Sleep Apnea

[bobover3 (imported)]

Mouth guards can work for obstructive apnea, which is about 3/4 of all apnea cases. They're good for relatively mild cases. About 1/4 of apnea sufferers have central apnea, caused by a defect of the central nervous system. Mouth guards won't help central apnea. Only CPAP or a tracheostomy tube help that.

[moi621 (imported)]

Mouth guards can work for obstructive apnea, which is about 3/4 of all apnea cases. They're good for relatively mild cases. About 1/4 of apnea sufferers have central apnea, caused by a defect of the central nervous system. Mouth guards won't help central apnea. Only CPAP or a tracheostomy tube help that.

What is Central Apnea?

And how would a trach tube benefit a non obstructive form of sleep apnea?

Do tell!

[TgEunuch (imported)]

Sleep Apnea is nothing to blow off. As someone who has severe sleep apnea, I have to be on a bi-pap machine, set on high. If you have sleep apnea, get it treated, don't screw around, get treated, you feel better, sleep better, have more energy.

[bobover3 (imported)]

Moi and TgEunuch, a doctor recently told me that CPAP (BiPAP) became unpleasant at high pressures, so that many people didn't wear it. He said that a tracheostomy tube was the one reliable treatment. Please comment.

How can you tell whether you have obstructive or central apnea? Was the doctor wrong?

[happyfeet1 (imported)]

A while back my friends and family insisted that I be tested for apnea, as I kept scaring them by suddenly gulping in air when I was sleeping, making enough noise inhaling suddenly that I actually woke them up. The test consisted of going to an appropriate hospital a few cities over and spending the night attached to a bunch of machinery. As it turned out, apnea wasn't my problem, but if you haven't had this sort of test, you might want to ask them why not. You mentioned a sleep study, which you have or are presumably taking/taken by now, but did you have a previous sleep study at all? It seems odd that they'd suggest laser surgery and trach tubes before testing the type of apnea it was, but as you're asking how one can tell, I do have to wonder.

George, I'm so sorry about Heidi. What a tiny error to be so tragic. T_T

[bobover3 (imported)]

Happyfeet1, the surgery and trach tube are unrelated to apnea. I had them for other reasons. But since the trach tube is there, doctors are tempted to use it to treat apnea. I have to show that the surgery has mitigated my apnea.

[happyfeet1 (imported)]

Ah, I apologise, that makes much more sense. In that case all I can say is I hope it is succesful for you, and if not, that there's a solution readily available to you. I hope someone will be able to advise you.

*friendly telepathic hug*

[jamili54 (imported)]

I hear about Sleep Apnea but I am not sure what it is.And how to deal with the problem.I am looking for a link where can i get the details.

[moi621 (imported)]

"Ahhh.", statements by candidate Perry.

http://news.yahoo.com/did-sleep-apnea-c ... 28960.html

"During a 2011 debate, when Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed to remember one of the government departments he would eliminate if elected president, the epitaph he chose for his drawn-out mental lapse was "Oops." Turns out, that syllable may have signaled a brain struggling under the effects of sleep apnea, which scientists say could cause daytime fatigue and even long-term cognitive damage. . . ."

Long-term cognitive damage

A drugged or drunk President would be safer then a brain dysfunction case, because you have a diagnosis.

If his Sleep Apnea is peripheral, a trach tube would relieve it because the peripheral obstruction of the glottis is bypassed.

If it is Central, because the brain doesn't send the breathe in your sleep signal, I guess it must be a device to monitor breathing during sleep and when aware of a lack of due time breathing, I guess a ventilator kicks in, although a spritz of water in the face would work as well.

Should our presidents be required to have sleep monitoring? Maybe a peripheral oximiter during sleep would suffice.

Protect the nation from the possibility of Long Term Cognitive Damage in the person with their finger on the button.

Moi

[coinflipper_21 (imported)]

My wife was worried about my "sleep apnea". She says that I snore loud enough to shake the windows. Indeed, at home, I have sometimes awakened my self by snoring. She also says that I frequently stop breathing and gasp for air and she has to wake me up in the middle of the night to start my breathing. I have bruises to show for it.

So, I went to the doctor. I have had two sleep studies, one in a sleep lab and one with a take home monitor. Both showed no signs of apnea! Men that I have shared rooms with on business trips tell me that I do not snore. I have come to the conclusion that either my wife is lobbying for separate bedrooms or I am allergic to my wife.