Okay, sorry this is so long, i just had to explain myself :p
For about the past year or so I’ve been noticing that during the day I am always fatigued. Some days when i have nothing at all to do I could sleep about 16 hours. My mom didn’t think anything of it cause I’m 16 and she just thinks i stay out all night lol. I could sleep about 16 or so hours, wake up, be exhausted, and take a nap and sleep some more, then around 8 go back to sleep. I know this isn’t normal, and isn’t physically, nor mentally/emotionally healthy. I am anemic and i figured it was because my lack of iron. And thats also what my doctor told me. but recently i’ve been noticing that in the middle of the night I will get woken up due to bone aches. Not like muscle aches, but bone aches. And there so bad ill have to get up and take something and suffer through until the medicine kicks in. It’s normally like, my elbow, the bones all through my legs, and my pelvic area. I also wake in the middle of the night and catch myself not breathing. But that doesn’t happen as often as the aches. I did some research and found that i have many symptoms of sleep apnea. But i don’t want to be put on a breathing machine, because I don’t want to become dependent. I also don’t like, wanna be married and before bed have to plug up on oxygen or whatever. I was just wondering if anyone could give me any information or suggestions. Or if anyone knew if there were other procedures, not sergical, that I could take into consideration.
Thank you, if you read all of this and are attempting to help me. I appreciate it. :)
no, i am not overweight. i’m about 5′5 and weight 115. i dont have diabetes either.
And i also do not sleep on my back, I can only sleep on my stomach. And i’ve always been that way =/

I have a pretty major decision to make regarding surgery. I am 17 years old and although I am not overweight (I am 5′11 and 160 pounds, muscular build) I have sleep apnea. I’ve got it pretty badly–in a sleep study I did a few weeks ago, I averaged 7 times an hour in which I stopped breathing (for 8 hours a night, that equals an average of 56 times in one night!) and each time, my oxygen level fell to 73 (which is very low). As a result, my doctor referred me to an ENT (Ear Nose & Throat doctor). I had the appointment today, and the results were that my tonsils are insanely large (almost twice the size they should normally be), my adenoids have grown back (I had them removed when I was 6, but apparently the damn things came back!), and my uvula (little dangly thing in the back of your throat) is gargantuan.

The ENT gave me these options:
1. Have the surgery to take out the adenoids, tonsils, and most of my uvula (if not the whole thing). The issue is that it’s only a 50/50 chance that the surgery will make a major difference in my apnea and actually cure it. It’s almost certain that it will help, but only a 50% chance that it will majorly help me. I would be out for about a week and a half to 2 weeks, including no work, no school (not that big of an issue for me…I’ve got senioritis already), no driving, etc. Basically being homebound for 2 weeks. That, and this surgery will cost several thousand dollars.

2. Don’t have the surgery and instead go straight to a CPAP or BiPap machine (breathing machine to use at night to provide air pressure to keep my airway open so that I can breathe somewhat normally). This will not cure my apnea in any way, but it will make it manageable. It’s not a cure, just a treatment device.This also won’t keep my apnea from getting worse in the future as the surgery could. This machine will also cost a few thousand dollars.

3. Don’t have the surgery or the machine, but continue life the way it is. I really don’t want to do this (I am exhausted almost all the time) and I want the problem to be fixed, but this one doesn’t cost any money–money which we may soon not have (my dad works for GM…’nuff said).

I know it’s my decision (and my family’s) in the long run, but I really need advice on this. This is a life-changing decision, and if I don’t treat this it can and probably will kill me later in my life. Honestly I’m leaning towards #1 because that could actually fix the problem–#2 would just give me a machine which would help, but not fix the root problem. I figure if I’m ‘broken’ I should have the surgery to ‘fix’ it, not just something to help but still be broken.

What do you think? I really need some advice…

Sometimes I kid around and say I’m all kinds of broken, but that was how I felt when he became my friend. I was in a verbally abusive relationship, although he never hit me, it probably would have hurt less if he had. Overweight, bi-polar disorder, PCoS, and more problems on top of that. I was ready for suicide, just to get life over with since I was that unhappy.

