Sleep apnoea

[Calvados1]

I am new here. Nine years ago I went to bed to sleep. I woke up 4 days later coming out of a coma. Very few people knew about symptoms of sleep apnoea then. I cope well but would like to talk to someone who has my problem. I am on a C-Pap machine pressure 14 air level 3. I also have inhalers and evohalers. Swallow

[Lybra]

Hello, I have had Sleep Apnea since I was born, I have not had a Coma like yourself, but I used to fall asleep in the middle of conversations, and when I woke, I carried on with whatever my next words were going to be. I had a permanent headache in my later years, when I was about 50 years old, and I mean permanent. I was frequently dizzy, always tired, and my memory was badly affected. Being self employed made life extremely difficult, and being a Barber, doubly so, I realise now that I was also Depressed, although not at the time. I was finally diagnosed in 1997, making me of course 57 years old.

I do not feel annoyed that it took so long to find out what it was, because not a lot was known about it then, I still use the C Pap machine every night, even on holidays, one big trouble I find with it is although I go to bed tired, as soon as I put the mask on, I become wide awake and have trouble dropping off. I often get up during the night, but I have learned to just have a read for a while, until I feel ready to go back to bed. I do not worry about this, but my Wife still does, but I have accepted that this is just the way of it.

I hope this is of some help to you, and by the way this site is setting up a dedicated forum for Sleep Apnea sufferers, I have indicated that I will be joining in with this, perhaps you will do so too, it may be beneficial to us .

[y_not]

Hi, never had a coma. I was diagnosed a few years ago when someone put all the symptoms together and realised the cause.

I use a Resmed auto machine with pressure around 12 most of the time. To add to the "fun" COPD means that every breath is only worth 50% of a non-COPD person so a lack of oxygen plus the OSA just compounds the issues.

What has helped is losing, so far, around 15% of my original body weight - seems to have improved sleep, allowed me to be more active and awake plus, removing caffeine and limiting fats and carbohydrates, seems to improve my mental health.

Take care