Sleep Apnea Treatment

Question by Mommyof3 BGB: Having trouble breathing – looked like I swallowed a walnut??
I was 4 months pregnant when I started experience “sleep apnea” symptoms. I would wake up in the middle of the night gasping desperately for air. My son is 17 months now and it happens maybe 2xs/month. I live in Florida and we had some major smoke inhalation about 2 weeks ago, but I sat down to relax after a long day and felt like I wasnt getting enough oxygen, to the point I had my husband almost call 911. We went to the doctor that night and he gave me breathing treatments and my new doc has been getting tests for me left and right. Chest x-rays, thyroid ultrasound and breathing tests. I also have trouble swallowing with these episodes. Last night I was having some difficulty again and my friend looked over at me when I was giving a gurgling sound with it and she said it was like I swallowed a walnut! Right in the bottom of the neck- the empty part, above the chest bone, she said it was like a huge growth. I wasnt laying back just trying to breath normal, and Im a woman….

Best answer:

Answer by lesley s
I noticed a lump growing in the same spot as you describe and after a thyroid ultrasound it was discovered I have thyroid nodules, i’m now waitng to see what the doctor wants to do next.. I don’t have any problems breathing, but it depends how the growth is growing. Don’t worry, if it is a nodules they are not life threateniing, and less than 5% of them can be cancerous, and that is usually only if you are really old. If they determine that is what it is you may be able to take a medication to shrink it, or you may need to have it out, but it is a sameday surgery. Take care, i’m sure everything will be okay.

I just wanted to add that 60% of woman have nodules and don’t know it, and they are pretty common especially after having a baby.

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Question by : sleep apnea my hubby is 53 and he stops breathing 98 times in a hour at the sleep study he has a cpap machine?
he does not use the cpap mask all the time he will fall asleep and not put it on till 2 am or so he jumps up during the night several times with leg spasms and if he drinks 4 oz of tonic water he has less leg spasms he complains of chest pain a lot and he is an insulin diabetic his numbers are most of the time 2 or 300 for his sugar 2 years ago he had 17 iskcemic episodes hope i spelled it right and we found out he has 2 carotid arteries blocked 98% and 99% he was also diagnosed with copd onset anyway now he has an enlarged prostate but wont go for the checkup to see what,s going on there how dangerous is he really living ? i try to tell him he wont make it to 55 he just laughs about it cant seem to make him understand its not a joke he is going to die if he don,t start taking this seriously am i right?

Best answer:

Answer by PRINTS
Maybe he’s a little dizzy from the lack of oxygen from that arterial blockage going to the brain!! You already know he needs to get in and be taken care of. Have they checked the other arteries that lead to the heart? Blockages don’t just stay in one place. He would need an MRI or whatever REAL test is done, not just the office checks that don’t show everything. Those sort of things can slip by if you don’t have a dedicated doctor. My dad went in and found out he had severe blockage in the arteries around the heart. He also had diabetes and did not know his sugar numbers were very high. He would put up with the pains in the chest and just take the medication that would help alleviate them as they happened. His doctor did not do what he needed to. If your husband does not want to do anything about this, is is in danger. You can’t force him, but hopefully he cares about everyone and wants to be around.

Find a really good heart doctor to start with and have his arteries really checked. If he is not taking this seriously, then he probably won’t change his diet, but he needs to cut down on all sugar and STARCHES, carbohydrates. The diabetic diet is a very healthy diet, but people who simply want to be healthy should eat a lot of raw/fresh fruits and vegetables. That should not be only considered a diet for sick people. He needs to stop eating all foods that cause inflammation (carbohyrates). I hope he takes this seriously and you have a doctor who won’t put up with lack of cooperation. If not, shop around until you find one – and very soon!