My new friend helped me understand that although I had some problems, they weren’t worth giving up on everything, including letting my family down. He became my best friend for the next three years, then he moved from Canada to the US to be with me. We ended getting married 3 weeks later.

When I meet him he was an online friend. I didn’t know everything about him as far as physical attributes, but I really didn’t care. Before he flew down he told me he was a heavy set guy, and I was ok with that. He reminds me of a huge teddy bear now.

My problem is this. When he moved here he was overweight, I don’t know how many pounds he was, but he was wearing a 2x shirt… Since then we’ve been married for 1 year and 8 months (today actually, how funny.) and he has gained another 2 shirt sizes. My husband now weighs in at about 360 at 5′8". I had sleep problems so I did a sleep study, I thought "well heck, he has sleep problems too, we’ll both go". They diagnosed him with Sleep Apnea, he stops breathing about 200 times an hour. I was terrified for his life, if he stops breathing that many times an hour, what is my promise that he will start breathing again? Well now to say the least he has a breathing machine that helps him at night. He hates it, but he wears it for me.

We went and saw our General Practitioner. He said that with Sleep Apnea, if it’s untreated the heart enlarges, and if it goes untreated he could have died within a matter of 3-5 years, if it he was lucky.

My husband’s problems with weight started when he started gaming online. Mom is a superb cook and made something like 6 course meals on a daily basis, as a stay at home mom. I think this is around when he hit 22ish. (He’s 30 now) We still game online… for a couple of months after seeing the doctor we walked 2 miles every day, when it started raining heavily in the area for a few weeks we stopped. Then I tried getting gym memberships for us, we went for 3 weeks… then he would refuse to go.

I’ve done everything. I’ve cried, I’ve voiced my opinion, commented about how his shirts occasionally show his tummy poking out, tried putting him on an expensive diet, showed him that I’m willing to support and work out too, and taken him to the gym or just randomly walking. For the life of me I can not get him to take more interest in his weight. I’m heartbroken that he isn’t taking this matter more seriously. My parents and brother are concerned, what’s the likeliness that he will survive the next ten years at this rate, what will happen to me when he’s gone. He’s literally the light of my life; he’s what keeps me stable.

How do you push someone to understand what they are doing to themselves? I’m overweight by about 30-50lbs, but since we’ve gotten married I’ve a few pounds, and kept it off.

It’s hard doing things together, shopping for clothes, being intimate. He wonders why I pull back, and I’ve tried telling him why, but he doesn’t understand, or doesn’t want to. My last thought is to send him back home to his family, leave him and maybe he’ll understand how much I need him to be healthy. But then I don’t even know if he’ll take action.

I know my husband is lazy, I am too to an extent, but he takes extremely good care of me. He has a hard time finding a job because he’s an immigrant to the US, so now he’s attending college to get additional training in his career. He’s not doing nothing all day. He’s studying, going to school, doing labs, and yes some gaming too. There’s no harm in that I think… It’s how we spend time together and keep within a budget.

Note: I don’t have insurance; I lost my full time job that had benefits. Since then I had to take the first job I could get, which is only part time. Before when we had the insurance he didn’t find the idea of weight loss pills acceptable, he thought they could cause permanent damage. Now that we don’t have insurance he’s thinking that MAYBE he’ll eventually take them. I don’t know if he’s saying it because he knows I can’t afford to get them for him, or if he was serious. My sister in law’s extended family has a doctor in it, he’s from Mexico. He offered to bring medication to my husband to help stimulate his metabolism. My husband said NO without a second thought. He said medications from Mexico weren’t safe. My brother argues that the same medical companies make drugs all across the world, but he just said no, and left it at that.

