My sleep apnea is slowly killing me .

[Littlecook]

Good morning everyone I've suffered with mild sleep apnea for many years but it's gradually got a lot worse, I was referred for a sleep test back in July of this year, I've finally got my telephone appointment in November , but I'm struggling I'm so tired it's making me feel very poorly and it's draining all my life out of me ,I can't cope anymore I just want to sleep all the time ,any advice please I can't go on like this anymore. 😢

[edwangy]

sounds like you may need a cpap machine. They'll proably assess you and maybe do a sleep test to check your breathing whilst you're asleep. My husband had this for years and went through all the tests, he has had his cpap for about six years now and sleeps like a baby. Good luck

[Littlecook in reply to edwangy]

Hello edwangyThank you for your reply, I've had the sleep test back in July and my telephone appointment was tobe November 26th but I feel so bad the hospital will be phoning me this afternoon hopefully to discuss the results and fingers crossed for a cpap , I feel really poorly and so tired 😫 I could cry how I feel.

[edwangy in reply to Littlecook]

I'm so sorry you feel like this. Try and keep positive, if they give you a cpap, you're life will change for the better. Let me know what they say. Good luck

[CapnM]

Sleep apnea is a very complicated condition which alot of institutional healthcare doesnt quite grasp properly yet being stuck in the knowledge that was around 20 to 30 years ago. . There has been a massive amount of knowledge advancement in the last decade but it has not filtered through all front line yet.

I hope you get the disagnosis and care you need. CPAP is the gold standard for therapy and works for many but theres a lot of people who struggle still which is where institutional healthcare can fall down. That debate is too complex for here but ultimately you may need to be curious and put in a fair amount of research and action yourself.

Have a look on your tube at Vik Veers. He is a NHS surgeon in a London sleep centre of excellance, Places like this and the US hopistals tend to have the best clinical advice and it's all online. He has a number of videos on sleep and something here may help. (some videos ae quite technical so just move past this stuff).

Things you could try to do if delayed a long time. Result variable as sleep apena can

- Tap into the charity Hope to 2 Sleep online, facebook and you tube community.

- try positional sleeping, for many (not all) sleep issues can alleviavted by side sleeping (particulary to the left). Use pillows or other items to wedge yourself.

- Try sleeping on an incline - sleep in a chair if you have to for some of the night or to get a recovery.

- Try a Kensginton Chin Strap (see Vik Veers). These work for certain sources of sleep apnea and at £30 worth a try.

- Dont eat late, stop drinking alcohol for a while. Get into a good sleep routine.

- Keep off the carbs. Many older people who suffer sleep issues have put on weight over the years due to the reponse mode your body goes into. It's next to improssible to loose weight with untreated sleep apnea but anything you can do at this stage to cut down on carbs (sugars) and get exercise - it really can help.

- This is a little controversial but if you are confident you have no nasal issues and blockages try mouth taping ( I buy a product called Hpynafix surgical tape). Just a little can be used to stop mouth opening breathing, snoring and to some extent jaw drop which can distrurb sleep. You dont even have to cover your whole mouth (though I have). There are obvious risks to this, please only try if confident or have someone who can observe you sleeping initially. It was a game changer for me though I didnt try it till I had been on CPAP for over a year and knew my issues where related to my upper throat/palate area.

If you are confident, have financial resources and computer literate you could just skip the NHS. I didnt even bother with them after my initial research, I got a private sleep test (£200), got diagnosis and bought the machine I needed (£1k) with the results I got. I has a machine withing 72 hours of looking online (google sleep test and look at Intus Healthcare). There are a lot of skilled peopl educating the CPAP community on you tube now.