Sleep apnoea

jonnyburgo

Well, I've been diagnosed with this, and now have to sleep with a CPAP machine on my face. Also been told I'm overweight but not obese, jesus I only burn about 7000 cals a week on the bike, and if not doing that I'm yomping around the Peak District on foot, I can't do any more. 

The joys! 

BGG

I know plenty of slim blokes with the same condition. 

I was diagnosed about twenty years ago, wear as mask every night, it doesn’t bother me. 

Sleep apnoea is a killer. 

jonnyburgo

Mine hasn't arrived yet, did it take a while to get used to and did it help with snoring? 

ToneControl

how noisy is it for someone else sleeping in the same room?

gusman2x

Bummer man, sorry. Did you get diagnosed through testing, or did they do it off a questionnaire?

jonnyburgo

gusman2x said:

Bummer man, sorry. Did you get diagnosed through testing, or did they do it off a questionnaire?

Both, they give you the test machine for a night to get the sleep data info along with a questionnaire. Courier drops it off and picks it up next morning. 

TeleMaster

jonnyburgo said:

Well, I've been diagnosed with this, and now have to sleep with a CPAP machine on my face. Also been told I'm overweight but not obese, jesus I only burn about 7000 cals a week on the bike, and if not doing that I'm yomping around the Peak District on foot, I can't do any more. 

The joys! 

So it's gotta be your diet then? It's like, all diet. 

Jonathanthomas83

Sleep Apnoea isn't necessarily due to weight, diet, fitness or otherwise. I've had it since a young age but wasn't diagnosed until 2014. I was told it was due to weak muscles in my throat which collapsed when I slept and left little to no room for oxygen to pass through. When you wear the mask and you wake up the next morning, you'll feel a million dollars and wonder how you ever managed without it, it's amazing.

Jonathanthomas83

...also, I breathe through my mouth a lot when I sleep...so full mask for me. I'd recommend one over the smaller nose only mask.

M1ck

I suffer from something very similar - it’s never been officially diagnosed as sleep apnea but it fits the symptoms. 

Though I haven’t had it for a while it could be very scary, being aware, during sleep, I wasn’t breathing and could do nothing about it - I would eventually wake up with a start - heart racing and gasping for breath, sometimes two or three times a night - it’s very scary and very tiring. I am overweight and have been for some time and while I’m not dismissing the link between obesity and sleep apnea I think mine was triggered primarily by anxiety, I’m still overweight and still snore but these days my anxiety is (mostly) under control and I rarely have any issues. I found sleeping on my side was a big help both with the snoring and sleep apnea.

Teetonetal

jonnyburgo said:

Well, I've been diagnosed with this, and now have to sleep with a CPAP machine on my face. Also been told I'm overweight but not obese, jesus I only burn about 7000 cals a week on the bike, and if not doing that I'm yomping around the Peak District on foot, I can't do any more. 

The joys! 

If the exercise isn't getting your weight to the right place, look hard at what you eat and drink... Also are you exerting yourself on the bike... It's very easy to cruise around and reach a fitness plateau.

jonnyburgo

Teetonetal said:

jonnyburgo said:

Well, I've been diagnosed with this, and now have to sleep with a CPAP machine on my face. Also been told I'm overweight but not obese, jesus I only burn about 7000 cals a week on the bike, and if not doing that I'm yomping around the Peak District on foot, I can't do any more. 

The joys! 

If the exercise isn't getting your weight to the right place, look hard at what you eat and drink... Also are you exerting yourself on the bike... It's very easy to cruise around and reach a fitness plateau.

Yeah you're probably right, I do eat good quality food and am virtually vegan, just too much probably!

As for the riding I ride in the hills, so lots of long hard climbs. 

Teetonetal

jonnyburgo said:

Teetonetal said:

jonnyburgo said:

Well, I've been diagnosed with this, and now have to sleep with a CPAP machine on my face. Also been told I'm overweight but not obese, jesus I only burn about 7000 cals a week on the bike, and if not doing that I'm yomping around the Peak District on foot, I can't do any more. 

The joys! 

If the exercise isn't getting your weight to the right place, look hard at what you eat and drink... Also are you exerting yourself on the bike... It's very easy to cruise around and reach a fitness plateau.

Yeah you're probably right, I do eat good quality food and am virtually vegan, just too much probably!

As for the riding I ride in the hills, so lots of long hard climbs. 

Wow, sounds healthy!

BlueStrat

I’m a pretty slim and fit bloke and have been on a CPAP for about six years now. 

You’ll adjust pretty quickly to the machine and its pretty quiet in use so your mrs will barely hear anything. 

