Sleeping problems

yopeeps025
yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
edited November 21 in Health and Weight Loss
Has anyone been diagnose with sleep apnea or having sleep issues?
«1

Replies

  • kk_inprogress
    kk_inprogress Posts: 3,077 Member
    No to the first, but I had a decade of my life racked with insomnia. What's the issue?
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    edited July 2015
    kkenseth wrote: »
    No to the first, but I had a decade of my life racked with insomnia. What's the issue?

    ENT think my big o tonsils are having adverse effects on the quality of my sleep. Having surgery in three weeks to get them out.

    Also this doctor things that it will cure my snoring habits. I can't even cuddle with a woman while sleeping because they will complain that when I fall asleep I snore so loud. I find that this issue I am willing to stay positive that it will at least decrease how loud I snore.
  • clh72569
    clh72569 Posts: 280 Member
    I had insomnia for many years. When I started exercising and about 20 lbs came off, I started sleeping better.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Yes, I have sleep apnea. It has improved greatly since losing weight.

    Do you have specific questions?
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    Yes, I have sleep apnea. It has improved greatly since losing weight.

    Do you have specific questions?

    Do you snore?
    Do you have your tonsils still intact?
    DO you have any nasal issues?

    The big one do you ever like stop breathing at night and kind of snort to breath again?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    Yes, I have sleep apnea. It has improved greatly since losing weight.

    Do you have specific questions?

    Do you snore?
    Do you have your tonsils still intact?
    DO you have any nasal issues?

    The big one do you ever like stop breathing at night and kind of snort to breath again?

    I used to snore horribly. I've always snored a tiny bit but when I gained weight it got really bad. I do have my tonsils. I had a lot of sinus infections (pretty much every 8 weeks or so I would have a new one.)

    And yes, I would stop breathing at night. Two summers ago I had several different nights when I woke up gasping for breath, feeling like I was going to pass out. I had a sleep study done and my AHI was 87, which means that I stopped breathing or breathed shallowly an average of 87 times per hour. Severe sleep apnea is diagnosed with an AHI of 30+ so that was...not good. Lol. Anyway, I got a CPAP after that and it helped immensely. I was completely exhausted before I got it so it took about 6 weeks or so to really feel like I was caught up on sleep but the difference the first morning after I got it vs the day before was crazy.

    Are you really tired a lot?
  • kk_inprogress
    kk_inprogress Posts: 3,077 Member
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    kkenseth wrote: »
    No to the first, but I had a decade of my life racked with insomnia. What's the issue?

    ENT think my big o tonsils are having adverse effects on the quality of my sleep. Having surgery in three weeks to get them out.

    Also this doctor things that it will cure my snoring habits. I can't even cuddle with a woman while sleeping because they will complain that when I fall asleep I snore so loud. I find that this issue I am willing to stay positive that it will at least decrease how loud I snore.

    The tonsillectomy should help...they can certainly get in the way. In the meantime, it's hard to help because when you have a structural anomaly, surgery is the best course.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    edited July 2015
    jemhh wrote: »
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    Yes, I have sleep apnea. It has improved greatly since losing weight.

    Do you have specific questions?

    Do you snore?
    Do you have your tonsils still intact?
    DO you have any nasal issues?

    The big one do you ever like stop breathing at night and kind of snort to breath again?

    I used to snore horribly. I've always snored a tiny bit but when I gained weight it got really bad. I do have my tonsils. I had a lot of sinus infections (pretty much every 8 weeks or so I would have a new one.)

    And yes, I would stop breathing at night. Two summers ago I had several different nights when I woke up gasping for breath, feeling like I was going to pass out. I had a sleep study done and my AHI was 87, which means that I stopped breathing or breathed shallowly an average of 87 times per hour. Severe sleep apnea is diagnosed with an AHI of 30+ so that was...not good. Lol. Anyway, I got a CPAP after that and it helped immensely. I was completely exhausted before I got it so it took about 6 weeks or so to really feel like I was caught up on sleep but the difference the first morning after I got it vs the day before was crazy.

