Sleep Apnea?

[Spicyblue]

So, a couple days ago I slept 13 hours straight without waking up when my alarm didn't go off. I was finally woken up by a phone call from my boss seeing if I was okay. I'd gone to bed at midnight, and slept until 1:29pm. Even factoring in a half hour to fall asleep, that is a long time.

 

I've always been someone who needs an alarm to wake up on time, but this felt more like a wake up call. Both my parents have sleep apnea and it's been proven to run in families. I'm only 27 but according my research that doesn't really matter. I'm overweight, but I don't smoke or sleep on my back. I sleep alone so I don't know if I snore. I didn't used to, but who knows?

 

I've been tired since middle school. I've never been a morning person. If I could take a nap every day I would. I always assumed this was depression and anxiety related, but what it's the other way around?

 

So, I'm tentatively diagnosing myself with sleep apnea. I have a doctor's appointment next week. It's an annual pap smear but I'm definitely going to be asking about this as well. I'd like to get a sleep study but I don't know if my insurance will cover it (I have the cheapest healthcare.gov plan). 

 

Does anyone else have experience with sleep apnea? Tips and tricks? 

[Synyster]

Rule No. 1 - NEVER self  diagnose. Doctors are doctors for a reason. Is it a possibility that you do have it? Sure, of course. It's also a possibility that you just have an extremely fucked up body clock. Don't know if you're snoring? It's simple. Set your phone or computer to record sounds over night. There are plenty of apps that will automatically cut out areas where there is complete silence. This does NOT determine if you do in fact have sleep apnea. This only determines if you have a snoring problem.

 

Rule No. 2 - Don't stress yourself out on "not sleeping normal." Just like everything else, what is normal to one person may be strange to another. I worked with a Radio DJ who had who couldn't sleep and would stress herself out over it a ton. She has since been able to work a schedule with her boss around this issue. Basically, she just sleeps when she is tired and wakes up when she wakes up. I.e. Some nights she won't sleep until 3 am and wakes up around 6 or 7 am. Humans originally slept for 2 separate 4 hour periods on average. Some people still seem to be wired this way. Evolution is slow.

 

Rule No. 3 - Make yourself a set schedule. Typical sleep cycles fall in a 90 min. range. So, set an alarm to wake you up at intervals in that time frame, where you feel most rested. Again, there are PLENTY of apps that do the math for you (including time adjustment for time it takes to fall asleep.) Shop around and try different apps.

 

Rule No. 4 - Get PLENTY of Vitamin D! That sunshine is great for a great nights sleep. At least 15-30 min a day of direct sunlight is all you need.

 

Rule No. 5 - EAT HEALTHY AND IN A CONTROLLED TIME! Intermittent fasting is great for scheduling your eating.

 

Rule No. 6 - DRINK PLENTY OF WATER!!!!! No explanation needed. Drink. Water.

 

Rule No. 7 - Workout in the morning/afternoon to avoid spiking energy levels from an evening workout. Evening workouts are great for some people. For instance I love them especially after a stressful day to take that day's stress out on it. But still others don't work this way, and that is OKAY.

 

Rule No. 8 - Do NOT try to do all of these in one go! Take it one step at a time to slowly correct sleeping patterns. Once you get in the habit of one, add on the next. Give yourself a couple months to instill all habits properly. Give yourself a few weeks to really adjust to a different sleep schedule.

 

Example:

I am resetting my own body clock to wake up at 4:30 am. I have been slowly cutting the time back on my alarm to adjust to this. I currently wake up at 5:35 am. After I have adjusted to that, I will move it back another 10 min. or so. Now, this makes me quite tired by the evening, which is okay. I need to stop going to bed at 12/1 every night anyway! It is a work in progress that will take me another month or two to complete, but all for the better!

 

BE PATIENT AND BE CONSISTENT!

[Spicyblue]

Thank you for your long and thoughtful post

 

I'm going to take a few of your suggestions. I already downloaded a sleep cycle app that is supposed the wake you up when you're not in deep sleep. I'm definitely talking to my doctor about it on Tuesday and getting a real opinion.