The benefit you’ll get from the CPAP is instant; you’ll sleep like you’ve never slept before and wale up feeling so much better. As will your Mrs as you’re no longer disturbing her. 

As @Jonathanthomas83  says the full face mask works so much better than the smaller nose one. 

Best of luck!

ThePrettyDamned

I don't have sleep apnoea but a friend does. They say it's really no bother, and hate that it's often a weak punchline in sitcoms.

They lead a very active life and sleep in the same room as their partner  

TeleMaster

M1ck said:

Though I haven’t had it for a while it could be very scary, being aware, during sleep, I wasn’t breathing and could do nothing about it -

That way you describe it makes it sound like sleep paralysis!

TheOtherDennis

Deep breath, this will take a bit, apologies for the length of the post, but this is a big one for me.

It's got bugger all to do with your diet, it's about how your breathing system works. Yes, being overweight or obese makes it worse (and there is considerable evidence that sleep apnoea can help make you obese), but as several here have said, lots of thin people have it, too.

I was diagnosed in 2013, and have slept with a CPAP machine ever since, but when I look back on my life, now I know what sleep apnoea is, I've always had it. And I weighed only 9 stone when I was 18.

Sleep apnoea makes you stop breathing while you sleep, because for whatever reason you can't get enough oxygen, and even though you might think you're asleep you're actually waking up. It can happen literally hundreds of times a night (I was measured at around 250 times a night, which isn't even that bad, apparently). It was only when I found this out that it hit me - throughout our time together, my other half (and we met when I was 18 and she was 19) would nudge me and wake me up saying "You stopped breathing! I was really worried." I'd always say "Don't be daft, you can't stop breathing." I still can't believe how wrong I was.

I've always breathed through my mouth, my entire life. If I try and breathe through my nose, I can't get enough oxygen. That's always been true, right from when I was a kid (and I mean literally, a kid - I remember being told to close my mouth and breathe through my nose 'properly' by a teacher when I was in primary school).

When the nurse who was due to size me up for my mask walked into the room, she took one look at my nose and said "Oh my god, how do you breathe through tha...oh, you don't, do you?" and turned right round and went and got a different mask in a single move.

As for the noise of the machine, they're almost completely silent, unless the mask has a leak, in which case you get a thorough "whoooooooossssshhhhhh" noise, but that'll wake up the wearer, who'll need to adjust the mask to make it fit properly.

And yes, it'll take a bit of getting used to. How much it will take will be down to how well you're fitted out at first, and your own personal levels of comfort. It took me several months because I couldn't get the mask to fit properly. Then they changed the mask and literally overnight, it changed my life for the better. Since May 2014, I have had less than 6 hours' sleep maybe three times in total. I've averaged over 7 hours a night for the last 7 years, which for me is frankly astonishing.

The difference during the day is equally stark. I did a sleep diary while I was waiting for my mask, and I used to fall asleep anything up to 45 times A DAY. Every day. I would frequently know I'd fallen asleep only because I was aware that I'd woken up.

Since using my machine, I'm unlucky if I feel drowsy more than once.

TLDR: Yes, putting the mask on every night will seem like a serious imposition at first, but the difference it'll make is, if you've been anything like me, literally life changing.

TeleMaster

TheOtherDennis said:

It's got bugger all to do with your diet

Well the jury is out on that. 

Lots of people absolutely get sleep apnoea because of poor diet which leads to obesity, which in turn, leads to excessive pressure on the airway when relaxed which narrows the airway as they sleep. These people may never have had sleep apnoea had they stayed slim and fit. 

That's not to say that's why you or anyone else got it, but excessive weight which is often caused by poor diet is a well know risk factor for OSA and is the most reversible factor for improving, or essentially curing their OSA.

You're absolutely right that some people gain weight because of undiagnosed OSA, so it can be a chicken or egg scenario in that regard and the evidence is very much conflicted and unclear. But for those who are overweight purely because of a lifetime of poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle, it's quite likely that if they lose that excess weight it will greatly improve and even reverse their sleep apnoea. 

Obviously, it's not always the case and if your slim, healthy and haven't smoked or done anything that is linked to it, sometimes people are just unlucky. But on the other hand, it's come a long way and CPAP machines and the masks are much more intrusive than they used to be. Even 10 years ago I remember them being twice the size and now patients are even getting nasal CPAP more and more. It's great the improvements that have been made because it really can make people's lives miserable. Glad you're doing well.

ToneControl

So,
my Mrs definitely stops breathing occasionally, but doesn't snore very often
does that mean she definitely needs a CPAP mask, or do some people just occasionally do it?

gusman2x

Do you have to be clean shaven to wear the full mask?

axisus

You could try one of these, although I hear that the side effects can give you a severe stomach ache