[Symptoms] Dang I'm tired

[SleepyMary]

I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea last year when I had an endoscopy for terrible heartburn. The nurse in the recovery room told me she was pretty sure I had it watching me in the recovery room. Had a home sleep test, tried the dental device, didn't work, then after a few months my dog ate it. The home test said I had 5 episodes an hour (of course I tossed & turned all nite, don't think that was taken into account) oxygen levels dropped to low 80's. Now have gone months in limbo, have to wait 2 months to have a sleep test in the lab.
Can mild sleep apnea and be so horribly tired? I don't go anywhere after work, I want to call in sick every day because I'm exhausted, my house is dirty, my husband is loosing patience, I've gained weight, my throat is always sore, I have terrible heartburn, snore like a banshee, fall asleep at lunchtime, yadda, yadda, yadda. I truly believe my sleep apnea is worse than the home test showed. I bless the nurse who discovered my problem, I think I would have honestly dropped out of life entirely. I wish the test would be sooner..I'm just rambling....

[DariaVader]

AHI is not the whole story. Oxygen drops into the low 80s can make you feel terrible, and can cause symptoms. RDI is another number that should be calculated. If individual apneas are long rather than the short 10 sec ones, they can be very impacting. Good luck on the lab test... perhaps consider getting a sleeping aid prescribed so that they get lots of sleep to analyze.

Call them and let them know you wish to be put on a cancellation list. Alternatively, find another provider.

[green wings]

Ah, Mary, that sounds horrible! I second Daria's suggestions about calling to see if there are cancellations or possibly looking for another provider, although I know that's not always possible.

You might try to make sure you're not sleeping on your back. That could help a little if your apnea is positional. I have also known people to raise the head of their bed if they have reflux problems.

I take a beta blocker for high blood pressure and had an awful problem with reflux when I was at a higher dose than I'm at now. Not saying that your reflux is being caused by medication, but it's something to look consider.

I'm assuming that you're probably taking a proton pump inhibitor drug like esomeprozale (Nexium) or omeprozale (Prilosec) for the reflux.

[trish6hundred]

Hi SleepyMary,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I would try to get on the cancelation list so that you could get your sleep study done sooner.
Much success to you as you start your sleep apnea journey.
Hang in there for more responses to your post.

[Sleepster]

Can mild sleep apnea and be so horribly tired?

Yes. You can never get into the deeper levels of sleep needed to get good rest so you feel tired all the time. It also contributes to other issues such as GERD, anxiety, and impaired cognition.

See if you can get a doctor to write you a prescription for an auto-adjusting CPAP based on your home sleep study results and your symptoms. Your insurance may not pay for it, but you can buy a good second-hand machine for often less than what your insurance co-pay would be for a new one.

[sdb7802]

According to my sleep doctor (clinician, researcher, and med school professor), CPAP can help with GERD, the pressure may keep the acid where it belongs.

It certainly helped me with GERD, allowing me to reduce my PPI dosage.

Hang in there.

Steve

[Sleepster]

My PCP suffers from GERD and told me that they don't know why CPAP therapy helps, but they know it does.

He also told me that the surgical procedure for treating GERD is under development, works now for only a few years, and shows promise for improvement in the future. One of the problems is that medicine like Prilosec stops working after a few years.