just need some sleep

for about six months now i havent been sleeping well. i fall asleep okay but wake up gasping for air kinda snorting. it wakes me up. when i do sleep my boyfriend says i snore really loud. was never a snorer before. im just so tired that by 8 at nite i can barely keep my eyes open.

[Sunny602]

You should get evaluated for sleep apnea...you sound just like my mother. She will fall asleep at the drop of a hat, even while watching daytime TV and actually gasp and wake up. She was diagnosed with sleep apnea last year. Do you also feel tired during the day? Some people actually fall asleep at the wheel of the car. I kid you not! The thing with sleep apnea is that people often believe that they are sleeping enough...after all, they go the whole night sleeping right? But it isn't the right kind of sleep. An apneic person wakes up several times in one hour because the brain signals the body to take a breath after a period of not breathing. Oxygen levels usually fall when these apneic spells occur. The body doesn't go into restful sleep because of this, which explains the fatigue. Not only that, the lack of oxygen causes problems too.
I would contact your doctor about your symptoms, he or she will probably refer you to a sleep lab so that they can observe and monitor you while you sleep. This involves a continuous EKG monitoring (sometimes the lack of oxygen is so severe that it affects the rhythm of the heart), continuous pulse oximetry (O2 saturations), EEG (brain waves), chest movement, leg movement, even monitor snoring. Trust me, there are alot of wires (I went through this as well).The results will tell the doctor how often you are apneic, how badly you desaturate, how restful your sleep is etc...
I am not a doctor so please take what I say with a grain of salt....I defintely would have a talk with your doctor though. Sunny

[plymouth]

thank u for your response. i am a nurse and let me just say that it is all i can do to function during the day. sometimes i am so tired i feel shakey (shaky) and almost sick to my stomach. i have an appointment tomarrow with a new doc. wonder if it has anything to do with my legs retaining so much water. pitting by the end of the day. thanks again

[Sunny602]

I am glad that you are seeing the doc, I would be curious as to what he or she thinks. Nursing takes alot of stamina that is for sure! I felt like I needed to have roller blades somedays...one day I actually wore a pedometer to work to see just how much I actually walked. It was an astounding 8 miles by the end of the shift! I can't iimagine how you are feeling now...I too had some degree of puffiness at the end of my shift from being on my feet nonstop (even during my "break"). By morning, they were back to normal. I hope that the visit to your doctor was revealing....Sunny

[plymouth]

really liked this new doc i went to. he is an endocrinologist. running tsh and cmp and cbc with diff. sending me to an ent who will send me for sleep study. i have vitiligo and he thinks maybe thyroid problem too since the two are related. he put me back on my lasix and potassium which is good since on top of not sleeping for one thing i wake up in the middle of the night screaming from charlie horses in my calf. night time has gotten to be quite an adventure. i just dont want to have to go on a machine to sleep. cant be comfortable. but at this point i will do anything. off this weekend might take something to sleep and try to sleep in! thanks for ur help. let u know what they say

[Deb42]

Sleeping with a c-pap or bi-pap doesn't need to be uncomfortable. If they fit your mask properly. Keep trying different ones making sure to lie down and roll around on the bed. To see if it leaks or is uncomfortable. This might take awhile but is worth it. I didn't do this at first and wasn't always comfortable with my first mask. So I went back and kept trying different one until I came up with a better fit. Also ask for the 8 foot hose instead of the standard 6. It makes a huge difference when you rollover buy not tugging on the mask.

[plymouth]

all the lab work came back wnl. went to the ent today and he said the tissue at the back of my tongue is enlarged. go for my sleep study on thursday. starting to effect work. dont even want 2 go. gettn ready 2 travel home 2 kansas. hope i can sleep while im there

[Sunny602]

I will keep my fingers crossed for you as far as the sleep study goes. You will feel like a robot with all of those leads, electrodes and wires attatched to you LOL! The toughest part for me was to keep myself from getting too tangled up in them..I also was on O2 at the time so I had one extra tube to contend with as well. But, thanks to that test, they found that I was also apneic and had to go on BiPAP which did help me alot.. I am glad that the blood work came back okay as well. Please keep us updated..I am curious to see what the study shows. Sunny

[plymouth]

tonights the night. ive been so tired all day but my 17 yr old has respiratory flu and i think my 11 yr old is getting it. my boyfriend says ive been sleeping like a church mouse the last few nights that will be my luck nothing shows up on this thing and i dont know will they do it again? sleeping quietly is not my norm. i don't know why the last couple of nights i have been or he has been too tired too for me to keep him awake. well i guess we will see. maybe if i just lose some weight this whole thing will stop anyway. just ramblin now let u know what they say.