6 ms·

If you feel groggy in the morning or just not well–rested even after 7-8 hours sleep, get your sinuses & lungs checked. Could be sleep apnea, but in my case I

by epc 9y ago

If you feel groggy in the morning or just not well–rested even after 7-8 hours sleep, get your sinuses & lungs checked. Could be sleep apnea, but in my case I felt congested all the time. What I thought was allergies was actually the linings of my sinuses inflamed to the point of closing off air passages. Unclear if the root cause in my case was acid-reflux into the sinus cavities or exposure to dust from ground zero. The resulting surgery kind of sucked (free tip: don't have your sinuses roto-rootered in the winter) but ever since I've been able to sleep a solid 6-7 hours every night. I now wake up rested, don't feel groggy, typically without an alarm.

nikkwong 9y ago
I was just diagnosed with sleep apnea this week after it wreaked havoc on my personal and professional life for the last 6. I couldn't work, couldn't engage in anything. Now I'm pretty much terrified to go to sleep every night as I know I'm probably not going to get any rest and wake up zombified. I heard the surgery was a hit or miss. Would you recommend?
- rhcom2 9y ago
  CPAP is usually the first line for sleep apnea. I've been using one for the past couple of months. They've improved the masks so the really only annoyance is being tethered to the machine when you roll over but it isn't too bad. Another thing I've learned is the CPAP machines now phone home to the insurance company to give them compliance data on how and when you use the machine. Less happy about that.
  - isostatic 9y ago
    You have a free market in healthcare, vote with your wallet.
    - rhcom2 9y ago
      I'd love to but the thing's base price is $800 without hoses or mask. I can't afford that without going through my insurance.
  - wnissen 9y ago
    Does yours have an "airplane mode"? You can get an SD card instead of using the cellular.
- nrclark 9y ago
  No opinion on the surgery, but you might try a CPAP machine! I have a family member whose epiglottis was damaged in surgery, and she developed really bad sleep apnea as a result. It took her a solid year of being a zombie before she figured out what was happening and why. She bought a CPAP, and it's made a huge difference in her quality of life. So if you're looking to try out a non-surgical fix while you ponder a surgery, consider buying/renting/borrowing a CPAP!
  - k__ 9y ago
    These machines look rather uncomfortable :/
    - ThrowawayP 9y ago
      > These machines look rather uncomfortable :/ They are. But when the alternative is surgery to enlarge your nasal passages (which, like any form of surgery, may or may not work), well, forcing oneself to get used to it is the lesser of two evils.
- hugozap 9y ago
  I was also diagnosed with it last week. I'll be buying a CPAP as the night I tested it improved my sleep quality. I've also removed my pillow and that has helped.
- lojack 9y ago
  Absolutely 100% get the CPAP machine and give it a few months. I didn't immediately feel better after using the machine, but I'm about one year in at this point and it was life changing for me.
- 0xJRS 9y ago
  I know someone who slept like that for over 10 years before I convinced them to get the mask and now they thank me and cant sleep without it
komali2 9y ago
I had so much shit that just sucked in my life the first 21 years of it. I always had sinus infections, I would constantly have what my friends and I call "poo-brain," where you just have slug thoughts and can't get your shit in order and your speech might even slur. Depression. Etc. Then I started taking fexofenadine (allegra) and fluticasone (nasonex) every day. After 2 weeks, nearly every problem I had vanished. No more sinus infections, I could breathe and smell, I slept incredibly, no more poo brain, no more 2pm "head of concrete." It was like I started a new life. Anyway if you have any of the above try that drug routine maybe? You gotta keep it up non stop for 2 weeks straight to see results, and the potential downside is that now if I get off my antihistamines for like a day even, I'm likely to instantly get a sinus infection.
- AnimalMuppet 9y ago
  I used to do Allegra. But I started getting an irregular heartbeat. (It's called a premature ventricular contraction - basically, the nerves tell the ventricle to contract too soon after the previous heartbeat, and the muscle says "I just did that, I'm on my coffee break now", and the heartbeat gets skipped. The next heartbeat happens reliably, though, so it's not at all dangerous. But more blood has shown up at the heart, so the next heartbeat kind of hurts - kind of like when you swallow something a bit too big for your throat.) Anyway, that all went away when I quit Allegra. Now I just use the fluticasone. But I had to get allergy shots for a while, because in my case, the problem was the cat that slept on my bed.
