Sleep apnea

Next time you have a patient with sleep apnea try turning them on their side to sleep. Put a pillow or some device behind their back and you may just see a difference. I tell you this because I suffer w/ horrible sleep apnea. Let me explain.

I was diagnosed with OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) this past February. I was always exhausted and awoke feeling like crap every single morning. I was sleeping about an avg. of 5 hours but not consecutive sleep. I used to be a 8 hr. a nighter. I had the sleep study but it took awhile to get the results and an appt. w/ a sleep doctor. (BTW, if you have sleep apnea and live in Boston, Dr. Geoffrey Gilmartin out of BIDMC-Beth Israel Deaconess is awesome). I started on CPAP but it didn't work for me. The CPAP caused extreme abdominal distension and pain necessitating me waking up after 3 hours of sleep and then couldn't get back to sleep because of the abd. pain. The GI doctor said that I couldn't do the CPAP. Then, I went to O2 which really helped at first but then didn't do much after awhile. In between all of this I went without anything. I continued to worsen every day w/ severe fatigue and exhaustion. Then, in July they tried nasal CPAP and I would whip it off after an hour or two sleep. I didn't know why so I investigated one day and found out that it was the cause of my severe headaches and I awoke because of the headaches. So, that was discontinued. Nothing seem to be helping. I saw a sleep apnea "dentist" who wanted to fit me for the oral device. I wasn't sure of that. I went to a ENT who gave me nasal spray etc. BUT, it was my regular dentist and dental hygenist who figured it out. SLEEP on your SIDE. That did it. I put a pillow behind me and fix myself so that I don't turn. Most of the time my cat sleeps at my back (a new thing he does). I have been feeling great for about 8 weeks now. I am amazed that this is working. I am sleeping an avg. of 7-8 hours per night and only wake up once.

PLEASE, let your patients know this. I have been through the ringer and could not work but a couple days per week. It exacerbated my FM (fibromyalgia) severly. The GERD and IBS were worse and I was becoming more depressed. Now, I feel so good that I tell everyone about this most simple intervention. So please let your sleep apnea patients know. They will thank you.