My Sleep Apnea Chronicles

BY DAVID THEUS

Over the next several weeks I have decided to chronicle my experiences with my testing, diagnosis, and ultimate treatment of this particular sleep disorder. If you are not familiar with this condition, there are a multitude of web sites dedicated to the study, and better understanding of this illness.

I have chosen the www.sleepapnea.org  site for my research for this series of articles. I will also be reporting on what my physicians are telling me and those that I might interact with at the Sleep Disorder Clinic at Shands Hospital in Jacksonville.

I thought it would be best to gain a little background information on what Sleep Apnea really is. "The Greek word "apnea" literally means "without breath." There are three types of apnea: obstructive, central, and mixed; of the three, obstructive is the most common. Despite the difference in the root cause of each type, in all three, people with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times during the night and often for a minute or longer.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is caused by a blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue in the rear of the throat collapses and closes during sleep. In central sleep apnea, the airway is not blocked but the brain fails to signal the muscles to breathe. Mixed apnea, as the name implies, is a combination of the two. With each apnea event, the brain briefly arouses people with sleep apnea in order for them to resume breathing, but consequently sleep is extremely fragmented and of poor quality.

Sleep apnea is very common, as common as adult diabetes, and affects more than twelve million Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health. Risk factors include being male, overweight, and over the age of forty, but sleep apnea can strike anyone at any age, even children. Yet still because of the lack of awareness by the public and healthcare professionals, the vast majority remain undiagnosed and therefore untreated, despite the fact that this serious disorder can have significant consequences.

Untreated, sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure and other cardiovascular disease, memory problems, weight gain, impotency, and headaches. Moreover, untreated sleep apnea may be responsible for job impairment and motor vehicle crashes. Fortunately, sleep apnea can be diagnosed and treated. Several treatment options exist, and research into additional options continues." (source: www.sleepapnea.org)

Here is my story as it regards to my symptoms for Sleep Apnea. I am 44 years old, male, and probably close to 100 lbs. overweight. At 6’4" and 300+lbs. I’m sure one of the treatments for this disorder is going to be for me to lose weight, and that’s ok, but let me give you some of my symptoms. According to my family, I have become increasingly cranky and moody, I am constantly falling asleep during the day, especially in the early to mid-afternoon on, and when I do sleep, the neighbors have to use ear plugs because of my snoring. I am constantly in search of coffee, tea, or soda to get my caffeine fix to stay awake, and I’m not getting what I would call really restful sleep at night. I have relinquished any driving over five to ten miles to my wife, unless it’s early in the day or oddly enough late at night, after large consumption of soda or coffee again. I thankfully have not caused any traffic events yet, the good news is I’m willing to let her drive. Besides, it ultimately allows me to sleep while she drives. By the way, that’s not a good thing for your relationship to constantly be passing in and out of sleep while your mate or children are trying to carry on a conversation.

So that’s been my life for the past several years. If any of these above symptoms sound familiar to you or a loved one, let them know it’s time to start talking to their physician about it and get it checked out. Tonight (Monday) I will be checked into the Shands Hospital Sleep Disorder Clinic for my first Sleep Apnea test. I check in around 8:00 pm., get wired up to several monitors and off to sleep I will go until 6:00 am on Tuesday morning. Wish me luck and I will report Tuesday on my progress and pictures from my sleep test. Sweet dreams... Hopefully.