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Sound Like Sleep Apnea?? Crippling Fatigue Ruining Life! - Printable Version

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RE: Sound Like Sleep Apnea?? Crippling Fatigue Ruining Life! - thibaulthib - 10-10-2018

Here were my symptoms for the past 7 years (I am 28 yo, it started slowly in 2010, till I could almost not even get up in the morning, in march 2018):

  • Chronic fatigue that has gradually gotten worse and worse over 7 years span: YES


  • Overall cognitive decline (concentration, alertness, memory, focus, brain fog, processing words, etc.): YES


  • Coordination/motor skills decline: YES


  • Extremely slow now both mentally and physically: YES


  • No energy: YES


  • Extremities/body parts feel so utterly exhausted and numb-like to the touch: YES, lower and upper back pain, butt cheek pain, neck pain, shoulder pain


  • Head often feels very tired and heavy: YES


  • Occasional headache (not super often though): YES especially every morning till around 1pm


  • Consistent yawning throughout the day: YES a lot


  • Wake up most mornings with a dry mouth/throat. Also sometimes throat feels sore/irritated like I'm coming down with an illness, but then goes away the next day.: NO


  • When I do get a cold, I feel hit by it THAT much harder: NO, I live in Singapore, lol


  • I notice I tilt my head to the side often: YES, because of my neck pain


  • The worse I get, I feel more anxious/stressed easily where everything feels like a chore: YES, and this probably led me to all the panic attacks I have had?


  • Overall hearing quality seems lessened: YES, I keep on asking my friends/family to repeat, but when I went to the ENT to check, I am 10/10


  • Seem slightly more bloated in face (but could be do to a bit of weight gain): Maybe...


  • Feel intoxicated much more easily/quickly: YES, after few drinks (Even beer only) I was already tispy


  • Have a perpetual drunk-like feeling like I'm not quite in real life: YES, every morning, light headed and unbalanced a lot


  • Lower libido (but can still get and maintain an erection and ejaculate): I love women... I guess my libido as always been ok haha, but a lot of ONS, haven't had an official partner for the past 7 years


  • Night sweats: YES


  • Sometimes lump type feeling in throat (mostly at night): NO


  • Acid reflux history: NO


  • Just over the past 6 months or so, slight nauseous feeling every once in while, but no vomit. Especially after having caffeine: I don't drink coffee


  • Sensitive to sunlight/bright light. Also get eye floaters: YES, alway must wear sunglasses otherwise my eyes are almost closed because the brightess (Sun or snow) kills me!


RE: Sound Like Sleep Apnea?? Crippling Fatigue Ruining Life! - woozie38 - 10-13-2018

Hi,

What you desicribe is a mirror image of myself in experiences, and symptoms. I too have had every test imaginable. A large number of PSG's  (sleep study) too, including two new titration studies in hospitals. As it was with you - nothing was found. Long story short, changing machines from CPAP to APAP to ASV provided no solution, so I resorted to self diagnosis. With the help of books, specialist consultations, Dr. Google, & my own GP,
Eventually I came to the conclusion that since my treated AHI is always less then 2, the problem must be other than sleep apnoea or related to, or triggered by sleep apnoea.
My research eventually discovered FLNE (frontal lobe nocturnal epilepsy) This condition can be caused by a number of things. These can be genetic, result of blow to the head, or hypoxia. Since my sleep apnoea is treated (AHI<2) my hypoxia is the result of a few but lengthy hypopnias every night. Doctors put a lot of faith in the AH index as an indicator of our sleep quality, saying if AHI is less than 5 you've nothing worry about.

BUT, this index is the sum of obstructional, and partially obstructional breathing and fails to take into account the length of each episode. Obviously an obstructional event will not last very long because a wake up signal will be sent by the brain as soon as oxygen levels drop too low. But in the case of a partial obstruction, an hypoxic condition can & will persist for quite lengthy periods. This hypoxic condition will continue until the patient awakens. In the meantime, the brain, lacking sufficient oxygen begins to misfire. This undesirable state continues whilst the patient continues to sleep. Brain damage occurs at every such event causing what is colloquially called "brain fog", fatigue, memory loss and balance deficits. There are other downsides too such as depression and anxiety. This condition can exist from early childhood as is extremely difficult to diagnose, because it does not;
show up on EEG or NEEG
occur on every night
reveal itself during a sleep study (PSG)

Effective treatment is just as difficult. Medication is the most usual method of treatment using AED's (anti eleptic drugs)., of which there are many. The difficulty here is that every patient reacts differently to every drug. Therefore your doctor will have to prescribe one at a time until one that works is found. Sounds simple enough, except that some of these drugs cane have some nasty side effects in some patients, and; patients need to be weaned onto & off each drug.
Thus far I have tried four, the last appears to show some promise.

I am only a patient sufferer, not a doctor, and these are my finding after 18 years oif CPAP; and seaching for answers.
I hope this helps. Good luck in your search.

RE: Sound Like Sleep Apnea?? Crippling Fatigue Ruining Life! - thibaulthib - 10-29-2018

Any news zeshi so far ? :-)

RE: Sound Like Sleep Apnea?? Crippling Fatigue Ruining Life! - Sleep2Snore - 10-30-2018

I think there might be a bit more going on than just Sleep Apnea!
Get a Sleep Test done and if you have Sleep Apnea, get all the other usual tests done for bloods.
However, when the body get run down it can throw up things that can throw a doctor off the scent.
Get a Sleep Test done and take it from there.
Diabetes, Liver, Blood cells, Blood pressure, all the usual tests, just tell the doctor to throw the book at you and see what comes out of it.

RE: Sound Like Sleep Apnea?? Crippling Fatigue Ruining Life! - yrnkrn - 10-31-2018

(10-13-2018, 07:52 PM)woozie38 Wrote: event will not last very long because a wake up signal will be sent by the brain as soon as oxygen levels drop too low. But in the case of a partial obstruction, an hypoxic condition can & will persist for quite lengthy periods. This hypoxic condition will continue until the patient awakens. In the meantime, the brain, lacking

Won't this show on the oxygen saturation graph?