I just wanted to get the word out that I have started a group for Diabetics with Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Feel free to drop by a share with us. I have suffered from OSA for 20+ years, and many of those years, I had no idea what it was. It really was maybe in the past 10 years or so that I had heard of sleep apnea, and I kept thinking I should get in to have myself tested, but I kept putting it off.
With my recent diagnosis of diabetes, I thought I should be more proactive in my health and it turns out that I have severe obstructive sleep apnea. Like my diabetes, I am learning more about this disorder and since I could not find a group here on Tu Diabetes, thought I would create one.
I do not have sleep apnea but I use to work with a company we supplies Cpap Machines to people. Please make sue you change your CPAP mask every 6 months along with the tubing. Your mask and headgear will wear out in 6 months. I have seen people shed pounds on the cpap machine. It is effective but you have to use it every night. Good luck
I had a sleep study last month and have severe obstructive sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome. I have started a med for the restless legs and am starting to see effects. I should get my CPAP machine next week. Looking forward to sleeping better and feeling better.
Yeah. I have been learning just how dangerous this disorder can be. The thing that kills me (no pun intended) is that I would wake up with no evidence of having “episodes” so it just didn’t seem like a big deal to me.
When I mentioned it to my doctor, even he seemed to be skeptical…but sure enough, I have it. So now I think that maybe I should mention “everything” to my doctor where before, I just thought some of these things might nuisances that I had to live with…know what I mean?
I have been feeling great since I have been on it (last Tuesday is when I received it. I started using it that night). My homecare provider has me setup on a schedule already for replacement pieces. I finally just got my mask adjusted so that it doesn’t bother me anymore (too tight, not tight enough, etc.)
So, working for a place like that…do they have employees try the PAP machines before they work with the patients who will use them?
Lincare is my insurance co prefered provider, and the local office makes all their employees use the machines before they can even talk to customers about them
Did they put you on the machine at all when you were going through your sleep study? What was your experience like?
I kind of panicked when they put me on the machine. I was asleep naturally, and I awoke to my sleep study technician, Amber, fitting the mask to my face. She informed me that they were getting some abnormal readings and that they were going to begin treatment right away. She really did not explain what I should expect or how to acclimate to experience, so this is where my anxiety stemmed from.
Once the mask was on and delivering air down my nostrils, I kind of panicked because I was fighting the machine for air. I was still trying to breathe using my mouth and that just wasn’t working. Going through my mind was the thought that my CO2 was being fed right back at me because the machine was delivering a constant stream of air–I was thinking that I would suffocate! After a few moments, reason began to reassert itself, and I began to calm down.
Mind you, this all happened within the span of a few moments. Amber was describing everything she was doing and at the same time, asking me not to wake all the way up-- that she needed me to get right back to sleep so that I could finish the study.
Riiiight… Luckily, I have no problems getting to sleep and after the anxiety wore off, I was back in la la land. It was only after that I learned they could have me go a second night even but they did not.
The following morning, I did not immediately notice any difference and they wanted me to fill out a survey of my experience which I thought was odd. But when I got to work, I noticed that I was definitely way more alert so I guess I really had a positive experience. I just didn’t realize it until later that day.
Now that I have almost two weeks under my belt, I can say that I truly do realize a difference. Even my morning BG readings are lower!
With respect to length of time, I know that I have been suffering from this since the later 80’s and that I was only just diagnosed, so it is hard to say…
I suspect that the apnea may be at the core of my problems, because I was very athletic back in those days. Football, Karate, etc. But I was always tired. I was also in a car accident that had me on my back (compressed my spinal cord and vertibre) for awhile, I had to go through some physical therapy and chiropractor treatments for a time. Afterwards, I was just not as athletically inclined. I started smoking cigarettes, and experimented with some drugs shortly thereafter.
I began developing lymphodema in one of my legs towards the end of high school, and after my accident, I just was not very motivated to stay active. I have allowed myself to become obese. I know that the obesity is what caused it, but I wonder if the apnea is the underlying cause of it all… Hmmm.
I’ve been using a CPAP machine for about 3 years. I feel better rested than what I used to. I had the whole sleep study thing done. The only thing I didn’t like was that they make you sleep on your back while doing the study. I normally sleep on my side. My oxygen levels in my blood got pretty low because of my sleep apnea. I used to think it was just harmless snoring.
I normally sleep on my back, so this was no problem for me. I hear you though about the harmless snoring. I used to think the same thing. My wife took to sleeping on the couch because she could not stand my snoring.
The thing is, she snores too! Now she says the bed is not comfortable, go figure. I think she just got used to the couch.
I have normally been pretty sharp, but lately I feel as if my memory has been diminished somewhat. I just “feel it” you know?
Over the past several years, I find my temper harder to control as well. I am more likely to “fly-off-the-handle” over the stupidest things, where normally I am an easy going person.
These things really interest me, and anger me at the same time. I cannot imagine what kind of damage has been done to my system that could have been prevented any way.
Sleep studies are the only sure way I know of screening for sleep apnea. Is there another way?
A number of the patients whom I have talked to as we sit in the office waiting to go in to see the pulmonary doc have told me they were referred to the doc because his doc thought they had a problem with sleep apnea And yes, I spend more time waiting in my pulmnary doc’s waiting room than any other except my nephrologists office.
I am sorry. I had forgotten these screenings from years ago. I have had lung problems for so long now these totally slipped my mind and I was only referring to the actual sleep studies… I haven’t asked other patients how their doctors decided they might have sleep apnea and referred them to the lung doc for it.
I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea just a few weeks ago (12/2009). I now sleep with a BiPAP machine. Before I started with the BiPAP, my BG was much harder to control. Within days of using the BiPAP I found my BG much easier to control and far less eratic. The highs which used to shoot over 200 regularly now remain below 160 after meals and range between 80-100 through most of the day and night. I was very ignorant of the connection between sleep disorders and BG management and shocked to find this effect. Evidently, the interupption of breathing during the night places strain on the heart and causes the body to produce adrenalin. The adrenalin interfers with the action of insulin.
