Sleep apnea

Message

minimetoo26 · #1 Post by **minimetoo26** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 9:43 am

It's a bitch, ain't it?

I've managed to avoid catching most of the crud my kids have dragged home the last couple of months, but I have just a little congestion. I'm not even coughing or sneezing or having a runny nose, but my sinuses are inflamed, so I find myself waking up several times in the night struggling to breathe. Then in the morning I'm just beyond vague because I'm exhausted. Erin and I slept in until 11 yesterday and the fog didn't lift until about 1 pm. Today my eyes are crossing and tehre isn't enough caffeine in the world to get me going.

Yick alert:

Spoiler

I dislodged something that looked more like a tumor than mucus this morning, it was so thick and bloody. I hope that helps.

I'll try sleeping somewhat upright tonight so maybe I'll stop strangling. I can't wait for the weekend....

ToLiveIsToFly · #2 Post by **ToLiveIsToFly** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 9:46 am

Do you have sleep apnea at other times?

My CPAP machine makes a huge difference. Though it's a pain in the ass to fly with.

minimetoo26 · #3 Post by **minimetoo26** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 9:55 am

ToLiveIsToFly wrote:Do you have sleep apnea at other times?

My CPAP machine makes a huge difference. Though it's a pain in the ass to fly with.

No. I'm not a big drinker or heavy late-night eater, which are some of the things that cause snoring in my husband and his sister. I don't have allergy problems, either. My b-i-l has one of those machines since his family has a tendency towards apnea, and he was found to be waking up every minute. He dropped 30 lbs and it helped some, but it hasn't totally resolved so he uses the machine still.

This is just situational, and I totally hate it. It's not like I'm stuffed up, either. Just inflamed. I definitely can't sleep on my back, and the side was only marginally better, so I'll try half-sitting until the swelling goes down. Imagine me even vaguer than usual, and you can see this is a real problem!

marriedmefliesfree · #4 Post by **marriedmefliesfree** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:00 am

Humidifier + neti pot + my famous hot toddy = happy & well-rested mini.

Ritterskoop · #5 Post by **Ritterskoop** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:19 am

Roomie had a big polyp removed from his sinus and that helped a lot. Maybe you removed your own.

Breathe Right strips are good for temporary fixes, and the drugstore brands are way cheap now. But yeah, the neti pot/humidifier route is also relatively easy and cheap.

Feel better!

secondchance · #6 Post by **secondchance** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:45 am

Not enough sleep is the pits. Hope you feel better soon, try steam too.

secondchance · #7 Post by **secondchance** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:12 am

I was just thinking, the

Spoiler

bloody clump

- from the nose or the chest? Either way, I wonder if an x-ray might be in order...

#8 Post by **littlebeast13** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:13 am

My mom is on one of those machines for sleep apnea. She snored to wake the dead for years before finally getting a sleep test and finding out how many times she quit breathing in the middle of the night.....

I sure hope I never get something like that to where I can't sleep on my back. That's the only way I've been able to sleep since I got Mecca Back 10 years ago. I was a stomach sleeper all my life, but my neck will not allow that anymore.....

lb13

sunflower · #9 Post by **sunflower** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:17 am

I had the

Spoiler

tumor like mass thing

once too...did you have a fever? I got a super duper high fever, I can't remember what it was, maybe 103 point something. I just remember feeling delirious and very hot and calling the ER and I think they said at 104 I should come in or maybe 104.5. Whatever it was, I got within like 2 tenths of it then I hacked out the

Spoiler

bloody mucus mass

and my fever started to decline.

I later asked my doctor what he thought it was and he didn't know and told me I should have saved it and brought it in for analysis. I'm not sure if he was mocking me because I'm a hypochondriac or if that's sound advice. But it sure was gross.

gsabc · #10 Post by **gsabc** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:35 am

littlebeast13 wrote:My mom is on one of those machines for sleep apnea. She snored to wake the dead for years before finally getting a sleep test and finding out how many times she quit breathing in the middle of the night.....

I sure hope I never get something like that to where I can't sleep on my back. That's the only way I've been able to sleep since I got Mecca Back 10 years ago. I was a stomach sleeper all my life, but my neck will not allow that anymore.....

lb13

Back sleeping isn't an issue. The mask pretty much prevents you from doing otherwise. I can't imagine how I'd use mine if I had been used to sleeping on my front.

I agree with the airplane transport comment. The TSA has to test the darn thing now. It's a freebie for carry-ons, though, so I stuff a bunch of extra stuff into the bag with it.

My problem's hereditary. Dad snored loud enough to shake walls. My mom once said, when I was a teenager, that I sounded like a rusty drainpipe. Lord knows how GW managed to sleep before I was diagnosed and got the machine.

Ritterskoop · #11 Post by **Ritterskoop** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 1:11 pm

Dad cut a hole in the wall and put the CPAP machine in the next room, and also built a case for it with foam that absorbs most of the noise.

Anybody want one? I just realized a way he could make some $$$ in his semi-retirement.

gsabc · #12 Post by **gsabc** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 1:15 pm

Ritterskoop wrote:Dad cut a hole in the wall and put the CPAP machine in the next room, and also built a case for it with foam that absorbs most of the noise.

Anybody want one? I just realized a way he could make some $$$ in his semi-retirement.

He must have an old one. My first was big and somewhat noisy, but the current version is less than half the size and the venting from the mask makes more noise than the unit itself.

My major issue is arranging the furshlugginer hose so it doesn't snag on something when I roll over in the middle of the night. And don't talk to me about early morning romance ...

Rexer25 · #13 Post by **Rexer25** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 1:15 pm

Ritterskoop wrote:Dad cut a hole in the wall and put the CPAP machine in the next room, and also built a case for it with foam that absorbs most of the noise.

Anybody want one? I just realized a way he could make some $$$ in his semi-retirement.

Mrs. Rexer used one for a few weeks, and really didn't sleep well with it (ironic, huh?). The whole headdress-of-tubes contraption just kinda gave her claustrophobia or something. Our dentist fit her with an appliance that keeps her lower jaw pushed forward, and she sleeps much better now.

Ritterskoop · #14 Post by **Ritterskoop** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 1:19 pm

gsabc wrote:He must have an old one. My first was big and somewhat noisy, but the current version is less than half the size and the venting from the mask makes more noise than the unit itself.

It is his original one, which has to be ten years old at least.

ToLiveIsToFly · #15 Post by **ToLiveIsToFly** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:47 pm

Yeah, the venting is the source of most of the noise in mine. The biggest annoyance is when the baby (ok, he's more of a boy than a baby now) cries in the night and I get out of bed and forget that I'm wearing it.

I can sleep on my sides as well as my back.

I experimented around with a bunch of different types of masks before I found one that I liked.

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