If I have sleep apnea, is there anything I can do on my own to fix it?
I have a lot of the common symptoms of sleep apnea: I snore, I wake up tired, I’m tired and/or groggy all day, I could honestly sleep for 12 hours straight if the alarm didn’t wake me up, and I usually wake up with a headache. The trouble is, I have no insurance and little money to spend on a doctor. I mean, truthfully, my income is very fixed and I couldn’t afford anything more than a few hundred dollars for this. It’s depressing. I’m always told I’m lazy, but the truth is, I’m always really tired. Is there anything I can do on my own to help this? At least for another year or two until I can get a job with insurance (I’m a college student ATM). Thanks in advance.
Please, read my question before posting an answer. If I had the thousand bucks to spend on a sleep study and CPAP machine, I WOULD. But I don’t. So I guess I’m just out of luck :(
Tagged with: atm • headache • insurance • job • money • sleep • sleep apnea • sleep study • thanks in advance • truth
Filed under: Sleep Apnea Symptoms
First, regularize sleep hours by stabilizing bedtime hours. Lose weight, if an issue. Eliminate the use of alcohol, tobacco, and any sedatives such as sleeping pills or aids. Watch your caffeine intake or eliminate completely. Finally, sleeping on your side.
Incorporate the steps above if and what applies to you. It can only help your condition.
Good Luck to you.
if it is sleep apnea, losing weight often helps. if you are overweight.
which you don’t say. you want to consider your diet, since that could be a lot of the problem, too.
go to the dr. pepper
Check with your college about purchasing health insurance. It is usually not very expensive.
In the meantime, if you are overweight, then lose weight – that sometimes helps. Try sleeping on your side instead of your back.
check with a doctor…I would not try to work with that on my own.
i have it also, but no, u need to get a CPAP machine to wear at nite, because sleep apnea can kill you. In fact it killed me but the doctors brought me back to life, all cus my lungs collasped from sleep apnea, get urself checked out, please
Go to a clinic that doesn’t charge for medical care.
Your college might have some resources for you, especially if you go to a major university.
- lose weight
- various pillows
i just got a c-pap/bi-pap machine. it blows air up your nose. i still think, "theres no way i’ll get to sleep with this contraption strapped to my face!" but somehow, i DO fall asleep and sleep well. you might be able to get a machine on medicare or pick one up in mexico or something.
there are certainly ways to reduce sleep apnoea but Id be surprised if thats what u have unless u are a very fat college student..could be wrong but many other things cause tiredness not all of them medical so stil worth maybe some blood tests for anaemia, thyroid etc..but things to try for sleep apnoea are weight loss weight loss and weight loss as the extra weight pushing on ur abdomen and throat exacerbate sleep apnoea, trying to sleep exclusively on ur side or stomach and not ur back.. avoid sedatives and alcohol, trial of nasal steroids to reduce swelling and inflammation in the nasal passages
If you have a family doctor, he can recommend you to a specialist. You sleep there for the night while they monitor you. My mom had this done and she had to purchase this machine from them for a couple hundred bucks, its a mask you wear that periodically gives you oxygen. Kinda crappy but it works really well I heard. I believe you can do payments if you cant afford it out right.
Honey, sleep apnea is really a disease that affects many people over the world. The doctors still do not know what causes it for sure. Nowadays there is a simple surgery procedure that is supposed to solve the problem. You said you are in trouble with money, but I think that it is not so expensive. Another thing that might help is to lose a little of weight in case you are over your normal one, because according to some doctors it influences sleep apnea, once that when you are lie down, the excess of fat tends to obstruct your throat. But you’d better go to the doctor, because only him is able to say for sure whether what you have is sleep apnea indeed. Luck!