The Aging Process

[dreamitbig]

I had my sleep test perhaps 4 months ago, but during that time I've had lots of issues that have seriously interfered with my ability use this C-Pap equipment.

I've had Shingles for nearly 4 months, along with severe sleeplessness, congestion, bloating, shortness of breath, and frequent yawning, coughing, or sneezing, while wearing the mask. I feel like I've aged 10-15 years in this brief period, and I'm absolutely exhausted most of the time.

Wearing the mask while wide awake for 2 to maybe 4 hours a night makes no sense to me, and only makes actually getting to sleep more difficult. Of course when I do eventually do fall asleep, I'm not wearing the C-Pap. Additionally, coughing or sneezing or yawning is definitely not helpful, nor is congestion.

To sum up, I'm guessing that I've only had only maybe two or three continuous 5 hour periods of C-Pap therapy in this whole 4 month period. Tomorrow I begin to do my taxes, and it's hard to tell the impact of that little adventure.

The Shingles will eventually go away (I hope), but I would expect many of the other issues to continue or to become more frequent as I grow older.

So now I'm asking myself how I can expect these other things to improve with age? Is surgery a better answer? Would that change my "severe" apnea to perhaps "less than moderate" so that a dental appliance might do the trick?

Phil

Im a guy that is in the process of gettin a 2nd cpap because of my ignorance but the last cpap i had was around 10 yrs ago and since then i have learned a lot. Because i had sleep problems i tried other ways which were meditation, breathing exercises, visualizing. While i tried and still do i have learned that all that oxygen is what is the most important part of gettin and goin to sleep. There are several exercises you can use to help some of this out but the most basic is just doin deep breathing for 5 minutes twice a day and c what happens. The idea is your body requires a certain amount of oxygen to be healthy and without it u will stay on the same road which i know is not very much fun at all. There is a video on youtube with a guy that shows how to exercise the muscles in the throat area to help people to make improvements with sleep apnea just go to youtube and put n sleep apnea exercises.

[Kadenz]

I have had the uvula operation and would definitely NOT recommend it.

Although I wasn't told this at the time, the success rate for this operation is very low. (Nor did they explain that it is a very painful operation and that I would be in pain for a fortnight afterwards.)

In my case, it did greatly reduce the loudness if my snoring, but it didn't solve my sleep apnea. In a subsequent sleep test I was still suffering from severe sleep apnea (ahi of 35) and am now getting the treatment I should have been offered in the first place - a CPAP machine.

Moreover, some people who have had this operation have difficulty tolerating CPAP therapy, especially at high pressures.

In addition, the operation increases the risk that food will go down the wrong hole. It can also affect the sound of your voice.

I had my sleep test perhaps 4 months ago, but during that time I've had lots of issues that have seriously interfered with my ability use this C-Pap equipment.

I've had Shingles for nearly 4 months, along with severe sleeplessness, congestion, bloating, shortness of breath, and frequent yawning, coughing, or sneezing, while wearing the mask. I feel like I've aged 10-15 years in this brief period, and I'm absolutely exhausted most of the time.

Wearing the mask while wide awake for 2 to maybe 4 hours a night makes no sense to me, and only makes actually getting to sleep more difficult. Of course when I do eventually do fall asleep, I'm not wearing the C-Pap. Additionally, coughing or sneezing or yawning is definitely not helpful, nor is congestion.

To sum up, I'm guessing that I've only had only maybe two or three continuous 5 hour periods of C-Pap therapy in this whole 4 month period. Tomorrow I begin to do my taxes, and it's hard to tell the impact of that little adventure.

The Shingles will eventually go away (I hope), but I would expect many of the other issues to continue or to become more frequent as I grow older.

So now I'm asking myself how I can expect these other things to improve with age? Is surgery a better answer? Would that change my "severe" apnea to perhaps "less than moderate" so that a dental appliance might do the trick?

Phil

[JJJ]

I have had the uvula operation

Having had the operation, can you speak French or German without sounding funny when you say an r?