Anyone know how to help with sleep apnea?
by Sarah Aniston
Filed under Sleep Apnea Books
Ok I’ve got asthma and sometimes I wake up at 2-3AM and I can’t breathe and move at all. At first I thought this was my asthma but it was actually sleep apnea. Please help I’m only 15 and I feel like nearly every night I have a chance of “kicking the bucket”. What can i do to stop it?
Hello.
First the most traditional method of treating Sleep Apnea is with a CPAP (Continuous Positive Air Pressure) machine. Its a mask that goes on your face at night and helps keep your throat open so you can get some real airflow back there instead of having it be interrupted like it is now.
To get one is no easy task since you’ll need the right pressure in order to utilize it correctly.
You’ll want to go to your primary doctor and tell him your situation. If he feels it is appropriate than he will get you a sleep study and refer you to a doctor who specializes in respiratory care. Without insurance these can be from $500 – $500 dollars (insurance covered my 900 dollar bill!)
The sleep study will have you sleeping over at the hospital for one night. They will hook up electrodes and what nots to you and study your brain , eye and leg activity (and a few more, pulse etc). It doesn’t hurt but its super uncomfortable since I sleep on my side and there were about 50 or so wires!
Afterwards the sleep doc will take a look at your charts and take the appropriate action. If you are overweight, he will probably assign you a CPAP machine but stress that you need to lose weight.
If you are uncomfortable with the CPAP machine you can get a dental device which will help keep the airways open, but this is a much more costly option. I didn’t really ask how much, since the CPAP alone is around another 1000 dollars (!).
Anyway it sounds like you probably just need to lose weight. If you think that you are actually pretty healthy it is still possible for you to suffer sleep apnea because your throat may just naturally relax. In either case if you have the means START THIS PROCESS NOW as sleep apnea is a very common but undiagnosed issue. People think its cute to snore, but it’s actually very dangerous!