    Are you really tired a lot?

    I tried the CPAP but I used to toss and turn a lot as a kid and teenager. I was always afraid that the tube would wrap around my neck at night.

    That is the thing I am not tired. Some days yes. It was worse when I was heavy drinking and overeating to gain weight up to 265 on my 5"6.5' height. I don't drink coffee or anything with caffeine but some days I have to mentally wake myself up to have energy. People talk about the 230 pm feeling. I have the opposite feeling at 230 pm and I go to work at 730 am. I in a sense am fully awake at 230.
  • mattyc772014
    mattyc772014 Posts: 3,543 Member
    Since I lost a considerable amount of weight...i no longer snore or wake up at night. Also for about a month I workout early in the morning and have so much more energy during the day. I fall asleep early now whereas before when I worked out at night I would have a hard time falling asleep. Many of my friends have had that surgery. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. One person in particular that had it done had the surgery done with a laser. He said it has really helped him breathe now on the one side of his nose that he could not. Lots of luck.
  • Keith3481
    Keith3481 Posts: 91 Member
    I had a sleep problem that ended up being due to serotonin imbalance (too low). I sleep really well now that I'm on citalopram.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    Keith3481 wrote: »
    I had a sleep problem that ended up being due to serotonin imbalance (too low). I sleep really well now that I'm on citalopram.

    How they find that out? Sleep studies?
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    My tonsils are so big I really don't have that much space to actually breath. I actually think they have got bigger to since I don't remember them taking up that much space.
  • kk_inprogress
    kk_inprogress Posts: 3,077 Member
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    My tonsils are so big I really don't have that much space to actually breath. I actually think they have got bigger to since I don't remember them taking up that much space.

    Such a useless piece of anatomy.
  • andympanda
    andympanda Posts: 763 Member
    I have sleep apnea. my doctor just put in a referral to have me re tested since I have lost so much weight.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    hwhb17_073_pi.jpg

    This is normal tonsils I guess. I can barely see my the thing that dangles in the center. My tonsils come all the way over to dangle thing in center. There is a small line opening i see that I guess is all the breathing taking place. A very small vertical opening.
  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,783 Member
    I was a "mouth breather" for years, much to the dismay of my sleeping partners. I always thought it was "sinuses" and congestion. I did a sleep study that revealed that I "woke" about every 46secs (no wonder I was always sluggish!). X-rays revealed a very crooked septum that blocked my air passages. I underwent a septoplasty to realign my deviated septum. I sleep much easier, deeply and quietly now.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    I actually snore sometimes when I am awake. Then I do the shallow or stop breathing and almost snort to resume breathing.

    I also notice I have to eat less then the calculators to lose weight which can be tied to lack of good sleep. ENT says that can lower my BMR which lowers TDEE. It all makes sense now and something has to change if it can help.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    I was a "mouth breather" for years, much to the dismay of my sleeping partners. I always thought it was "sinuses" and congestion. I did a sleep study that revealed that I "woke" about every 46secs (no wonder I was always sluggish!). X-rays revealed a very crooked septum that blocked my air passages. I underwent a septoplasty to realign my deviated septum. I sleep much easier, deeply and quietly now.

    MY ENT said I have a deviated septum that I have worked my way around to breath. I told him this has been a way I had to deal with breathing my whole life.
  • kk_inprogress
    kk_inprogress Posts: 3,077 Member
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    hwhb17_073_pi.jpg

    This is normal tonsils I guess. I can barely see my the thing that dangles in the center. My tonsils come all the way over to dangle thing in center. There is a small line opening i see that I guess is all the breathing taking place. A very small vertical opening.

    Bahahahah. Your uvula? That's the dangly thing :D I'm a speech therapist and see lots of fun things but tonsils like that are certainly a problem when it comes to breathing and sleeping.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    kkenseth wrote: »
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    hwhb17_073_pi.jpg

    This is normal tonsils I guess. I can barely see my the thing that dangles in the center. My tonsils come all the way over to dangle thing in center. There is a small line opening i see that I guess is all the breathing taking place. A very small vertical opening.

