Recurring Intense Sleep Issues

[kaelinevans]

When I was 5, I would stop breathing in my sleep quite often. My mother took me to the doctor and it was determined that I had obstructive sleep apnea. I had my tonsils and adenoids removed. My issues stopped for a few years. When I was 12 I started to have problems again. I again went back into surgery to have them removed once again. I am now 19 years old, female, play Division II college sports so these sleep issues are affecting my daily life immensely. I am always tired, waking and feeling as if I hadn't slept at all. I often fall asleep in class and have no energy. I had a sleep apnea test done in May of 2013 ad it came back negative. My boyfriend and one of my friends have said my snoring has become almost intolerable and I often wake my self up with my snoring. Since my test came back negative, I am unsure of how to approach my current situation.

[PaytonA]

One of the things that helped with my snoring before I found out that I had sleep apnea was to sleep on a wedge pillow. It was about 5-6" thick at one end and tapering down to nothing in several feet. I put my regular pillow on top of that and my wife said that it really helped my snoring.

A question. Are you a side or a back sleeper? My wife told me that I did not snore unless I was sleeping on my back. If you sleep on your back it might help to sleep on your side. If you can not stay on your side as you sleep you might try the trick that I have read about. Get a reasonably tight fitting T-shirt and sew a tennis ball into the middle of the back of the T-shirt and wear this at night. Another person that I heard of stuffed a backpack full of stuff and wore the backpack when they slept.

All this is assuming that the medical community can find nothing alse that may be causing your poor sleep.

Good luck and don't quit searching until you find an answer.

PaytonA

[Peter_C]

Time for a new/different sleep Doc - my wife had a sleep study done, was found to have very mild OSA. However, she felt she slept better with a CPAP (for whatever reason) - the sleep doc felt that if the CPAP helped, she ought to use it anyway. Now, some 3-4yrs later my wife no longer snores, waking herself, and sleeps "like a baby" through the night - all with a basic CPAP with a pressure of '6'.

In other words, there is more to sleep issues than just a 'test'.

[justMongo]

When was the last time you had a full blood panel?
Other conditions that can make a person tired:
Thyroid
Anemia
Diabetes
...

[Peter_C]

When was the last time you had a full blood panel?
Other conditions that can make a person tired:
Thyroid
Anemia
Diabetes
...

Good point - ask me how I know about anemia... go ahead and ask

[justMongo]

Good point - ask me how I know about anemia... go ahead and ask

How do you know about anemia?

[trish6hundred]

Hi kaelin,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
You might consider getting a second opinion from another sleep doc.
Best of luck, don't give up and just keep searching 'till you find the answers to your sleep issues.

[Peter_C]

Good point - ask me how I know about anemia... go ahead and ask

How do you know about anemia?

Heh - well, I learned that if you spring a leak, they (the hospital) doesn't want to refill you, they just want get you sorta close, then they simply 'wait' for your body to do the rest of the job, call it 7-12 weeks - in the meantime you're lucky if you can stay awake even 12hrs a day...

[justMongo]

Heh - well, I learned that if you spring a leak, they (the hospital) doesn't want to refill you, they just want get you sorta close, then they simply 'wait' for your body to do the rest of the job, call it 7-12 weeks - in the meantime you're lucky if you can stay awake even 12hrs a day...

Hmmm. I guess they prefer not to give you whole blood products.

[PaulaO2]

Several options are available to you.

Get another sleep study, maybe even one at home vs in a sleep lab. Perhaps even try another sleep doctor. Did the sleep doc give you any advice on what to do now? Probably not.

Get a complete physical. Yes, you play sports, but go see a non-school related doctor. Like the one you had at home. Get blood work up done and see if there is anything else going on. There's a lot of things that can cause tiredness. And excessive tiredness can cause snoring which disrupts sleep which makes you more tired which causes more snoring which....you get the idea.

Please let us know how it all turns out!