kid or a teenager but I can’t say for sure. Sleep apnea can be a precursor of many ailments like diabetes, depression, gout and the biggest concern is what it does to your heart. As we all know heart problems can lead to the most unfortunate conclusion, which is unexpected death. Are you worried about dying from sleep apnea ? This question is relevant to me because my father who suffered from sleep apnea died of heart troubles at the age of 61 in 1977. Of cour...

As many of you already know sleep apnea isn’t just for middle-aged people who are overweight.   Potential victims of sleep apnea cover a much wider range than that, young adults and children may also experience the dangerous effects of sleep apnea. We don’t hear much about children having sleep apnea ; usually you read about how older folks try to cope with it by using the CPAP machine or a dental device or maybe even surgery.   But some children do suffer from it. What is really surprising is something that I read the other day that a lot of pediatricians aren’t being trained to handle sleep apnea. Sleep apnea isn’t the only sleep disorder that children, including infants, can have. Bedwetting is something that a lot of parents have to deal with as well as night terrors where the child will wake up terrified.   Snoring can also be a problem. According to an article in Medscape “ The vast majority of pediatricians believe it is their role to advise parents or guardi...

It is well known that sleep apnea isn’t good for your health. High blood pressure, heart problems, circulation problems, diabetes and the list goes on and on. If you have sleep apnea then you also know how it can affect you emotionally. Lack of sleep from any sleeping disorder brings on anxiety, stress and even depression. It also can bring on OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) as well as Post traumatic stress disorder. What is post-traumatic stress disorder? According to the National Institute of Health post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD is” a type of anxiety disorder. It can occur after you've seen or experienced a traumatic event that involved the threat of injury or death.” This can be caused by being in a terribly stressful situation such as an accident, assault, rape and any other event that caused you great anguish. The main symptom of PTSD is the reliving of that particular event over and over again. Support groups have been found to be the best cure for PTSD al...