My husband tried to convince me from day one of our marriage that there was a problem as i often would stop breathing when asleep... i was 11stone and my idealish weight then. I blamed it on the severe asthma i suffer. Sleep Apnoea and its health risks wasnt really known about back then (1980). But my sleeping habits were a constant cause of heated discussion between hubby and I especially as i would nod off mid conversation, in the cinema, in work meetings.. any opportunity really
. In 2002 I developed a rather nasty bout of pneumonia which had me hospitalised for over a month. During that time I became acutley aware that I was wakening myself up gasping, heart racing etcetc so much so that come nighttime I preffered sleeping in the coffee lounge on a recliner in an almost upright armchair much to the dismay of the nurses
. At first i blamed the pneumonia and my asthma. It wasnt until my hubby begged that I got it checked out that I decided to look in to it. At his point you would have thought the hospital would have cottoned on but no they didnt. Once out of hospital and via internet I discovered OSA and I was convinced so at my follow up appointment with GP i asked if it possible that I was a sufferer? He had no hesitation to put this to my consultant whom I was still under the care of... but In 2002 OSA was just becoming recognised.. in men mostly... My consultant took one look at me and snorted "you are too young and female. I doubt very much you have Sleep Apnoea" He did however arrange for me to take home some monitoring equipment. It was a complete nightmare. The belts didnt fit properely the tabs wouldnt stick and 2 hours in i still wasnt asleep. 3 hours later i was woken by an alarm from the equipment. It wasnt working any longer
. I took it all back the next again day told my sorry tale and waited for the what happens next App... It came back negative ... no surprise there as i hadnt slept and the damn thing had broke.. and I didnt have OSA?? so basicly i was to go away happy in the knowledge i had been given the all clear
... not bleep bleep likely!!
Dismayed i went back to GP with hubby this time and asked if I could be tested privatly. So a week later i was in an Edinburgh clinic to pick up a similar set of belts and monitors along with seeing a private consultant and again a few days later to get the results. Yes he agreed. The monitors had picked up a problem & he would send the results to both my GP and the consultant who at my next app was livid that and I quote "I had the audacity to go above his head"?!?:nono: He then discharged me from his care even though i was not ready to be. It was laughable to be honest but he did refer me to Edinburgh Sleep Clinic which he sneeringly told me had a 2 year wait list(I already knew this though). Personally I felt victorious. I had never been pro active or vocal as regards my health before but by god did I make up for it!
It was a couple months later that someone on a forum suggested i tried Gartnavel hospital..I sheepishly asked my GP to enquire. 2month later i was booked in for an overnight study. I will never forget that night. It was a terrible start i couldnt sleep properly and once asleep i was woken by an alarm .. the nurse had forgot to plug in a peice of equipment and the battery had ran out :8855:. i quickly got back to sleep only to get woke up again shortly after...or so i thought. The sleep nurse said right thats you Mrs M we will get the results and let you know after breakfast... breakfast?? what time is it? i asked. You could have knocked me down with a feather when she proclaimed 7.30 am:faint2: I was awake feeling fantastic.. i had not slept like that for years and years. I walked out the sleep clinic 2 hours later CPAP in hand and officially a hosehead.
I wont say it has been an easy journey because initially it wasnt ... ask me now (10 years later) if I could sleep without it.. not a hope I have tried and its impossible. I cant for the life of me figure out how i ever did so before
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I can not understand people and yes its men in particular who fight the probability that they are sufferers of Sleep Apnoea. It will not go away of its own accord if their lifestyle continues as it does. I can however understand that when you are asleep you have absolutely no idea of the tremendous strain you are putting your system through by the constant "stop starting" and when someone tells you that you do stop breathing you find it incomprehensible that you would do so and not be even remotley aware of it. I certainly did argue that point often with my hubby for 20 odd years before I realised!
I remember the Private consultant quoting from a study done in Japan i think. It involved mortality rates over a 10 year period of OSA in treated patients and untreated patients. I cant remember the figures but I remember being really shocked by the figures he gave. OSA is truely a silent killer.
