Coping with Sleep Apnea

for quite a while, however my problem did not become severe until the beginning of 2009.

I do not consider myself to be an expert on the subject by any means and besides there is enough expert advice on the topic for anyone to find. My purpose is to provide a little first hand information for anyone who knows someone, suspects they might know someone, or suspects they themselves might be suffering from Sleep Apnea.

I would like to say first of all that this condition varies in degrees of severity, and types. The three types of Apnea are Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), Central Sleep Apnea and Mixed Apnea. Mild apnea can be so mild that you may not even realize the problem while severe apnea is impossible to ignore.

Obstructive Apnea is caused by a physical blockage of the airway during sleep. The soft tissue in the throat actually collapses prevents normal breathing. This is the most common type of Sleep Apnea.

Central Sleep Apnea is caused by the brain failing to send the appropriate signals to the body to keep breathing. About five percent of diagnosed apnea cases are Central Sleep Apnea.

Mixed Apnea is a combination of the others.

All three types of apnea will cause you to waken briefly, and often you may not even know that your sleep has been disturbed. Apnea causes poor or fragmented sleep and subsequently affects all aspects of your life.

 The most common symptoms of sleep apnea are snoring, excessive grogginess during waking hours, morning headaches, memory lapses, lack of the ability to concentrate, and falling asleep at inappropriate times.

Not everyone that has apnea will have all of these symptoms. In mild cases you may see one or two of these symptoms or they may be infrequent. In more severe cases where the problem is constant all of these symptoms will become evident.

I like most sufferers was diagnosed with obstructive apnea or OSA, when it eventually got to the point that I could no longer ignore the problem.

Before things got bad I would notice things like sometimes I would feel unusually tired and worn out, I was very short tempered, and often avoided being with others because they annoyed me. My husband said on more than one occasion that he believed my problems where being caused by lack of sleep since he had observed that I was very restless during the night and kept him awake. I was not aware at that time that I wasn’t sleeping well.

The longer it went the worse things got, and when it went downhill it went quickly for me. The first thing I noticed was that instead of going to the bathroom maybe once a night I was going once an hour all night long. From there things degenerated quickly. I was falling asleep anytime I sat still for more than 5 minutes. I was sleeping at work. I could fall asleep while talking to someone, cooking, watching T.V., or doing most anything. The trouble was I would wake up as fast as I fell asleep. There would be days that I would simply sleep round the clock from sheer exhaustion. My coping abilities and tolerance levels where non-existent, I couldn’t focus an any project, I quit driving out of fear of what might happen, and to this day my memories of that time are very fragmented and distorted. I also suffered with the strangest manifestations of joint pain. For a day and a half the little finger on my left hand would ache so bad I couldn’t move it then suddenly and inexplicably it would be gone only to show up an hour later in another joint. At this point I was ready to admit that I needed help!

 I talked to my family Doctor. He immediately scheduled me for a sleep study and prescribed a sleeping aid to help in the interim. It was then that I found out that I have zero tolerance for sleeping aids. The one and only night I took them my poor dear husband was forced to follow me around the house all night long to prevent me from hurting myself or burning the house down. I do not remember but he says I was very insistent on cooking and going outside.

I called the doctor and told him that I was not going to be able to use the sleep aid and after relating my tale of the previous night he agreed. He also helpfully pulled a few strings and got my sleep study moved to a much closer date.

The sleep study, though absolutely painless is very uncomfortable. It involves having an entire harness of wires attached to different parts of your body, you are then sent to bed, and not yours mind you. So now I found myself in a new bed in a new place and having twenty or thirty wires pasted all over your body and then told to relax, sleep, yeah right! Well I did eventually go to sleep and it must have been a successful test because I did not have to do it twice. After several hours of monitoring my sleep issues the therapist suggested that since I was waking so frequently we might as well go ahead and do the CPAP test as well.

CPAP is also a very painless test that involves testing a person’s tolerance to a CPAP or Continuous Positive Air Pressure Machine. This machine provides constant air pressure into your airway and can be used several different ways. We tried a supply line like you see people on oxygen use, we also tried a repertory mask and just using the machine like a fan blowing into my face. This machine is the most common and most preferred treatment for treating all three types of apnea and yet I was not able to use it at all.

 At my next Dr. appointment he suggested that because of my inability to tolerate the CPAP that I go and see an Ear Nose and Throat Specialist.  The specialist did a couple of uncomfortable tests in his office on my first visit and determined that I would need surgery to correct my problem.

It was determined that my surgery would require three separate procedures. Genioglossus Advancement, Uvulopalatopharyngoplsty, and a  Hyoid Advancement. I will not go into technicalities about these surgeries but you can find complete descriptions of them here; http://www.sleepapneasurgery.com/ My surgery was done as an inpatient. I was at the Hospital by 10 am in surgery by 12 and home by 9 the next morning.  

I was off work a total of two weeks after surgery, I could not talk, or eat all of that time. It was the most peaceful two weeks of my husband’s life. I was given a very strong antibiotic and an even stronger pain medicine. I took the antibiotic until it was finished and threw the pain meds away after the second day. I lost 12 pounds on my liquid diet, quit smoking, and finally got some rest. My pain level was about the equivalent of having a soar throat for two weeks.

Side effects

There have been a few side effects of the surgery that are not so nice. The most prevalent is as a result of the Genioglossus Advancement there are times when my lower lip and a small portion of my chin become numb, this is uncomfortable and I am told it will go away in time. Another is that I can no longer sleep laying flat. I have taken up permanent bedding arraignments in a large overstuffed recliner chair. The last thing I have noticed is that my lips a constantly dry and often chapped, I am considering buying stock in “Blistex”

Looking Back

My surgery was done on the last day of August 2009 and since that time I have had several people question me as to whether or not I would do it again. My answer is always the same. If I had been able to tolerate the CPAP therapy, no I would not have had the surgery but since CPAP was not an option I never thought twice then or since about the surgery. I sleep all night long, I am enjoying my life again, I am no longer in pain, and I am no longer afraid of what may happen to someone or me as a result of my illness.

Untreated Sleep Apnea can cause any number of health issues like high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. It has also been determined that about 43.4% of apnea sufferers will be involved in some type of auto accident as a result of their illness. If you can relate to anything in my story either for yourself or someone you love I urge you to talk to your Doctor Today. The risks of ignoring this condition are just to great to leave it go untreated.