Not sure if it's sleep apnea????

Hi There, I have just stumbled across this forum, and thought this might be a good opoportunity to ask a question. For the past year or so, I have occasionally woken up in the middle of the night not breathing. It seems to happen in 2 different ways, firstly, I can feel that my throat is collapsed and there is no opening to breathe through. When this happens, I feel like I am drowning, and take a huge gasp of air - then fall back asleep! The other thing that happens is even more frightening. I have woken up several times recently and realised that I am not breathing - but I have felt comfortable with this, like I don't need to take a breath, of course the realisation that I would be happy enough not to breath again makes me that that huge breath and usually sit bolt upright in bed. This has been really scary because when I have had this kind of stopped breathing, I have had anything obstructing my breathing at all!!!! In the last week or so, it has gotten really bad, to the point that I am afraid to fall asleep. When I am just about asleep, I feel my heart palpitating wildly and I get woken up by the fact that I am not breathing. This can happen 6 or 7 times, then I give up and get out of bed and abandon the idea of sleeping -it feels too dangerous!!! Am I crazy? I really don't think I am imagining any of this - and it is really starting to make me very stressed out about going to sleep. Has anyone else had experiences like this? Does this sound like sleep apnea? Thanks in advance for any ideas, comments, Cheers, Anne B PS: I am morbidly obese and have a date for WLS in January 05.

Girl you need a sleep study done ASAP! I have severe APNEA and only found out about 6 mos ago. I use a CPAP machine at night. My symptoms were alot like this. I had tongue biting too and SNOOOORING. Do you snore? I also kicked the heck outta hubby. Til he finally kicked me BACK! lol Seriously though, you really need to ask the doc about this and you should have it done before surgery. GL hun Kendra

Thanks Kendra, Yeah, I had better see my doc - I just want to be able to sleep at night. At least I now know what it could be and what to ask my doctor for. And, YES I snore. I often deny it if my hubby acuses me of it. But, it sometimes wakes up even me! LOL It is soooo loud. I haven't started kicking hubby yet though, maybe I could - it sounds like fun!!! LOL again! I really hope that I can get that sleep study before January - I don't want to have to change my surgery date, but I don't want to be operated on in less than ideal cir****tances either, Thanks again, Anne B

Yes, you have GOT to get that sleep study! Are you sure you can't get it scheduled soon? My WLS doc requires a study for ALL of his patients, since it is so common in obese people. I had already been diagnosed with OSA anyway, so I won't need another study. Your condition sounds serious -- like mine, in fact. The two symptoms can be because you have OSA (obstructive) and also central apneas. They can feel different, and both are life-threatening. You won't actually stop breathing permanently, I have been told, but your body 'waking' you up enough to breathe is very hard, which leads to stroke, heart attack, etc. The really scary part is that you may only REMEMBER a few times a night, but in fact it is probably happening LOTS of times! Only a study will tell you that. Another reason to get the study done before your surgery is that you will need to have the cpap machine with you for the surgery itself. ~~ Leslie R.

Anne, like the other posters said, it is CRITICALLY important that you tell your surgeon these symptoms immediately, and that you get a sleep study if it is recommended. Even if it means postponing surgery a few weeks, it could significantly affect your surgery as well as your recuperation. As you said on your profile, since you are in Australia it shouldn't be too difficult to get a surgery date fairly quickly. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea a year ago. It is "mixed," meaning both obstructive (from the extra weight) and central, which is due to my brain not signaling me to breathe during sleep. My oxygen level without the CPAP would drop to about 82, instead of the normal range of 95-100. The good news is that once I get the weight off, I will likely not need the CPAP because my central apneas are not nearly as frequent as the obstructive episodes. The CPAP is a something of a challenge to get used to--if you need this machine, be SURE to keep trying masks until you find one that fits comfortably. It makes all the difference in the world to have a mask you can tolerate. Lack of oxygen will affect your ability to recuperate from surgery, also. PLEASE tell your surgeon about your symptoms--print out your post and take it with you, or send it to him/her. You deserve to be healthy and you need OXYGEN at night to help you achieve this health! Best of luck! Bobbi

Sounds like it to me! When I got married, my husband right away noticed that I stopped breathing in my sleep. Several times a night, really scared him. I figured I'd go to a doctor when it started bothering me. When I got pregnant, boy did it bother me! By the time I gave birth, I was sleeping one hour per night, waking myself up with the snoring and apnea episodes, and having strange nightmares where I'd wake up reaching out and grasping at air. Scary. Turns out I was tested at having 70 episodes per hour! That's more than one per minute, and that was after giving birth and some improvement in symptoms. My poor baby probably suffered at night, luckily he was healthy. I slept sooooooooo much better with the CPAP.