    Bahahahah. Your uvula? That's the dangly thing :D I'm a speech therapist and see lots of fun things but tonsils like that are certainly a problem when it comes to breathing and sleeping.

    Oh uvula well my tonsils are my big enough that uvula blocks what more airflow I could have.
  • Keith3481
    Keith3481 Posts: 91 Member
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    Keith3481 wrote: »
    I had a sleep problem that ended up being due to serotonin imbalance (too low). I sleep really well now that I'm on citalopram.

    How they find that out? Sleep studies?

    My doctor tried me out on temazepam first but that didn't work, so he guessed that I might have a serotonin problem since it runs in my family. He tried me out on citalopram and I went from 4 hours of sleep a night to 10 hours of sleep a night. The issue is it takes about 6-8 weeks for it to stabilize in your brain so you don't see instant results. After about six months he tried to take me off it to prove that was the problem and I went back down to 4 hours of sleep. He put me back on citalopram and I've been on it about a year and a half without any sleep problems the whole time.

  • missomgitsica
    missomgitsica Posts: 496 Member
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    kkenseth wrote: »
    No to the first, but I had a decade of my life racked with insomnia. What's the issue?

    ENT think my big o tonsils are having adverse effects on the quality of my sleep. Having surgery in three weeks to get them out.

    Also this doctor things that it will cure my snoring habits. I can't even cuddle with a woman while sleeping because they will complain that when I fall asleep I snore so loud. I find that this issue I am willing to stay positive that it will at least decrease how loud I snore.

    Tonsils can be a huge issue in causing sleep problems, so having them removed is probably going to do a lot more good than you think. If your tonsils at any point block your airway you get breathing stoppages so you basically have symptoms of sleep apnea without true apnea. (I work at a sleep disorder facility, we do sleep studies and deal with apnea patients a LOT).

    Anyway, good luck!
  • jessicapk
    jessicapk Posts: 574 Member
    I've had strep throat where my tonsils and uvula (dangly thing) swelled up so bad that I was scared to go to sleep for fear of not being able to breathe. If yours are as large as you say, then I'd trust my doc and have them removed. As you age, your tonsils should wither up to the point that they are barely noticeable. There's obviously something going on there.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    edited July 2015
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    I actually snore sometimes when I am awake. Then I do the shallow or stop breathing and almost snort to resume breathing.

    I also notice I have to eat less then the calculators to lose weight which can be tied to lack of good sleep. ENT says that can lower my BMR which lowers TDEE. It all makes sense now and something has to change if it can help.
    You once made fun of me for saying the same thing. Jokes were made by others. A whole bunch of people had a good time laughing about what a dumb thing it was to say.

    Get yourself a sleep study. If you need bipap/CPAP, it's not that bad. People get used to it quickly and come to like it. It's not even that bad for your girlfriend. I spent a long time with a guy who needed one. He didn't want the study or the machine, but had so much more energy and was so glad I pushed. I wanted him to be healthy, but hated it later, lol. I got used to it, though and it wasn't bad.

    Apnea is correlated with TIAs. You don't want apnea.

    A tonsillectomy is easy. People usually recover lickety-split. I had throat surgery and although everyone thinks ice cream is the ticket afterwards, I found that room temp juice or pop (sugar pop, not diet) was much more soothing. And unsalted broth, at home. Warm, not hot. I dunno if you'll have the same experience, but mention it in case you want to pick some up. I had to send my son to the store. Fwiw.

    Bring a notebook to the hospital in case you don't feel like talking right away. I couldn't. They said I'd be able to, but I couldn't. Too much pain.

    Good luck.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    edited July 2015
    Kalikel wrote: »
    yopeeps025 wrote: »
    I actually snore sometimes when I am awake. Then I do the shallow or stop breathing and almost snort to resume breathing.

    I also notice I have to eat less then the calculators to lose weight which can be tied to lack of good sleep. ENT says that can lower my BMR which lowers TDEE. It all makes sense now and something has to change if it can help.
    You once made fun of me for saying the same thing. Jokes were made by others. A whole bunch of people had a good time laughing about what a dumb thing it was to say.

