Habs Passing

[Duke41]

The manner in which Habs passed in his sleep makes me think that he may have suffered from Sleep Apnea. This is a dangerous affliction but can be dealt with. I discovered that I suffer from Sleep Apnea when I explained to a co worker what was happening to me and he recommended that I see my doctor and sure enough I had it.

The systems are lack of sleep, waking up gasping for breath, foggy mind during the day, falling asleep at any given time...I fell asleep at a stop light. Dreading going to bed at night. If you have any of these systems call your doctor today.

What happens is once you fall asleep the muscles that hold your airway open collapse and your airway becomes blocked, you are now not breathing and your heart is pounding away. Your body wakes up enough to clear the airway, then back to sleep you go and the cycle repeats it self up to 300 times per night. You never get any REM sleep so your battery never gets recharged. Thus all the daytime issues.

When you see the doctor he will recommend a sleep study and you will spend the night in a hospital wired up like a monkey, they will make an assessment after a few hours then if you have it you will go on to step 2

Step 2 is fitting you with a mask that will allow a steady stream of pressurized air to be blown into you nose, mouth or both.
The air will keep the passage way open and you will wake up the next morning feeling like a 10 year old that just drank a pot of coffee on Christmas morning. Talk about recharged!! A sleep tech will come to your home and set you up with a BiPaP machine they are small and quite, the machine will blow the air into you passage way through your nose or mouth.

I hope that any of you that read this and have the symptoms I mentioned take action on it, you life may depend on it. I am always available to discuss this issue. PM me you phone number and the best time to call. You can also check out this website www.SleepApnea.org

I never met Habs, after reading all you posts I wish I had. He was very special to many of you and that says a lot about the man. I have a Habs plug, I think I will just put it away for now if you know what I mean. Tight lines.

[JohnR]

I'm a barely moderate case - a 9 on CPAP (a little less involved than a BiPAP). I do sleep a lot better now on my mask and my wife does to as I no longer snore and I no longer scare the daylights out of her when I stop breathing.

As a lot of us fish night time and severely interrupt schedules as it is, we may be more predisposed to Sleep Apnea than the next guy...

[BigFish]

Angie says I stop breathing (I guess I hold my breath?) and she often has to give me a nudge.....is this sleep apnea and should I be concerned??

[Duke41]

absolutely call you doctor today! That sounds like it. How have you been sleeping overall?

[BigFish]

I sleep ok......good for about 5 hours! No problems.

[MAC]

I did a sleep study in 03. They said I had sleep apnea. Tried the CPAP machine and couldn't sleep with it. (plus I didn't want to me anchored to a machine for the rest of my life)

Next step was in the hospital for some cutting. They removed my tonsils, fixed a deviated septum, cut my palette and electrocuted the back of my tongue. (to shrink it) The discomfort was worth it.

I no longer have sleep apnea and sleep better than I have in years.

[Duke41]

give the mask a chance they have little nasal pillows now that are so small you hardly can feel them.

[Duke41]

Macy you r the man!!!

[Finaddict]

Was tested for sleep apnea ... discovered I stopped breating 240 times per night plus 78 partial blocks. Gave me the mask and machine.

That said, I could not sleep with the mask, would always wake up in the middle of the night and freaked out as if I was suffocating - this is with the mask on - I'd pull it off then go back to sleep. Then tried it again, but the mask wound up not fitting properly, tried to go back to the medical outfit that set me up and the representative that I worked with kept blowing me off. Not helpful at all and she was a you know what.

So I stopped using it about three or four years ago and just do what I can. Still snore, but don't want to be tied down.

Will consider the surgery option, but not ready for that yet, but will seek it within the next year or so.