- epc 9y ago
  That worked for me for awhile (mix of actifed + loratadine/claritin) but eventually the inflammation got so bad that no medication worked.
- gbrain2 9y ago
  I actually had the same issue for the first 21 years of my life as well. Doctors gave me all of those those things, fluticasone, zyrtec, etc. I cut gluten out of my life, and basically everything changed. I no longer get 10 sinus infections a year, I don't have to take any allergy medicines, my depression went away, and I can sleep less. All of my doctors told me to take drugs to solve it, but it turns out I am gluten intolerant, and cutting it out has changed my life forever.
lojack 9y ago
I used to sleep until noon on the weekends and could easily spend 10+ hours sleeping a night if I let myself. After a year of my wife kicking me out of bed because of snoring too loud, I finally went to the doctor and was diagnosed with a severe apnea. I'm average weight, never had a problem waking up, and didn't feel that tired throughout the day like a lot of sufferers feel. Using the CPAP machine wasn't a life altering experience that immediately changed how I felt. Fast forward 6 months or so... I have serious difficulty sleeping more than 8 hours, can hardly sleep past when the sun comes up. Don't need an alarm to wake up, and feel well rested after 7 hours of sleep. I'm also so much more productive at work, actually feel awake and can focus on things. Prior to the CPAP machine I don't think I ever actually understood what it was like to not feel tired, it was just my normal state so I was actually tired without even realizing it. It was a life altering change that didn't happen overnight. I've tried a couple times to sleep without the CPAP machine, and it just doesn't happen. I imagine its the same as sleeping before, I just notice how I'm unable to sleep now. This might not be true for everyone, but if you're told you snore really bad, and don't feel exhausted all the time, but can sleep constantly... you may have sleep apnea and are just dealing with the symptoms without even realizing. It was absolutely worth getting checked out for me.
- nozzlegear 9y ago
  I had almost the same experience, except I was moderate sleep apnea rather than severe. I remember being disappointed after the first night with my CPAP because I didn't have the "holy cow, I slept so good and I feel amazing and refreshed now" experience that a lot of other CPAP users were reporting. Luckily I stuck with it, and after a few months I had to sleep without the machine for about a week and noticed a massive difference - I felt like hot garbage. The whole week without it I was so tired, had headaches every day, constant brain fog, and it was just hard to sleep in general. Now I'm a big believer in the CPAP machine and happily wear it every night. Bonus: my wife no longer wakes me up every night for snoring ;)
epc 9y ago
Just a follow up…I got tested for sleep apnea because I fit the profile (overweight, snorer) but they found no evidence that I stopped breathing at all overnight. The sinus thing didn't get diagnosed until one of my frontal sinuses closed off during descent into JFK. Can't begin to explain the pain other than feeling like your head is exploding.
zten 9y ago
I've always suspected I have a problem like this but couldn't ever get a doctor to help. Prior to treatment, did your sinuses open up completely during hard aerobic exercise and then feel like they slam shut as soon as you were done?
- epc 9y ago
  No. The only thing that helped a bit was the saline spray the ENTs use, which I suspect had some mild steroids. That would help sinuses open for a few hours. The symptoms, in retrospect, were the constant feeling of a stuffy noise and headaches during air pressure changes like sudden altitude changes while flying (gradual ascent/descent didn’t bother me most of the time). My doctor initially declared I had sleep apnea, only after that test did he refer me to an ENT who diagnosed it in a few minutes with some sort of scope they stick up your nasal passages.
- moosey 9y ago
  I'm interested as well. Despite the fact that I take similar allergy medications, I find that as soon as my head hits the pillow my nasal passages close. It's really frustrating.
  - mleonhard 9y ago
    Are you allergic to dust mites? My nighttime stuffy nose lessened when I was tested for dust mite allergy and my doctor instructed me to put allergy barriers on my mattress and pillows and launder all of my bedding (blankets included) once a week with hot water. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ET6INY https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ET6INY https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CN0BJKU https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CN0BJKU

