hello
Waiting for sleep clinic told would be around May / June.
My question in meantime is does a low oxygen reading happen to coincide with waking in the night?
Do low oxygen points cause the waking up? I do wake a few times each night.
it yo-yos most nights but I can get a high, low, higher pattern some nights. Last night dropped to 87% at lowest between 3 and 4am and I did happen to wake.
Just wondering!
Hi Fishface 101, often in things like sleep apnea your airway becomes narrowed or temporarily blocked often by the tongue relaxing back towards the throat or if the neck is larger due to maybe weight issues which when laying down again restricts the airway & they often snore loudly through the night. When restricted the sleeping persons breathing often slows down and occasionally they can actually stop breathing for seconds and this is when the oxygen level in blood drops. During this time it’s thought the brain senses something in the body is not right so that is when the person often wakes momentarily with a big snort which wakes them, they suck in more air to raise the oxygen level and they may feel the heart racing as it tries to get the oxygen around the body to increase levels - the process usually starts again all through the night. It can create health issue so probably wise to see a doctor to be checked over which is usually when people get referred to sleep clinics
thanks for the explanation, makes sense how you explain it.
apparently I do snore and have to admit to a chubby neck (working on diet to reduce overall),
I did tell my GP and he referred me to sleep clinic but it’ll be a few months before appointment apparently.
but I like to understand things.
What health issues might it cause or should I leave that alone and focus on weight loss? Is there anything I can do to improve blood oxygen? Can’t exercise though.
Ok I understand, so the real thing if you know you need to lose some weight then that’s a very great place to be and well done for acknowledging that. That will be a very very important factor because thinking what it might cause, although very relevant it probably will happen if you didn’t action the weight. If your GP hasn’t offered already perhaps get an appointment with one of the practice nurses who can start to check out your height weight blood pressure etc and discuss diet (if you are diabetic you’re better doing that side with the nurse or maybe she’ll refer to diabetic clinic, or weight management or a dietician.) They will all be able to consider your current issues along with maintaining nutrition alongside calories/fat etc Sometimes they can refer to slimming clubs for free sessions if it’s medical and if you cannot go in person you can do it online for a set period of time. Dentists can sometimes make a mouth guard to help with snoring but probably just wait to see what the sleep clinic comes up with - Good luck x
thanks I’ll look into what GP / practice nurse offers regards weight loss, not diabetic though.
I can’t (or shouldn’t) exercise cos my congenital heart defect causes more angina the higher my heart rate goes / harder my heart works and there’s definitely a blood flow restriction going on (medical plan - didn’t work - was diltazem to reduce HR to 60 and keep it there - unrealistic i think). Just wanted to explain so that doesn’t come across like I’m making excuse. 😊
Although have a CHD which could have done me in anyway, allowing myself to increase weight (I knew what I was doing) has undoubtedly contributed to a lot of what is going on at present / made matters worse. I have to be honest otherwise there can’t be change, 👍
That’s great that you do, I guess it’ll be more input Vs output still eg calories - I use an app called Nutra Check where you log every thing you eat and drink and totals the calories of each food - what I also like is it does it easily most of the time as it has photographs of many supermarket stuff by name eg Hovis Granary Flora buttery etc so you click on the food photo then it will give you choices of portion size like 1.5 slices or 1tsp etc so it’s quite a quick process when you get used to it. Thing is by going to the nurse first she’ll be able to work out how many calories you should allow yourself and which foods to eat more of or less off so nutrition remains balanced
nurse and app! Will give both a go. 👍
Most ppl wake up numerous times during the night but these times are usually mostly so small they're not noticed. You will probably need a sleep study to check for any sleep disorder such as sleep apnoea etc which the sleep clinic will provide, and the equipment you need to do a sleep test and thereafter. Hope it gets sorted soon for you.
thank you for explaining, I have a referral waiting for appointment hope they do test. 👍
No probs, I did a couple of them and was seen afterwards with a sleep apnoea diagnosis and now use a cpap machine. I don't always sleep perfectly (due to a shoulder injury mainly atm) but I have much better sleep quality the majority of the time now.
That does sound promising would love a good nights sleep - I queried today I’m down to see a consultant and it’ll be 40 weeks before see one🥴 do you normally see consultant first before testing? Is that waiting time normal?Apparently they’re booking in people for May / June that have been waiting since last year. I feel for them waiting so long! Well gives a decent amount of time to lose weight, a silver lining of sorts👍
You have to see a consultant to initially be assessed and be booked for/ be issued with a sleep test kit, that's how it happened for me anyway. It's not a quick process, sadly.
Way too much sleep 😴 
Insomnia
Overnight Sleep Study - help needed
Struggle to use CPAP
