Sleep apnea. New Dx.

it's a long story....pull up a chair.

My symptoms started April, 2013...and week after week, new symptoms appeared. One symptom was the sensation of a lump in my throat.

By the winter of 2013, I was having trouble when I went to bed. I would have this thick phlegm in the back of my throat...that I couldn't clear. I would fall asleep only to be awakened every few hours - gasping for air, gagging, and in a panic with my heart racing. My husband said I was making strange noises...sounded like a horror movie in our bedroom.

So, I did the sleep study...had moderate sleep apnea. mostly obstructive with some central as well.

Got the CPAP...it didn't help - I gave it a month. I would still wake up ever couple of hours with the same symptoms...gasping, gagging...panicked.

So, took the CPAP back.

It slowly got better over time...even prior to treatment. Now and then, my husband will say in the morning "You were noisy last night". I am not waking every couple hours anymore - I may wake once in the night now...but not panicked, not gasping for air...

I went to an ENT Dr. - and he put the tube with camera through my nose - down my throat...to look for any swelling, irritation - found nothing. He even gave me a cookie to chew and watched me swallow. Everything was fine..he said.

Had a barium swallow x-ray - nothing showed up.

I hope the CPAP works for you. It is hard to get used to it.

Let us know how it goes with the CPAP, okay?

I'd kinda like to get the sleep study done again...

I can tell you that I never had it prior to lyme. When I talked to the CPAP people..and asked how come all of a sudden I would have it...they said...that I would have had sleep apnea for years...and I just didn't know.
If I did...it certainly wasn't with the wakings, and gasping for air.

My husband said I was never noisy before...and I know I never had issues with my sleep before.

They just don't know what lyme can do.

Girlie said...
it's a long story....pull up a chair.

My symptoms started April, 2013...and week after week, new symptoms appeared. One symptom was the sensation of a lump in my throat.

By the winter of 2013, I was having trouble when I went to bed. I would have this thick phlegm in the back of my throat...that I couldn't clear. I would fall asleep only to be awakened every few hours - gasping for air, gagging, and in a panic with my heart racing. My husband said I was making strange noises...sounded like a horror movie in our bedroom.

So, I did the sleep study...had moderate sleep apnea. mostly obstructive with some central as well.

Got the CPAP...it didn't help - I gave it a month. I would still wake up ever couple of hours with the same symptoms...gasping, gagging...panicked.

So, took the CPAP back.

It slowly got better over time...even prior to treatment. Now and then, my husband will say in the morning "You were noisy last night". I am not waking every couple hours anymore - I may wake once in the night now...but not panicked, not gasping for air...

I went to an ENT Dr. - and he put the tube with camera through my nose - down my throat...to look for any swelling, irritation - found nothing. He even gave me a cookie to chew and watched me swallow. Everything was fine..he said.

Had a barium swallow x-ray - nothing showed up.

I hope the CPAP works for you. It is hard to get used to it.

My overnight oxy tests indicated very low oxygen dips at night, and several cessations of breathing each hour, they brought out oxygen for me to use at night. Then they had me wear the oxy bracelet over night again and I was worse. I consented to the sleep study and the findings were no apnea. My records say I have "nocturnal Hypoxemia".

I do have increasingly thick drainage at night. Typical COPD with chronic emphysema. That's been plaguing me getting worse and worse to the point a couple of mornings ago I was coughing the glue like stuff to the point my gag reflex kicked in.
I'm hacking in the mornings when I wake up like an old heavy smoker. Haven't smoked in 30 years. I dry cough off and on during the day and practically choke on the drainage in the morning. I have to sleep with my head elevated.
I know one thing for sure, Lyme has affected some throat muscling. I had food poisoning this past Winter and stomach bile would suddenly come up but it would not expel out of my throat,and it was preventing me from getting a breath in. Drowning must be a terrible way to go. I dread this ever happening again.

Girlie said...
julymorning - so what is the difference between sleep apnea and nocturnal hypoxemia?

sleep apnea means you stop breathing - either from obstruction (relaxed muscles)..or the brain not giving you signals to breathe.- central sleep apnea

Mine was mostly obstructive sleep apnea...with a little central thrown in.

I should do the test again and see if I've improved. I still have the occasional night where my husband says I was noisy. I'm chalking mine up to Lyme...never happened before...and also if it comes and goes...that sounds like Lyme to me.

I have no idea. The sleep clinic and my internist both said the study showed I don't have sleep apnea. Their recent file printout of my diagnosises lists nocturnal hypoxemia.

No explanations given to me. I was put on oxygen during the sleep study, but was told NOT to use it during my home overnight readings. The sleep study clinician also allowed me to use one of my nose strips, but I don't remember if I used one at home with the oxy test. I don't always either because I'm out or too tired/sick to bother with it.

I don't know what all sleep apnea entails other than snoring and I don't snore. Yes I know that's not the only symptom, they made that clear. No one bothered to elaborate. I was in a fb support group for copd and some of the members pretty well bullied me into doing the study saying it would be my fault if I ended up a burden on my family or friends, or worse, dead in my sleep.

I went, slept, woke from a horrible night terror, the clinician ended the study (it was 5 a.m.) got the call that the study was negative.

My theories that they threw out before I ever did the sleep study was three-fold. I have a nose/facial build that squeezes my nasal passages at along the bridge very close together. The other is I spent many years practicing shallow breathing because expanding my chest to breath brought on very painful muscle spasms. That went on for many years but is more of a rare event now.
Follow that further with a long term practice of barely allowing myself to breathe because often I would break out with uncontrollable coughing and I did not want to disturb the sleep of my male friend next to me.
I suppose I ended up hardwiring myself in a bad way. I do not cough when I have the oxygen on and feel free to just relax.

The other reason I have insufficient oxygen in my blood is because I am unable to adequately expel the carbon dioxide in my lungs.

Kimbo62
Yes ,after bite gin in fall CENTRAL apnea was causing confirmed heart attacks from adrenaline trying to wake me up to breath. Nervous system wakes up to strong adrenaline and afib Badley..
I stoped central apnea by resuming higher doses estrogen/progestin(a safe one) progestin livens nerve that reminds you to breath. C-pap is bad for central apnea, so I've read. Type in central apnea and progesterone, read yourself .
When I take my doxy , only once a week, it kills estrogen and progestin, central can return. I take higher hormones before and two days.since doxy stays in 3 day.
Also hurts bladder, need estrogen my whole life for that. Got bit as child
Vegal nerve bladder pain and infections.
You should check levels of hormones. Know doxy lowers these significantly.
Watch out taking any sleeping drugs, obviously will relax that breathing even more.
Central apnea is like I have, disautonomia ,barrow flex disfunction.
My lyme wont clear, wont tolerate many abx. Comes back turns meningitis again. Awful. Yesterday I stopped bactrim, still took augmentin.( the only two Bp and hr can tolerate) i got severe afib attack tonight. Lots on cc blockers , ones back with vengeance, fast.
Hours of head neck constriction arm pain, tingle. It's i guess it's abx for life, whats left of it.

I am a long time Lyme/Babesia sufferer and I have also been using a CPAP for about 5 weeks for my diagnosed sleep apnea. I believe it is helping me with sleep, but sometimes I wake up feeling worse(it may be a coincidence). Has anyone ever heard of the CPAP making Lyme symptoms worse, or I am just going crazy. I've heard where oxygen can kill Lyme and perhaps cause a herxcing effect .Any and All thoughts would be welcomed.

Happy New Year,

rjb