Sleep apnea---the most commonly missed common problem in the US.

[McCamy Taylor]

If you have migraine headches, fibromyalgia, memory impairment, uncontrolled high blood pressure, middle of the night insomnia, middle of the night chest pain (that is not GERD), middle of the night strokes, congestive heart failure for no reason, erectile dysfunction, lots of traffic accidents or a first degree relative with sleep apnea....

You may be one of the millions of Americans (about 10% of Americans over 40) that has OSA and does not know it (about 80% of that 10% of all Americans). And you will not suspect it, because the number one sign---snoring and choking at night---happens only when you are asleep and stops just before you wake up.

I have OSA. It made my life a mess for years before I realized what was really wrong with me. Now, I am back to work and feel great. And no, you do not have to be morbidly obese or a man to have sleep apnea.

Here is a resource for anyone who wants to learn more about this common, common, common---but missed, missed, missed---diagnosis available at Kindle.

http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Never-Needed-Obstructive-ebook/dp/B007USP5UA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334790286&sr=8-1

If you know that something is wrong with you but no one has been able to tell you what it is or make it better, consider the possibility that you have a sleep disorder. Sleep apnea is not the only sleep disorder. Restless leg syndrom, bruxism etc. can also cause problems. But OSA is one of the nastiest in terms of what it will do to your body if you do not diagnosis it. My grandmother was an OSA casuality. Got up from the bed in the middle of the night to use the bathroom like she did multiple times every night, was dizzy and confused probably from lack of oxygen, fell down the stairs and suffered an intracranial bleed.

[REP]

1. I was told I was "too young, too thin and too female" to have sleep apnea

By the time someone took me seriously, I was hallucinating (technically, onset of REM while awake), blacking out mid-word and behind the wheel of my car, and felt like I was living in hell. My O2 sat was 65% and I had the highest AHI ever seen at that hospital. I was 33 then, and I have mixed (central and obstructive) sleep apnea.

Not fibromyalgia. Not chronic fatigue.

Something that came very close to killing me.

[Bradical79]

2. Just diagnosed, a young dude

Was just diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea at only 32, though I likely suffered from this for longer. I was a pretty good athlete at one time, but minor injuries from working out, and my regular job, have had a hard time healing. Thought it was just me getting older, but when I couldn't keep up with the guys at work who were in their 50's and 60's I figured I'd better check with a doctor. He thought my symptoms indicated I might have sleep apnea, and that was further confirmed by a recent trip in which I shared a hotel room with my parents where my mother observed my constant choking throughout the night.

My grades tanked (been going back to school), I haven't been able to sustain full time work, fell asleep at work a couple times (once while walking!), get chest pains, joint pains, high blood pressure, something bad going on with my kidneys, big mental lapses, etc.

Unfortunately, the machine that helps me most is an expensive bipap machine that my insurance won't cover (I've reached my limit I guess). I'm going to try and convince my boss to give me full time hours, then hopefully I can pay it off.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

3. Thanks. My dad was just diagnosed with two calcified heart valves which cause

arrhythmia and therefore syncope (and irregular breathing). This could be one of the (many?) causes of sleep apnea.

As a result of it, he got up in the middle of the night, his bp was too low, he fell and broke his hip and shoulder, and has been in and out of the hospital and rehab for almost 1 month now. It's disrupted the lives of his closest children, because we've put everything else on hold attempting to deal with the emergencies this has brought to his life.

Hopefully there will be a lull of health in his life soon, and we'll get a break.