Sleepy Bears's topics - tribe.net

Sleep Apnea

Poster_Boy — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:36:32 GMT

I like to sleep a lot as well. Often this would coincide with depression and insomnia. Sometimes I would sleep as much as twenty hours a day. Usually though, I had to be content with ten hours a day while going to school or working. Still, I would feel tired most of the day. I would fall asleep on the bus or sitting in a chair or couch.

Then, my psychiatrist suggested I go to a sleep disorder clinic. While I was at the sleep disorder clinic, they had lots of wires hooked up to me as well as a machine to monitor my breathing.

They found out I have SLEEP APNEA. Basically, this means I stop breathing in the middle of the night. Your body's reaction is to wake up, but you never wake up fully...nor do you sleep that well either. According to this study, I would stop breathing 120 times a night!

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/SleepApnea/SleepApnea_WhatIs.html

So now I have a CPAP machine, which I wear while I sleep. CPAP stands for 'Continuous Positive Airway Pressure'. Basically, this pumps air in through my nose and keeps my esophagus inflated while I sleep. I live in Canada so the cost of the machine was covered. Otherwise the machines are about $100 brand new. I should tell you though that they have to be 'programmed' to your specific breathing patterns...so each CPAP is as specific to each person as a pair of prescription glasses are.

I happen to fit into the category of those who typically have Sleep Apnea since I am overweight and almost forty. Sleep Apnea is very common, about as common as Asthma. Rosanne Barr has Sleep Apnea. However, other 'skinny' people can get it as well, such as William Shatner. Snoring is common with people who have sleep Apnea, but not all snoring is caused by Sleep Apnea. Also, not everyone with sleep apnea snores.

Untreated sleep apnea can increase the chance of having high blood pressure and even a heart attack or stroke. Untreated sleep apnea can also increase the risk of diabetes and the risk for work-related accidents and driving accidents.

I was told at the sleep disorders clinic that untreated sleep apnea is a far, far greater health risk than smoking. Many people with untreated sleep apnea (like my Grandfather) die in their early fifties from a massive heart attack in their sleep.

posted in Sleepy Bears - 0 replies

Why do i need so much sleep!

brasscat — Wed, 10 Dec 2003 02:29:51 GMT

Man, I need a nap every day! Why do I need so much sleep?!!!

posted in Sleepy Bears - 2 replies

uh

Wed, 16 Mar 2005 21:58:47 GMT

waaaaah!

posted in Sleepy Bears - 0 replies

It's hard to wake up

lisa-onizuka — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 16:40:41 GMT

when it's cold and dark outside, but warm and cozy in bed.

posted in Sleepy Bears - 3 replies

chronic snoozing

Gamma Gamma — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 12:04:10 GMT

any one else here a chronic snoozer? i have the most insane lucid dreams/halucinations during that time and often find my self rationalizing my snoozing wile snoozing by developing ridiculous logic each time, sometimes i am planning my day while snoozing (yeah right) and other times I am playing my alarmclock between snoozes as if i were operating a mixer and blending the songs that pop up every ten or so minutes. this morning i was planning the paper i had to write today by structuring it around my observations of my friends behavior in snooze world. ridiculous, it went on for an hour and half!

posted in Sleepy Bears - 0 replies

Have you ever had a dream where

lisa-onizuka — Wed, 22 Oct 2003 23:35:56 GMT

you were sleeping or really sleepy in your dream, and then when you woke up you were really groggy?

posted in Sleepy Bears - 3 replies

WAKE UP!!!

slavekitten — Mon, 02 Aug 2004 22:56:39 GMT

WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!!!

this sleepy tribe iz too sleepy!!!

posted in Sleepy Bears - 1 reply

today...

slavekitten — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 00:52:34 GMT

i woke up buried under my fluffy pillows, opened one eye to see the midday sun streaming through my window, looked over at the clock... 11am. hmmm... I burrowed further under the pillows and thought to myself, "what a beautiful Sunday morning..."

Sunday meaning Thursday.

sleepy bear was 2 hours late for work.

posted in Sleepy Bears - 0 replies

sleep shagging!

larissa — Thu, 29 Apr 2004 01:38:33 GMT

my boy has this things where he'll try and shag me in his sleep....or at least grope me....most times he doesn't even remember it in the morning....it's very cool.

posted in Sleepy Bears - 0 replies

how it alludes me....

larissa — Sat, 17 Apr 2004 11:12:21 GMT

what i'd give for sleep.

posted in Sleepy Bears - 3 replies

relationships

erika — Wed, 18 Feb 2004 12:34:53 GMT

please tell me i'm not alone.
have you had problems where you've been in a really good loving relationship all fine EXCEPT eventually they get bored/fed up with always being awake hours before you in the morning, having so much more engergy than you in the evenings... this came to a head on a camping holiday, just the two of us, where he spent on average three hours every morning hanging about on his own, cos we'd both stayed up late the nights before and I COULDN'T KEEP UP! would d'ya do?

posted in Sleepy Bears - 10 replies

Aint no nation

Mailtrain — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 07:22:57 GMT

Like Hibernation!

posted in Sleepy Bears - 0 replies

Sleep, wonderful sleep

*!!!Bigots Suck!!!* — Wed, 18 Feb 2004 05:58:09 GMT

How many hours do you need? I find myself going to sleep at 8pm. Tonite I cannot as I am working late. Life will suck in the when i haven't had my 10 hours.

posted in Sleepy Bears - 1 reply

How to get enough sleep over christmas?

paul — Thu, 18 Dec 2003 19:42:58 GMT

With all of the relatives, its tough to get the required 12 hours a night.

posted in Sleepy Bears - 0 replies

What's the longest you've ever slept?

aarati — Sat, 25 Oct 2003 21:58:14 GMT

What the longest you've ever slept, continously?

Me I don't think more than 12 hours.

posted in Sleepy Bears - 2 replies

Not.. enough... sleep...

Mike — Mon, 27 Oct 2003 14:36:09 GMT

I'm so tired! Need more sleep but I have to stay up because there is a worker in my house and no one else is home. Sigh.

posted in Sleepy Bears - 0 replies

Dude, I'm tired.

Mike — Fri, 24 Oct 2003 04:23:42 GMT

Warm makes sleepy...

posted in Sleepy Bears - 0 replies

Oh, I'm so sleepy!!

lisa-onizuka — Mon, 06 Oct 2003 03:55:34 GMT

Good night!

posted in Sleepy Bears - 1 reply

This tribe is getting boring

paul — Fri, 12 Sep 2003 14:23:58 GMT

We need to sleep more. Come on guys. Let's get serious about this.

posted in Sleepy Bears - 0 replies

Why did I join?

jcdill — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 02:57:01 GMT

I think the photo says it all!

posted in Sleepy Bears - 1 reply

Zzzzz!

Thu, 24 Jul 2003 19:46:55 GMT

I'll take out the trash tomorrow, Mom.

posted in Sleepy Bears - 1 reply