My Life and Sleep Apnea

It is no surprise that folks with sleep apnea have less energy due to the lack of quality sleep time. If you wake up hundreds of times each night it is impossible to feel refreshed and ready to go in the morning. Lack of energy can have a profound negative effect on your life. But sleep apnea isn’t the only thing that causes this lack of energy. There are other illnesses that zap your energy and there is one that has a connection with obstructive sleep apnea and that is hypothyroidism . What is hypothyroidism ? According to WebMd.com hypothyroidism “means your thyroid is not making enough thyroid hormone. The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the front of your neck. It makes hormones that control the way your body uses energy.” Another consequence of hypothyroidism is high cholesterol which is bad for your heart. Common symptoms of this disease are lack of energy, skin irritation, memory problems and not being able to be in the cold. Thankfully, hypothyroidism is tr...

One of the reasons that I have sleep apnea is my history of back pain . I know that it is a little bit of a stretch saying that back pain has caused my sleep apnea but let me explain. In 1986, I felt a numbing then sharp pain in my lower back. I didn’t go to the doctor right away because I had back problems before and they eventually went away. But this one didn’t, in fact it got worse, a whole lot worse. Not only was my lower back pain hurting I also felt the pain go from my hip down to my ankle. The first thing that I thought of was my family history of poor circulation. My father had poor circulation and so did his brothers. (My father also had sleep apnea) I went to a specialist and he sent me to get a MRI. The MRI showed that I had a disc that was flattened and that was irritating a nerve in my lower back. The doctor gave me a shot in the back to block the nerve. After one month my back was without pain. I was back to my normal self more or less. The only thing that changed...