Sleep apnea

[kanga_brumby]

I have been diagnosed with sleep apnea. But no one has offered treatment for it. Where do I go to get treatment it's not helping my sleep at all. Plus I'm not sleeping it's working on my depresion. Which is making me not sleep well. I have to break this cycle somehow. Thanks for your advice.

[pipsy]

Hi kanga_brumby. May I ask who diagnosed this? If your Dr diagnosed it, he will have contacted a 'sleep disorder' clinic in your area. The clinic will contact you and arrange a time for you to sleep in their clinic. You will be fitted with an apparatus which records your sleep patterns i.e how long you sleep, how often you stop breathing during sleep, how long you stop breathing. The results of this will be forwarded to your Dr, who will make an appointment to see you. You may have to repeat the sleep process at the clinic, so they will get a clear picture of your sleep pattern. After you see your Dr, you may have to re-visit the clinic to discuss the apparatus suitable for you. It could either be a machine with a mask attached to a breathing tube, or just a tube attached to the machine. The clinic will monitor the use of the machine and show you how to use it so you get the full benefit of the machine.

Lynda

[kanga_brumby]

Pipsy I have attended a sleep clinic. Then I have herd nothing. I have attended the same hospital where I was tested in. On other matters, and asked if I was on a machine. To which I replied no I wasn't. I have had no follow up at all. So I am still in the dark, and not sleeping well. Plus tired all day. Thanks

[pipsy]

Hi kanga_brumby. How long ago did you attend the sleep clinic? The follow-up contact normally takes about 4 weeks. I suggest you contact where you were tested and ask what's happening as a result of the tests. You may have to revisit your Dr and ask him to follow up for you. If you are referred by a Dr, normally the Dr would get the results and he would contact you himself. I agree it's frustrating, perhaps see your Dr anyway and ask him to have you retested. Of course you are tired every day, lack of breathing during sleep, leaves you exhausted. It could be the hospital may have lost your results. That sometimes can occur too.

Lynda

[Quiettall]

Hi there

I fully support the advice given to you by Pipsy. My partner has sleep apnea, and after a lengthy period of testing etc, she has a breathing machine which helps her sleep. It hasnt totally solved the problem but she sure does get many more hours sleep than she used to. Mind you, it is not the most romantic thing sleeping with someone with a machine, but at our age, I guess these are the things we have to deal with

Persist with your doctor and/or find another sleep clinic who will follow through with you. In our case, the machine has been loaned to us by the local hospital, so long as my partner uses and has it recorded for at least 4 hours each night and reported every month or so.

[kanga_brumby]

I will rattle my doctors cage till I get an answer. One way or another. If not I will get, another opinion until I get a good nights sleep.

As it is I sleep alone, and with out a partner. So who has romance any more. Plus with other medical issues, romance at the moment is the last thing on my mind.

Thanks Kanga