I'll have to look in to the vitamin D as well. I spend most of my time indoors. All my exercise activities are also indoor activities. I should probably start taking a supplement for it since most of the year it is either too hot or too cold for me to make myself go outside if I don't need to. 

 

Thank again!

 

[CrimsonTide2006]

I have sleep apnea, as well as a vitamin D deficiency...so I know how it feels, tired and weak all the time.. If you do a sleep study that should help you find out what is wrong.  

[Mrsilva]

A sleep study is critical for sleep apnea. I took one many years ago and was shocked by the results. Not only do you sleep poorly, you stop breathing, and your O2 levels drop. Mine was so severe, I had surgery to correct it.

It causes a vicious cycle. You don't sleep, so you're tired all the time. You're tired all the time, so you don't exercise. You don't exercise, you gain weight. You gain weight, your sleep apnea gets worse. Your sleep apnea gets worse, you don't sleep.

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[CrimsonTide2006]

1 hour ago, Mrsilva said:

A sleep study is critical for sleep apnea. I took one many years ago and was shocked by the results. Not only do you sleep poorly, you stop breathing, and your O2 levels drop. Mine was so severe, I had surgery to correct it.

It causes a vicious cycle. You don't sleep, so you're tired all the time. You're tired all the time, so you don't exercise. You don't exercise, you gain weight. You gain weight, your sleep apnea gets worse. Your sleep apnea gets worse, you don't sleep.

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I have a doctor talking to me about surgery to correct my apnea, I just am not sure about it. Mine is pretty severe. I avoid sleep because it makes me feel bad in the mornings.,.. I have a cpap but I dont use it because it causes congestion every time I use it. 

[Mrsilva]

The surgery sucks but at least for me it worked.

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[Dilnad]

On 9/9/2016 at 1:17 PM, Synyster said:

Rule No. 4 - Get PLENTY of Vitamin D! That sunshine is great for a great nights sleep. At least 15-30 min a day of direct sunlight is all you need.

I'm a bit late to he party here but I did want to add something to this point....

 

As a runner who spends MANY hours running in the sun, I was shocked to find out I'm Vitamin D deficient. What I learned was that sunscreen blocks vitamin D absorption. I have to take 5000 IU/day of Vit D in pill form. Also, you should have your levels checked by blood work from your doctor and not just take the supplement because too much of it can be toxic

[Lydiechan]

On 9/9/2016 at 0:17 PM, Synyster said:

Don't stress yourself out on "not sleeping normal." Just like everything else, what is normal to one person may be strange to another.

 

I had a bit of a panic the other day, too, when I realized I'd slept 13 hours (on the weekend).  My husband said I always sleep a lot, but when I looked back through my sleep tracker, I realized I was sleeping 10-11 hours every night.  What a waste of time!

 

I was worried about it, but when I looked it up, I found that it's normal for some people to sleep 10-12 hour and normal for other people to sleep 5-6 hours.  It's just a personal thing.

If you're exercising, eating healthy food, and don't feel sick any other way, it could be normal.

 

That said, if you're tired even after you've slept 13 hours straight, and loud noises don't wake you up (you may have hit your snooze button without realizing it), then you should definitely ask your doctor about a sleep study.

[porchcricket13]

I have vit D, B12 and Iron deficiency anemia, and likely have sleep apnea. The sleep deficit is a freaking nightmare. I'm scheduling my sleep study soon, because I'm starting to fall asleep any time I'm sitting quietly for more than 10 min. But, I only sleep in less than 4 hour intervals. It's nuts. And even after full sleep (though broken) I'm still exhausted. You should definitely look into it if you feel like something is wrong.

[aishah hope]

Do a sleep study if you can! (I mean, I get that deductibles are a bitch and all that, so if you can.) I have sleep apnea - my doctors took out my tonsils when I was 12 and declared me cured, my sleep and daytime fatigue never improved, and then had another sleep study 14 years later - turns out I still had sleep apnea. I'm hoping that losing weight will help but yeah, see a sleep doc for sure! The machine has helped me tremendously.