    Get yourself a sleep study. If you need bipap/CPAP, it's not that bad. People get used to it quickly and come to like it. It's not even that bad for your girlfriend. I spent a long time with a guy who needed one. He didn't want the study or the machine, but had so much more energy and was so glad I pushed. I wanted him to be healthy, but hated it later, lol. I got used to it, though and it wasn't bad.

    Apnea is correlated with TIAs. You don't want apnea.

    A tonsillectomy is easy. People usually recover lickety-split. I had throat surgery and although everyone thinks ice cream is the ticket afterwards, I found that room temp juice or pop (sugar pop, not diet) was much more soothing. And unsalted broth, at home. Warm, not hot. I dunno if you'll have the same experience, but mention it in case you want to pick some up. I had to send my son to the store. Fwiw.

    Bring a notebook to the hospital in case you don't feel like talking right away. I couldn't. They said I'd be able to, but I couldn't. Too much pain.

    Good luck.

    I already talked about CPAP above. I hated it. When I would feel like I was snoring the machine would wake me up almost like it was choking me. It would force me to breath through my nose and I can barely do that.
  • gobonas99
    gobonas99 Posts: 1,049 Member
    edited July 2015
    I used to snore very badly. Not enough for sleep apnea, but I was LOUD. I'd had tonsillitis and strep so many times as a kid (but my pediatrician had told my mom that I'd "grow out of it", and that "they" were trying to get away from taking tonsils out). Well...guess what? I didn't. My junior year of college, I got tonsillitis so bad that I needed two rounds of antibiotics, and wound up spending 2 nights in the nurse's office, so they could monitor my breathing (my tonsils were so swollen that it was difficult to breathe). Saw an ENT when I was home on winter break, and was scheduled for a tonsillectomy (and andenoidectomy, since I was also prone to sinus infections) for when I was home from school in May. When I got them out, the ENT said that my tonsils were the largest "healthy" tonsils he had seen in his 30 year career (due to all the scar tissue from all of the infections), and asked me if I wanted to keep them. When I said no, he asked if I minded if HE kept them! LOL :)

    In the 17 years since I had them out, I've gotten one sinus infection and strep twice (before, they were each at least an annual occurrence, usually more), and my snoring is almost gone (it will never go away completely, because I am a mouth breather when I sleep, but when I do snore now, it is very light/quiet).

    That said....having your tonsils out as an adult is NOT fun. I was 21. Thankfully, being in college at the time, and being home for the summer, I didn't have a normal job (since it was a planned surgery in mid-May, I didn't bother starting my summer job until the beginning of June). Thank goodness, because I would not have been able to function at any sort of job for the first week to 10 days. I lost probably 10 pounds, because I barely ate. When I started my summer job (which was helping in the office at a screen printing place, so it wasn't like I was on my feet all day), I only worked 6 hours a day and was EXHAUSTED by the end of my shift. And to be perfectly honest, I didn't feel "normal" for a full month. :( So be prepared there.

    Side note - my tonsils were so big, that they were impeding on my vocal chords, and the tone of my voice actually changed after I had them out. It was very strange. LOL :)

    ETA - second side note - I do not know what actual "normal" tonsils look like. my husband still has his, and when he was sick, he asked me to look and see if his tonsils were swollen. I could barely see them and was like "nope, not at all". He got out of bed and looked himself and was like "what are you talking about? they're huge!" I just shrugged and was like "sorry...those are not even half the size mine used to be when I was healthy" LOL :tongue:
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    jessicapk wrote: »
    I've had strep throat where my tonsils and uvula (dangly thing) swelled up so bad that I was scared to go to sleep for fear of not being able to breathe. If yours are as large as you say, then I'd trust my doc and have them removed. As you age, your tonsils should wither up to the point that they are barely noticeable. There's obviously something going on there.

