New old problem. I can use some input.

[smiledog]

I've told my Dr. about this when I started this journey. He told me it wasn't a concern.I thought it was gone when I started using my machine. Here it is, the last week or so I've had a few days off. I can feel a bad nap coming on.( I have felt this before) Let me explain, I get sleepy watching TV or reading, but I get the strangest feeling. I dose off, I never feel like I'm totally asleep. In my mind I'm calling for help or telling my grandson stop! I can't move and making sounds that make no sense. My wife has told me she thinks I'm having a stroke. What I remember is calling for help or I'm upset at an employee or my grandsons. .Then as fast as I dosed off I wake up and I'm fine. Other then the weird feeling it leaves me with for a few minutes. I have read about night terrors and sleep paralysis. I'm very concerned. This has happened everyday for the last 3 days. The only thing I've done out of my norm was have some dental work done.

[Nicholas]

Wow, that sounds very disconcerting indeed. Now, I'm no expert on these matters - not even close, but the things you're describing *could* simply be consistent with sleep apnea symptoms.

For example, here's something interesting I recently learned: when one is asleep and having an apnea event, the mind needs a way to wake up the body so it can breathe again. One way the mind can accomplish that is through "nightmares," and some very common ones are: fighting, falling, or drowning. Just out of pure speculation, this *could* be what's happening when you're dreaming about your grandson, employee, calling for help, etc. In your dreams, is grandson doing something that could be life-threatening, and you're trying to save him? Is the employee in a heated argument with you that could turn in to a fight?

You also say you dose off and never feel like you are fully asleep. Well, that also sounds consistent with severe sleep apnea. If your airway is constantly closing, your body is prevented from falling into deep sleep. You might not be getting past the first stage of sleep.

Next thing: "...as fast as I dosed off I wake up..." Is that just how it *seems*, or are you actually looking at the clocking and noticing that no time has gone by? Is it possible that more time is passing than you realize during this so-called "bad nap?"

One suggestion: next time you feel this "bad nap" coming on, why not get up and go lie down and put the mask on and see if the experience is any different.

I don't know if these words are helpful to you or not. I do hope you get some clarity about this scary situation very soon.

[Melman]

Nicholas may be right about the nightmares. I used to employ numerous thermocouple wires in my job and before I was diagnosed and treated for sleep apnea I often woke up from a nightmare in which I was chocking on multiple thermocouple wires jammed down my throat. My wife told me it coincided with a lapse in breathing.

I think his suggestion is worth trying.

[OpalRose]

Before Cpap therapy, I experienced sleep paralysis and night terrors.  
Once I started to adjust to therapy, these episodes stopped.

Now, even after 2.5 years, if I start to fall asleep while watching TV,  I feel as if I'm being held down and can't wake up.  I very seldom let myself take naps during the day, but if I need to, I make sure I use my cpap.

[Gideon]

Ok Smiledog,
assuming the dreams are associated with Apnea events, can you post your SleepyHead charts to see if we can help you eliminate them?

[ajack]

sounds like rem paralyzed, it's a normal function that you normally aren't aware of. you probably need a real sleep doctor.
http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/gui...alysis#1-4

[smiledog]

bonjour, I will post sleepyhead today. I've got a Dr. appointment this morning, with my GP. He is a hosehead and I trust him fully.( this man showed up in the ER the night we lost our son, he also shut his doors the day of the funeral and came to the service) I'm going to see what he say's and where he gets his gear.

[trish6hundred]

Hi smiledog,
I would use your CPAP machine every time you take a nap, or doze off. I even use mine while I’m cleaning out my ears, just in case I should fall asleep.

I tried like anything to get my mom to use her machine when she dozed off while watching tv because, she used to wake up very confused after doing that, but I never could get her to do it.
I hope you find a solution to your problem.

[OMyMyOHellYes]

OK - I'll start by saying I don't sleep well at night. I have NO problem falling asleep within minutes, if not seconds, of getting in bed, putting on the mask, and turning out the lights. Boom. I'm out. Say that happens at 10:30 average every night. By 01:30, I am probably lying in bed, wide awake, with no hope of ever going back to sleep before sunrise. Machine is on, stays on, and I hope to go back to sleep, it just rarely happens.

So I'm often sleepy during the day, particularly if I have a high-carb lunch that spikes sugar levels.

So I sit down in front of the TV in my recliner. Even if I WANT to watch what is on, I often find myself so fatigued that I can't move and drifting off to sleep. If I don't have mynapPAP on, i will drift in and out of consciousness, semi-aware of what's going on, realizing I am almost choking several times. If I have mynapPAP on, I usually just sleep through, finding myself coming to in the middle of the next program. Or the next program after that. I have settled in the recliner at 1:30 PM and came to at 5:00 PM that evening on rare occasions.

Also note - sometimes during those sleepless nights when I catch myself awake around 2:00 AM I can go in, settle into the recliner, turn on old TV reruns, put on mynapPAP and spend the rest of the night there, asleep.

Don't know if that helps provide some point of comparison, but there it is nonetheless.

OMMOHY

[smiledog]

OMyMyOHellYes, Several member's have chimed in. Most are saying about the same thing. I have noticed that this has started back up since it's started getting hot, here in south Georgia. I find my self moving more at night because of it. I probably need to get another machine or at least another power cord, being that my cord runs behind a large head board. I try my best not to doze off in the chair. And most of the time I don't because I spend most of my time at work. But like some of the others have said I feel like I'm being held down and can't move, then all the strange things start happening. This isn't something new to me, it use to happen when I was in my 20's and beat tired from working. It has gotten much worse in the last year or so. It's one of many reasons I went back to sleep therapy. I don't trust my DME or the sleep Dr.. I was hoping to talk to my GP ( a hosehead) yesterday but I got a call on my way there he was out sick. So i will see him Wednesday. I do trust him completely and have been seeing him for 20 years. He doesn't play golf or have any outside hobby's. What he does in his free time is study new medicine and techniques. He thinks out of the box. And I like that.  








































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