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Question by *Sara*: Healthcare professionals/ patients only please… breathing problems?
Sorry this is going to be pretty long but I’m getting desperate… Thanks in advance to anyone who is willing to read and offer advice
One week ago (Saturday) I started feeling short of breath and felt like I needed to yawn throughout the day in order to get more air in. Sunday was the same, but not bad enough to cause concern.
Monday I went to work and was there for about half an hour and my breathing got worse. I felt the need to yawn every few minutes and my normal breaths felt short- like I wasn’t able to take enough air in.
My husband took me to my PCP Monday morning. EKG was fine, heart sounded fine, lungs sounded clear, PCP could hear air moving through normally.
I had lap band surgery a year and a half ago and he was worried about a blood clot in my lungs… sent me to the hospital for:
CT scan on chest- injected dye for the test- results were negative (nothing in lungs)
Blood oxygen levels checked- blood taken from artery in wrist (OUCH)- negative- results were normal
Basic blood work from vein in arm- all normal
Went back to my PCP Tuesday (took another sick day) PCP did a breathing test where I blew in and out of a little tube- said my results were abnormal but he wasn’t sure why… Gave me script for Albuteral (spelling?) inhaler and Advair inhaler. Neither one of these help at all. PCP mentioned it could be anxiety- but I have not been upset/anxious/ worried about ANYTHING lately and it doesn’t come in “attacks” but I feel this way all day every day.
I used to have sleep apnea before my lap band surgery- PCP said it may be that- but I never had “bad” sleep apnea and I sleep fine- haven’t been waking up even once during the night.
I used to have acid reflux before my surgery too- suggested that… started taking my Prilosec OTC again- does nothing to help.
PCP made another appt. to see me in one week and told me to start on Zyrtec. Zyrtec has not seemed to make a difference- been taking that for 5 days now.
Last night (Friday night) went to a movie w/ my husband and toward the end of the movie my breathing got a lot worse. I was struggling to breathe normally and my need to yawn was increased- I felt like I needed to yawn every 40-70 seconds. I couldn’t yawn right away though- it took several tries and concentration to get enough air in in order to yawn.
Husband rushed me to the ER. I was crying at this point b/c I was scared and very aggravated.
Got a chest Xray- clear, lungs look fine. Lungs sound fine. Gave me a breathing treatment and steroids through an IV- felt a tiny bit better laying there with the steroids in me but as soon as they took my IV out my problems came right back.
ER doctor gave me a script for Methylprednisolone steroid tablets. Just started them today- not sure how long they take to work but so far no change.
If anyone has ANY suggestions or advice as to what this may be or what could be causing it please let me know. I live in Louisville, Kentucky and the allergies are terrible this time of year- I’ve never really had allergies before but this just seems like way too much to just be allergies- but then again, I’m no doctor.
Meds I’m on now: Prozac (been on it for about 10 years) Wellbutrin SR (been on it for about 1 year and a half/ 2 years) Zyrtec (every morning for the past 5 days) Prilosec OTC (every morning for the past 4 days) Advair inhaler (twice a day for the past 4 days) Rescue inhaler as needed (does nothing to help) Methylprednisolone 6 day/ 21 pill pack (just started today)
THANK YOU for any help you can give me. If you know what this might be or have experienced this please let me know- I’ll take anything I can get at this point- I’m desperate to find out what’s wrong with me, it’s effecting every aspect of my life now.

Best answer:

Answer by JT_Grogan
Well, I’m no doctor, but when I had those same symptoms it turned out to be pneumonia. But if that were the case then they obviously would have picked up on it the first time you went to the hospital. I work in a hospital and I’ve never heard of anything like this that didn’t turn out to be pneumonia or some other easily treatable respiratory issue. Seems to me like you’ve got one of those mystery, doctor House type cases. But, if I were to venture a guess as to what you should do, I would say give it time. According to you it’s only been a week, so perhaps the medication just needs some time to become effective. Obviously if you think you’re going to die or the problems persist for a long time then go to the doctor, but it may well be that you’re already on the path to being fixed up.

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Question by ginadeluca247: My husband is 36 and has SEVERE Sleep Apnea. He stops breathing approx. 100x per hour or more…?
He is a bit overweight but not tremendously (5′9–215lbs)–we have four small children and I am soo afraid that he is going to drop dead of a heart attack. His previous test revealed that out of just under 6 hours of sleep, he stopped breathing for just under 4 of those hours. He is using a CPAP Machine and has been for about 4-5 years–but lately it does not seem to be helping…please help. I can’t bear to see him so exhausted….

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Answer by Mia Bell
Best advice is to notify your doctor of this AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Sleep Apnea is a very dangerous killer especially for obese persons. The best thing your husband can do, (and I’m saying this out of pure kindness and concern) Is to loose at least 30 pounds. This doesn’t mean gain muscle and lose fat this means lose all fat. Have him go on walks, cut out red meats, fat, soda, beer, and smoking of anykind if he does. Its quite amazing what losing a little bit of weight will do for the human body. Another thing is have a brain scan done on him to make sure that the lack of oxygen to his brain has not caused any damage. Damage to the brain could cause many health problems including (but not limited to) Strokes and Seizures. Best of luck to you and your husband

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Question by scoot: Any sleep tips for me? Tonsils are huge and cause me to snore and stop breathing, surgery soon…?
I am in college and I have huge tonsils that basically cause me to have sleep apnea. I had a sleep study and I stopped breathing and woke up 12 times within 5 hours and never went into stage 4 sleep. I don’t sleep well at all, and when I wake up I feel like I didn’t get any sleep. I have slept through my 8 am class for 4 weeks now! I’m blessed that it doesn’t have an attendance requirement! But it is still a problem. My doctor prescribed me Lunesta which is helping a little bit but still not getting me out of bed in the morning. I am literally so tired I can’t move and feel like a dead person when I wake up. Any suggestions?

and by the way I go to bed around 9:30-10 every night so im not staying up late….

thank you!
forgot to add this, i am getting my tonsils out on november 24th… what can i do until then to get adequate rest and be able to get up in the morning?

Best answer:

Answer by jojo rose
basically what you should do is get them removed. this is what happened to me. it took me 2 weeks to recover so you would have to think about that.

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