    I got mono early june. I could not talk for five days because of the swelling. My nose sucks so I knew I would have to breath through my mouth. I have trouble taking baby pills and took liquid penicillin. Weird thing is I could not sleep for more than four hours for the whole first week and I could not stay awake for more than two hours. I had a lot of hour naps and the only thing I stayed awake to watch was Lebron getting beat in the finals. That I could actually stay up to watch the whole game.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    gobonas99 wrote: »
    I used to snore very badly. Not enough for sleep apnea, but I was LOUD. I'd had tonsillitis and strep so many times as a kid (but my pediatrician had told my mom that I'd "grow out of it", and that "they" were trying to get away from taking tonsils out). Well...guess what? I didn't. My junior year of college, I got tonsillitis so bad that I needed two rounds of antibiotics, and wound up spending 2 nights in the nurse's office, so they could monitor my breathing (my tonsils were so swollen that it was difficult to breathe). Saw an ENT when I was home on winter break, and was scheduled for a tonsillectomy (and andenoidectomy, since I was also prone to sinus infections) for when I was home from school in May. When I got them out, the ENT said that my tonsils were the largest "healthy" tonsils he had seen in his 30 year career (due to all the scar tissue from all of the infections), and asked me if I wanted to keep them. When I said no, he asked if I minded if HE kept them! LOL :)

    In the 17 years since I had them out, I've gotten one sinus infection and strep twice (before, they were each at least an annual occurrence, usually more), and my snoring is almost gone (it will never go away completely, because I am a mouth breather when I sleep, but when I do snore now, it is very light/quiet).

    That said....having your tonsils out as an adult is NOT fun. I was 21. Thankfully, being in college at the time, and being home for the summer, I didn't have a normal job (since it was a planned surgery in mid-May, I didn't bother starting my summer job until the beginning of June). Thank goodness, because I would not have been able to function at any sort of job for the first week to 10 days. I lost probably 10 pounds, because I barely ate. When I started my summer job (which was helping in the office at a screen printing place, so it wasn't like I was on my feet all day), I only worked 6 hours a day and was EXHAUSTED by the end of my shift. And to be perfectly honest, I didn't feel "normal" for a full month. :( So be prepared there.

    Side note - my tonsils were so big, that they were impeding on my vocal chords, and the tone of my voice actually changed after I had them out. It was very strange. LOL :)

    ETA - second side note - I do not know what actual "normal" tonsils look like. my husband still has his, and when he was sick, he asked me to look and see if his tonsils were swollen. I could barely see them and was like "nope, not at all". He got out of bed and looked himself and was like "what are you talking about? they're huge!" I just shrugged and was like "sorry...those are not even half the size mine used to be when I was healthy" LOL :tongue:

    I don't think this will be as bad as mono was for me. Drinking water would burn my throat. I get sore throat and strep throat between the months of January to end of February every year and they have been getting worse as I age.

    ENT DR said I talk like I have golf balls in my mouth. Like I have no airflow to my nose from the blockage. New people tell me I talk like I am always congested because I am.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    edited July 2015
    So I goggle tonsillitis to see what is that and it looks like mono to me. Those images is how my tonsils look. I could see the mono disappear everyday looking into my throat in the mirror. I did double dose myself with Dr approval.

    I guess I should see what the difference is because mono at this age was no joke. Also not the first time getting flu like symptoms with only kissing a woman. I think I should be covered for all kissing infections now. My cousin though I was dying and my brother asked me every day are you feeling any pain like its time to go to the er if you do. Getting mono I got to see how the basic functions were affected. Standing for five minutes no matter the temperature I would sweat. Eating 200 calories of soup put me to sleep. Watching a movie if I could not focus put me to sleep. Talking and drinking water were the two hardest things to do at that time. Talking sounded like I just got a retainer put in if anyone can relate to that.
  • gobonas99
    gobonas99 Posts: 1,049 Member
    Tonsillitis is an infection of the tonsils (bacterial). Strep is also a bacterial infection. Both can be treated by antibiotics.

    Mono is caused by a virus, and can NOT be treated with antibiotics. You just have to let mono run its course, which can takes weeks to months before you're feeling normal.
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