Overwhelmed...

OVERWHELMED

To say the least...overwhelmed...I guess I misunderstood the tech after my sleep study.  When he said Sleep Hypopnea I thought that was better than Sleep Apnea... Well apparently there is more than one way to look at a sleep study...

I got to my Neurologist this morning and I had my speech all ready... My #1 concern is my Lupus and Fibro but my MEMORY is failing me more and more and of course my headaches and talking in my sleep at night.  I was going to tell him since I didn't have sleep apnea that I really wanted to work on my concerns rather than go back for part 2 of the study.  Well like I said I was overwhelmed but I held it together.  I respect Dr. Raju and have heard many people praise him, his knowledge, his work ethic and his degree at Harvard and my 1st visit was quite good.

So when he comes in he says are you ready to go over the sleep study results?
I said yes but I have some concerns I want to talk to you about also.  He said ok fine.
Do you mind of we go over the results first and I said no, so he proceeds.

During the sleep study I was in bed 7 hours and slept 5.7 hours.  I only got 6% REM sleep (deep).  He said I did indeed stop breathing (Apnea) once and I had 154 Hypopnea's (extremely shallow breathing) and I had 156 RERAs (arousals from sleep).

I had a total of 311 respiratory events.  My baseline oxygen was 94% (Should not be below 92%) went down to a severe low value of 55% during REM sleep.  This in turn caused Cardiac problems.  During sleep my heart should beat 50-90 beats per minute.  BUT Mine was beating 45-118 per minute.  When my breathing was shallow those 311 times my heart would race to try to compensate...Severe desaturations were observed during the only REM period I had which was just before lights on.

The EKG showed arrhythmias throughout.
Isolated sleep talking was observed.
I kicked 308 times...

He said if my breathing were any worse I would need oxygen on hand always.  That my breathing was close to being COPD.  He used words like life and death and survive and die...
He said it was severe.  He said when he read my report he was going to just go ahead and put me on a machine but when they called me I told them I wanted to come in and talk about it and so now I have another sleep study with a mask Tuesday night to see how I do with forced oxygen....He said its not about which mask how big how little its about getting one on me asap....

He said as sleep deprived as I am it isn't any wonder my memory is bad and I have no energy, that I have head aches and he said he was surprised I even drove there without falling asleep.

I told him I had no idea.  In fact if you had ask me how I am sleeping I would say I was sleeping good....just the talking and headaches were bothering me.... WOW.....

I am overwhelmed but not for the same reasons I was when I went in....

I never said my speech...

Hypopnea syndrome

I had my sleep study last night.  Wires were hooked all over from legs to scalp.  I was mostly concern as to why I am having headaches, talking in my sleep and what I called mild snoring. I did do all 3 in the night study.  I was diagnosed by the tech with Hypopnea syndrome which is not as bad as Sleep Apnea and I am so glad I do not have that.  I did not think I did...anyway here is an article on the Hypopnea syndrome.  I guess it will be decided what I need to do when I see my Neyrologist. I was told he would call once he looked over my results.

Hypopnea syndrome refers to episodes of extremely shallow or slow breathing during sleep. These episode interfere with the body’s ability to get enough oxygen. They may induce repeated waking up during sleep, though the sleeper is not always aware that this happens.

This disrupted sleep cycle causes symptoms similar to those of sleep apnea, in which the sufferer has trouble feeling rested during the day and may be depressed or forgetful.

This sleep disorder is not identical to sleep apnea, however, since some air is flowing through the respiratory system at all times.

Up to a quarter of men between 30 and 60 years old and about 9 percent of women in this age group suffer from this problem, but it can be hard to estimate the true number because most people never get diagnosed.

While this problem isn’t as serious as sleep apnea, it can still worsen over time and increases a person’s risk of a heart attack or stroke.

SYMPTOMS:
This condition tends to disrupt sleep patterns during the night, causing patients to get poor quality sleep and to miss vital deep and REM sleep stages.

That leads to a number of unpleasant symptoms:

• Daytime drowsiness
• Ease of fatigue
• Lethargy and low energy levels
• Reduced ability to concentrate
• Headaches upon waking
• Irritability
• Strong mood swings
• Loud snoring and snorting
• Forgetfulness
• Nervousness
• Low productivity

People who suffer from hypopnea often spend a lot of time asleep, but they wake feeling unrested. They may also find themselves sleeping at unusual hours or suffering from insomniadue to unusual sleep patterns.

Their loud snoring, punctuated by periods of silence, can be an irritation for partners and family members and may cause serious strain on relationships.

CAUSES:
A person may suffer from hypopnea syndrome for a number of reasons, including:

• Congenital defects of the throat and nose
• Tonsillitis
• Adenoid infections
• Obesity or high weight
• Weakened respiratory muscles
• Age
• Airway obstruction
• Smoking
• Alcohol or sedative use

Like sleep apnea, hypopnea happens more often in people who are overweight or obese. It can also happen in some people who have relatively low levels of body fat, but who naturally have thick necks or who have a high body weight due to muscle gain.

Many of the same factors that influence sleep apnea and snoring are also causes of hypopnea syndrome.