Sleep aponea

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Diagnosed earlier this year with sleep aponea, current treatment is pressure fed air via a face mask during sleep times. Very uncomfortable devise which I am experiencing much difficulty adapting to. It is a health issue which must be reported to DVLA who then decide as to whether you you keep your drivers licence or not, after consulting the medical reports of course. In my case I am permitted to continue driving. Also I had to notify my insurance companies but it made zero effect upon my premium payments.

I am very tempted to request throat surgery which may or may not improve/cure the issue, apparently its a 50/50 chance that it could make it worse. I think its a chance I may take.

Has anybody here or relatives been through this health situation?

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V8covin said:

My girlfriend has it.The mask stops her snoring lol.
Actually even when she's not wearing the mask her breathing is more regular now.
She wasn't given the option of surgery so far as I know

Apparently I also snore like a Russian tank on manoeuvres. Girlfriend adapted to the mask OK, do you know how long it took to adjust to it? The hospital (Papworth) tell me how much better I will be if I can just adapt to mask.

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WinstonWolf said:

Are you overweight?

No, the doctors did comment that my weight was acceptable and my general physic is reasonable. 5'11'' and 13.8 stone, could be better if I lost a stone but at 65 year old not too bad.

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foliedouce said:

How did they diagnose it?

I feel for you, that doesn't sound very positive

Its not so bad, plenty of people have much worse issues so I consider myself to be reasonably fortunate.
My wife told me about snoring and gurgling whilst 'asleep', sudden movements and even falling out of bed


Last December we went away and used a Premier Inn overnighting, our adult son also shared the room with us. In the morning he told me that he thought I was dead! so concerned was he that he couldn't hear me breathing (usually noisy) that he got out of bed to check me out. He was very serious and told me to go to doctors. They checked out for nose and throat blocks, none. Asked me to wear a 'computer type watch' which monitors vital signs. Analysis revealed sleep apnea.

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foliedouce said:

crankedup said:

Its not so bad, plenty of people have much worse issues so I consider myself to be reasonably fortunate.
My wife told me about snoring and gurgling whilst 'asleep', sudden movements and even falling out of bed


Last December we went away and used a Premier Inn overnighting, our adult son also shared the room with us. In the morning he told me that he thought I was dead! so concerned was he that he couldn't hear me breathing (usually noisy) that he got out of bed to check me out. He was very serious and told me to go to doctors. They checked out for nose and throat blocks, none. Asked me to wear a 'computer type watch' which monitors vital signs. Analysis revealed sleep apnea.

Did it impact your life before diagnosis? And beyond the machine being uncomfortable, is your quality of life better now?

I now recognise that is some ten years or so that I have been affected, didn't realise that it was a medical problem. Thought my constant tiredness, lack of energy and general fizz was symptom of me getting older! Got used to it over the years.
I need to adapt to the CPAP (constant positive air pressure) machine to really improve but currently I seem to be unable to do so. Perhaps a few hours each night and that is all I can tolerate, even a few hours helps though. Back to the local hospital week after next (ear,nose, throat) and I am hoping that they may be thinking about throat surgery for me. I am prepared to chance it as I do not see much else changing.

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V8covin said:

crankedup said:

Apparently I also snore like a Russian tank on manoeuvres. Girlfriend adapted to the mask OK, do you know how long it took to adjust to it? The hospital (Papworth) tell me how much better I will be if I can just adapt to mask.

When she went to the hospital for the trial fit she actually fell asleep within a few minutes

That is the thing about my apnea, I have never fell asleep during day or evening, tiredness certainly but not to the point of nodding off! Wish I could nod off wearing the mask.

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227bhp said:

http://qa.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&am...

http://www.pistonheads.com/GASSING/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Thank you for posting the links, all the info' I can get is helpful, especially the surgical side of matters.

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WinstonWolf said:

crankedup said:

WinstonWolf said:

Are you overweight?

No, the doctors did comment that my weight was acceptable and my general physic is reasonable. 5'11'' and 13.8 stone, could be better if I lost a stone but at 65 year old not too bad.

That's pretty good

Thank you kind Sir

227bhp, yes I have often been demoted to the couch, and felt the jabs, ear tug or nose squeeze. Must be a real pain having a partner that's a noisy sleeper, like me!