My Life and Sleep Apnea

I was first diagnosed with sleep apnea about 12 years ago. I knew that I was a loud snorer because my wife often complained about it although I didn’t know that it was sleep apnea at the time, in fact I wasn’t sure what sleep apnea was exactly. But it wasn’t just the snoring that caused me to seek help I was also very tired during the day. I had other health issues that I thought would be more manageable if I had more rest. So I went for help. My doctor sent me to a specialist who set up a sleep study for me.   After my first sleep study it was apparent that I did indeed have OSA. I was given a CPAP mask to use and as I have written many times before it didn’t really help much. After the first CPAP disaster I waited about a year or two before trying it again. This time it was with a different doctor who sent me to another sleep study. Once again it was shown that I had sleep apnea and another CPAP (BIPAP) was issued to me. Once again it didn’t work; frustrated I didn’t go back...

If you have had a sleep study done to see if you had sleep apnea you know what a strange ordeal that can be. You probably remember how weird it was to have wires stuck to your head, chest and legs with type of glue that took along time to get out of your hair, also the strangeness of sleeping knowing that someone is watching you all night. It was all very odd and usually unsuccessful for me as I have written before. But it seems that you don’t have to leave your own home to be tested for sleep apnea now, there are home sleep monitors that can do the trick. Why would a home sleep monitor be better that a sleep study in a hospital? The first thing that comes to mind is the comfort level. The places that I have had my sleep studies done aren’t really conducive to sleeping, the rooms are generally cold and for some people like me, sleeping on a strange bed isn’t very comfortable. And there is also less wires attached to you which makes for a more comfortable sleep. Not only will the h...

This past week the weather here in the Atlanta area has been horrendous. In the part of the metro Atlanta area that I live in had over 20 inches of rain in the past 7 days. Luckily we were spared any flooding damage. But the weather did make my meniere’s disease and my sleep apnea worse. Sleeping with sleep apnea is always difficult but for some reason it is particularly hard when the weather is bad. I had to do a little research to find out why. It seems that the atmospheric pressure has some effect on OSA patients. Whereas altitude changes have more effects on central apnea patients. My source for this information is MedPageToday.com . Although they found a connection between sleep apnea and weather changes they are not exactly sure why it occurs. I think a lot of my problems this week were due to the sound of thunder and the amount of stress I had worrying about the house being flooded. But everything seems to be okay now; of course I still have the sleep apnea. I still int...

Well I have another appointment set up in about 3 weeks to see another doctor about my sleep apnea. I was referred to by the doctor who handles my meniere’s disease. I am a little hesitant to give it another try considering all the trouble that I have had in the past with sleep studies and cpap and bipap. But I am going to try again . I really have to because of my age and my family’s history with heart disease it doesn’t make sense not to try to do something. I thought about going to a dentist but from what I have read dental devices are mostly for folks who have mild apnea. I don’t have mild apnea, from the past sleep studies I fall in the severe category. I can’t remember how many times I woke up every hour but the number was high. My meniere’s doctor asked how long ago it was since I had a sleep study. I told him it was last October. He wanted me to get a copy of the result and bring it to my sleep apnea doctor. As I remember the sleep study was a bit of a bust because I had a ...