by epc 9y ago

nikkwong 9y ago

I was just diagnosed with sleep apnea this week after it wreaked havoc on my personal and professional life for the last 6. I couldn't work, couldn't engage in anything. Now I'm pretty much terrified to go to sleep every night as I know I'm probably not going to get any rest and wake up zombified. I heard the surgery was a hit or miss. Would you recommend?

rhcom2 9y ago
CPAP is usually the first line for sleep apnea. I've been using one for the past couple of months. They've improved the masks so the really only annoyance is being tethered to the machine when you roll over but it isn't too bad. Another thing I've learned is the CPAP machines now phone home to the insurance company to give them compliance data on how and when you use the machine. Less happy about that.
- isostatic 9y ago
  You have a free market in healthcare, vote with your wallet.
  - rhcom2 9y ago
    I'd love to but the thing's base price is $800 without hoses or mask. I can't afford that without going through my insurance.
- wnissen 9y ago
  Does yours have an "airplane mode"? You can get an SD card instead of using the cellular.
nrclark 9y ago
No opinion on the surgery, but you might try a CPAP machine! I have a family member whose epiglottis was damaged in surgery, and she developed really bad sleep apnea as a result. It took her a solid year of being a zombie before she figured out what was happening and why. She bought a CPAP, and it's made a huge difference in her quality of life. So if you're looking to try out a non-surgical fix while you ponder a surgery, consider buying/renting/borrowing a CPAP!
- k__ 9y ago
  These machines look rather uncomfortable :/
  - ThrowawayP 9y ago
    > These machines look rather uncomfortable :/ They are. But when the alternative is surgery to enlarge your nasal passages (which, like any form of surgery, may or may not work), well, forcing oneself to get used to it is the lesser of two evils.
hugozap 9y ago
I was also diagnosed with it last week. I'll be buying a CPAP as the night I tested it improved my sleep quality. I've also removed my pillow and that has helped.
lojack 9y ago
Absolutely 100% get the CPAP machine and give it a few months. I didn't immediately feel better after using the machine, but I'm about one year in at this point and it was life changing for me.
0xJRS 9y ago
I know someone who slept like that for over 10 years before I convinced them to get the mask and now they thank me and cant sleep without it

komali2 9y ago

I had so much shit that just sucked in my life the first 21 years of it. I always had sinus infections, I would constantly have what my friends and I call "poo-brain," where you just have slug thoughts and can't get your shit in order and your speech might even slur. Depression. Etc. Then I started taking fexofenadine (allegra) and fluticasone (nasonex) every day. After 2 weeks, nearly every problem I had vanished. No more sinus infections, I could breathe and smell, I slept incredibly, no more poo brain, no more 2pm "head of concrete." It was like I started a new life. Anyway if you have any of the above try that drug routine maybe? You gotta keep it up non stop for 2 weeks straight to see results, and the potential downside is that now if I get off my antihistamines for like a day even, I'm likely to instantly get a sinus infection.

AnimalMuppet 9y ago
I used to do Allegra. But I started getting an irregular heartbeat. (It's called a premature ventricular contraction - basically, the nerves tell the ventricle to contract too soon after the previous heartbeat, and the muscle says "I just did that, I'm on my coffee break now", and the heartbeat gets skipped. The next heartbeat happens reliably, though, so it's not at all dangerous. But more blood has shown up at the heart, so the next heartbeat kind of hurts - kind of like when you swallow something a bit too big for your throat.) Anyway, that all went away when I quit Allegra. Now I just use the fluticasone. But I had to get allergy shots for a while, because in my case, the problem was the cat that slept on my bed.
epc 9y ago
That worked for me for awhile (mix of actifed + loratadine/claritin) but eventually the inflammation got so bad that no medication worked.
gbrain2 9y ago
I actually had the same issue for the first 21 years of my life as well. Doctors gave me all of those those things, fluticasone, zyrtec, etc. I cut gluten out of my life, and basically everything changed. I no longer get 10 sinus infections a year, I don't have to take any allergy medicines, my depression went away, and I can sleep less. All of my doctors told me to take drugs to solve it, but it turns out I am gluten intolerant, and cutting it out has changed my life forever.

