British Snoring & Sleep Apnoea Association

After coming across this site recently in my search for OSA information I have been reading through this forum and have decided to put my story up to see what other people might comment on or if there are other similar people out there.

I am now a 31 year old male who has recently been diagnosed with server sleep apnoea. For me I was told that for every hour I held my breath 42 times. Now after reading other people I did originally think it was ridicules amount but now I have seen what others have had it seems pretty mild. My problem is the amount of time I hold my breath. I have held my breath between 1 and 2mins and when I was shown my oxygen levels during my sleep analysis it made very scary reading to see how low my oxygen levels went and in some cases fractioning off zero. So I am now in the process of waiting for my CPAC machine (which seeing as I am an emergency case its taking is time) so I hope to have my first nights sleep in years.

Now since my meeting with the specialist I have been trying to find out how this all started, what things helped it on and so forth. Well up and till I was 23 I did swim competitively and quiet successfully too. But I did start noticing that I was finding it more difficult to get up for morning training and feeling more and more tired and less motivated to get into the pool. When I was in college I seem to not be able to concentrate on what my lecturer’s were saying and numerous times they could see me just drift off right in front of them. Information I knew and could do would not be remembered to the point I failed my 3rd year exams twice even after endless hours of revision. I then had accusations made against me at the age of 26 which for 9 months I was put through hell, suspended from work and not knowing what was going on. My tiredness was getting worse but I was starting to fall into a depression and thought it might have been from that. I was finally cleared and had an apology from the police but sadly I delved into depression deeper. I then lost my new job through redundancies and my relationship with my partner ended. At 28 I had an accident when playing football where I sliced the nerves in my fingers and a few months after that I was attacked by my new partner (which I ended right away). At this point I was constantly feeling tired and I would fall asleep in places I would normally find extremely difficult in doing. My brain seems to dump down and my memory was terrible and I didn’t want to do any form of physical activity The only time I seem to be myself would be when I was driving or playing on my x-box.

At 29 I finally managed to put up the courage to go to the Drs and sort my depression out as I thought that it was responsible for everything I was going through at the time. I got placed on medication at first (citalopram 1st then onto fluoxetine) and when on and had counselling which started to help. Not long before my 30th I felt I had controlled and beaten my depression with a lot of determination and help from family and friends but I was still tired.

I then went away for a holiday and I had to share a room with my brother. This was when I kept the whole house up with my snoring and at one point I had my brother frantically trying to wake me up as I had stopped breathing. Sleep apnoea was then discussed as my mum (who was a nurse) had come across this with my step dad and asked me a few questions. Once I finished my holiday I made an appointment to see the Dr. Unfortunately before I was able to do so when in work I apparently drifted off to sleep on poolside in my lifeguard chair. It was 6am, very hot there were only 3 people in the water and there was a calming relaxing sound of waves trickling over the drains. I still to this day am adamant I didn’t fall asleep as to me it felt like I was just blinking my eyes but a complaint was made and I was immediately taken off poolside. I was then shouted at by the manager and accused of being asleep at work to which I denied. I was then moved to dry side duties to which rumours and accusations was levelled at me for going to sleep in the first aid room, these I had to strenuously deny. I was then medically redeployed to another area to a job I neither want nor really enjoy but have much more understanding colleagues who have really looked out for me.

This now moves me to the present where I am just waiting for a CPAC machine and hopefully a new chapter in my life where I can now start to finally move forward and go back to being myself and being a fun active individual full of life. I hope to be able to lose the weigh I have gained as when I was 23 I weighed 10 stone and now weigh over 15 and half stone.

I have a wonderful girlfriend now who is fully understanding of my condition and is really supporting me in every step I have been taking. She really helps me cope with the problems I have like memory or vivid dreams to name but a few. This has been where I’ve had conversations with her but in actual fact it has not taken place.

After reading other people’s experiences on the forum, it has given me the confidence to finally write down what I have been through and to get it off my chest. I am nervous of posting because I don’t want to be mocked. This has been a big step for me to write down my experiences and feel positive that now I’ve been diagnosed and that its treatable life should get a whole lot better.

Hi Nofio

I hope you now have your CPAP machine and it is helping you. I have had my machine just 2 weeks today and it is already making a huge difference.

It also helps if you have a supportive partner, my hubby is fab and very supportive and this has helped no end.

Let us know how you are getting on

I hope them CPAP machine makes a difference to your life.
Let us know how you get on.
If the timescale for getting your machine is to long, and it always is, give them a phone, can't do any harm.
Let us know how you get on.

S2S

I hope that you do hear very soon , sounds like you need a CPAP badly , but do keep on to them , I think that you do have to wait too long to get your treatment
I don't know if it depends on where you live !!

Tomorrow I'm going to get a mouth brace , I have had a cpap for over a year but was still feeling so sleepy , I have now been told that my throat is to narrow due to my overbite of my teeth !!! If this works I can have braces fitted to my teeth after about 2 years they will then break my jaw "ouch" , will have to see about that , not really made my mind up .

So you see we all have a story to tell lol Good luck and keep posting xx