Sleep apnea

[bakebeans]

Morning hope everyone’s well today

I read on here a few weeks ago about sleep apnea and was wondering if anyone would share their experiences with me? I’m currently worried I may have it.

a few days ago I posted about my estimated oxygen levels from my Fitbit. I emailed my dr about it yesterday and her response was that she thinks it’s unlikely to be anything to worry about as I have some days where I have normal levels but keep an eye on it just in case it gets worse then she will test me for sleep apnea.

she did ask about loud snoring, gasping noises and being really tired. My parter has said my snoring is now a lot less since I’ve lost weight he can hardly hear me and I never gasp (though I do wake occasionally feeling like I can’t breathe but I put this down to panic attacks) I’m tired but I’m up early for work and have a young family so that just life!

last night I was worried to go to sleep. I did use an extra pillow and the graph from my watch was green all night so maybe that helped or maybe it was just a good night?

 

[Drummer]

I have sleep apnoea, and am supplied with a CPAP machine to keep me breathing. I used to have dreadful nightmares about drowning or being smothered, and also waking dreams where I would see things not in the room when jolted awake. I did an overnight oxygen level test and the line fell off the bottom of the graph many times a night, then a test with the CPAP and it was pretty much level. It made a big difference to how I coped with life, to get a good night's sleep every night. Sleeping propped up can help some people - using one of those big V shaped pillows was one suggestion from the clinic, and also a small neck support pillow to help keep the airway open, but I found the CPAP machine just fixed things at first try.
The test is no problem to do, and it will show exactly how good, or bad. your oxygen levels are overnight.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

My friend who has it was falling asleep any time she sat down before treatment so if you’re not unusually tired I wouldn’t worry.

 

[bakebeans]

Thank you both for your replies. It seems so silly to be this worried over something that if I wasn’t wearing my watch I wouldn’t know about.
Most nights my little one jumps in bed next to me and asks for a cuddle and we both fall asleep with her laying on my arm (arm with the watch on) I wonder if things like this could alter the results? Or I often snuggle down under the covers maybe this could also affect the readings?
I am tired but my alarm goes off at 5am and I’m on my feet all day at work. I may nod off for a few mins every now and again at my parents infront of the wood burner if I’ve stopped for a cuppa on the way home but it’s so hot in there I think anyone would fall asleep!!
ive just got to see what happens over the next few weeks but I feel scared to fall asleep in case the graph shows it’s getting worse or I just don’t wake up the next morning

 

[PaulLa]

I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnoea in 2012 and used a CPAP machine until Dec 2019. Despite being told that weight loss would improve the condition, but would not cure it as I had it severe, I was tested without CPAP and no longer have it (I was elated!), so weight loss can make a huge difference (held breath 50 times per hour when diagnosed and just once per hour when tested in December). I did however lose well over 7 stones to achieve this (along with diabetes remission) but my efforts paid off big time.

I think you should push your GP hard for a sleep study referral. This is the only sure way to test - nowadays they just give you an oxygen monitor to wear overnight at home, so its nowhere near as much of a drain on resources as when you had to stay in hospital overnight. I actually bought a monitor myself off ebay (£37) and the results are what prompted me to get tested to see if I was cured. Interpreting the results is not that easy though, so best get it done professionally.

I also use an app called snore lab, which records your snoring audibly and displays it on a graph. Although it won't automatically flag sleep apnoea, you can scroll through the graphs/listen to the sound recordings for signs of holding breath which if significant would not be difficult to find.

 

[bakebeans]

Thanks for the reply I’m going to see what results I get this week then speak to my dr.
I do think I have a bit of a cold coming or something, had a cracking migraine yesterday and just feel a bit stuffy. These were my results for the last 2 days

 

[PaulLa]

The graph shows level of variation in oxygen levels rather than actual oxygen saturation values so not certain of the extent of the spikes, but the fact that over two nights you only had two relatively short periods of high variation looks to me that it's very unlikely there are signs of sleep apnoea.

With sleep apnoea oxygen levels are continuously rising and falling repeatedly throughout the night so I would have expected to see a whole load of orange on there. You hold your breath for in excess of 10 seconds, 5 times per hour for it to be considered as sleep apnoea, so for me those results do not give reason for concern.

 

[bakebeans]

Thank you for your reassuring words. These were just the graphs from the last 2 nights but over the last 3 months I’ve had very similar some of the spikes are higher and some are lower. I’ll just see what happens over the next couple of weeks