lojack 9y ago

I used to sleep until noon on the weekends and could easily spend 10+ hours sleeping a night if I let myself. After a year of my wife kicking me out of bed because of snoring too loud, I finally went to the doctor and was diagnosed with a severe apnea. I'm average weight, never had a problem waking up, and didn't feel that tired throughout the day like a lot of sufferers feel. Using the CPAP machine wasn't a life altering experience that immediately changed how I felt. Fast forward 6 months or so... I have serious difficulty sleeping more than 8 hours, can hardly sleep past when the sun comes up. Don't need an alarm to wake up, and feel well rested after 7 hours of sleep. I'm also so much more productive at work, actually feel awake and can focus on things. Prior to the CPAP machine I don't think I ever actually understood what it was like to not feel tired, it was just my normal state so I was actually tired without even realizing it. It was a life altering change that didn't happen overnight. I've tried a couple times to sleep without the CPAP machine, and it just doesn't happen. I imagine its the same as sleeping before, I just notice how I'm unable to sleep now. This might not be true for everyone, but if you're told you snore really bad, and don't feel exhausted all the time, but can sleep constantly... you may have sleep apnea and are just dealing with the symptoms without even realizing. It was absolutely worth getting checked out for me.

nozzlegear 9y ago
I had almost the same experience, except I was moderate sleep apnea rather than severe. I remember being disappointed after the first night with my CPAP because I didn't have the "holy cow, I slept so good and I feel amazing and refreshed now" experience that a lot of other CPAP users were reporting. Luckily I stuck with it, and after a few months I had to sleep without the machine for about a week and noticed a massive difference - I felt like hot garbage. The whole week without it I was so tired, had headaches every day, constant brain fog, and it was just hard to sleep in general. Now I'm a big believer in the CPAP machine and happily wear it every night. Bonus: my wife no longer wakes me up every night for snoring ;)

epc 9y ago

Just a follow up…I got tested for sleep apnea because I fit the profile (overweight, snorer) but they found no evidence that I stopped breathing at all overnight. The sinus thing didn't get diagnosed until one of my frontal sinuses closed off during descent into JFK. Can't begin to explain the pain other than feeling like your head is exploding.

zten 9y ago

I've always suspected I have a problem like this but couldn't ever get a doctor to help. Prior to treatment, did your sinuses open up completely during hard aerobic exercise and then feel like they slam shut as soon as you were done?

epc 9y ago
No. The only thing that helped a bit was the saline spray the ENTs use, which I suspect had some mild steroids. That would help sinuses open for a few hours. The symptoms, in retrospect, were the constant feeling of a stuffy noise and headaches during air pressure changes like sudden altitude changes while flying (gradual ascent/descent didn’t bother me most of the time). My doctor initially declared I had sleep apnea, only after that test did he refer me to an ENT who diagnosed it in a few minutes with some sort of scope they stick up your nasal passages.
moosey 9y ago
I'm interested as well. Despite the fact that I take similar allergy medications, I find that as soon as my head hits the pillow my nasal passages close. It's really frustrating.
- mleonhard 9y ago
  Are you allergic to dust mites? My nighttime stuffy nose lessened when I was tested for dust mite allergy and my doctor instructed me to put allergy barriers on my mattress and pillows and launder all of my bedding (blankets included) once a week with hot water. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ET6INY https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ET6INY https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CN0BJKU https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CN0BJKU