Sorry. I know this is long, but thank you for taking the time to read it, and possibly help me.
As a response to my first comment. My hubby sometimes says that I approach him at the wrong times, IE: He’s had a bad day. Other times he says he knows he needs to try, but just doesn’t. He’s even mentioned that if he cooks diet foods that I don’t always like them, and that’s disappointing for him. I’ve offered to cook my own meals, so that way he won’t feel as though he’s being unappreciated, but then he comments that he feels useless since his daily tasks are less than mine.

Do you have to sleep EVERYNIGHT with a breathing machine? to cure it? (My doctor thinks I have it…and I have a sleep study in a few days) Just wondered how this is cured.

My husband has sleep apnea…very badly. His snoring is out of this world LOUD. He’s seen a sleep doctor and has a breathing machine he must wear at night. I know this is uncomfortable for him to wear and a lot of times he doesn’t. So, I’m listening to him snore and getting mad at him for my loss of sleep! Now, I feel really bad for him that he has this condition and has to wear the mask at night. But when he doesn’t wear it he hacks and coughs for hours after he wakes up. It’s not completely selfish of me because I hate to see him suffering like that in the morning. I just am at my wits end. I feel like I’m being mean and nagging when I ask him to wear it and when he doesn’t I ask him to sleep in the other room. What should I do???

my husband has a breathing machine for sleep apnea and our dog keeps on chewing on his mask. does any one know why she could be doing this or has had this happened??? this has become a very expensive chew toy for her!!!! HELP!!!!!!
she only chews the head gear that goes around his head and not the part that goes over his nose and mouth
we keep the bedroom door closed when we are not at home and keep the mask in a trash can that we got for keeping it up off the floor
when she did it this time I was in bed next to where she was doing this (my husband had already left for work)

A female friend of mine has Sleep Apnea, about two years now. Shes short, 5′ 2" and is 35 lbs overweight. She lost her health insurance due to a work related accident and can no longer work. Right now she has no income. She did the sleep study test when she had insurance and now has the breathing machine, but the mask has been broken for about 16 months and cannot afford a new one. 0. People die from this right? She’s preparing for the worse. She’s only 56.

Their website says that you may not be qualified if you have a medical disability that may interfere with your job. Does this include people that are dependent on medication and can perform their job correctly as long as they are able to be regularly supplied with the meds they need? Does the Peace Corps accommodate handicaps? Example: Placing someone who has a CPAP(nightly breathing machine for sleep apnea) in a location with electricity? ..Or would this be grounds for rejection?

lately I’ve been not wanting to go to sleep and when I do sleep it’s at 5 a.m.. there are several reasons. one sometime back I had a dream about me losing all my teeth and it rattle me. another reason is I have sleep apnea and a breathing machine. it’s a hassle and I take it off in my sleep. not to mention that scares me. there are several other reasons but the result is paranoia about going to sleep.

I know I need sleep to live. so how o I get back to loving sleep?

My doctor, who’s new because I moved, referred me to a "sleep specialist" because I told him I snored heavily, am often tired during the day, and am overweight. The sleep specialist, after having me sleep with a bunch of wires strapped to me for a night, diagnosed me with "obstructive sleep apnea", and is telling me I need a breathing machine for when I sleep at night as treatment. Also, he’s told me all sorts of stuff about health risks from the apnea: I’ll get to being fatigued to the point of narcolepsy, I’m at even more risk for an early heart attack, even though I’ve started going to the gym I won’t be able to lose weight, etc.

Now, what I want to know is, are there really health risks from sleep apnea, and is it a real problem, or is it just some sort of medical fad or scam?

After reading the information regarding the benifits and complications drinking distilled water over a long period of time, made me think about using it in the humidifier for my breathing machine. Is there enough exposure over a long period of time to be concerned about. If so, is there any other options to concider. Thanks

I have sleep apnea and use a sleep apnea breathing machine when sleeping (no oxygen) with a mask and distilled water. When travelling on an airplane internationally can I bring it with me so it is with me at the other country when I get there?

having a machine. I took a pulmonary test the doc says I have sleep apnea. Any cure outside of the breathing machine?