i dont have sleep apnea, but i know a lot of people that do and judging by what they have told me and what youve said, i would say that, in my opinion, you almost definitely have sleep apnea

Not only do I have sleep apnea, the doctors have told me that I'm putting a strain on my heart everytime I stop breathing and eventually gasp for air, which I've probably done approximately 10,000 times without exageration. I've also been told that people have died from it.

I went to a specialist once re laser surgery but when the consoltation was being recorded due to legal reasons, and I was told about the 5 side effects and the chances of the snoring returning......I walked out the door and never came back.

I have to find some way to resolve this.

They are similar to yours. I have been told I snore a lot, and it doesn't sound very good at all. I can never get a full night sleep. I wake up multiple times during the night. I am always tired, exhausted, unmotivated, and feel 'depressed'. At times my sex drive drops like a rock, which is really quite sad and frustrating (prolly for my g/f too). I have probably had this for a long time, but it got very noticeable in December when I got a bad case of tonsilitis and the tonsils swelled up to cover most of my throat.

After I felt better I went to a sleep doctor and took a sleep study (February). It was very uncomfortable, but the facilities were very nice and they tried to make it look like 'home' as much as possible. I did not sleep well that night, but I managed to get a total of about 6 hours of sleep. The results were staggering. About half the night I would either be going through apnea (without air) or hypopnea (shallow air). My brain would go crazy when this happened and it would cause me to wake up multiple times during the night, most of the time without me even knowing it. The sleep doctor diagnosed me with a significant case of sleep apnea.

I talked to that doctor, as well as my ENT about procedures to go about fixing this. There are TONS of ways to treat sleep apnea. There are some great things out there you can try beyond surgery. I wanted a permanent fix though. The ENT looked me over and he said that my tonsils should come out, and I should get 2 procedures done to my nose to open it up (septoplasty, and surgery to the turbinates).

I have had sinus problems all my life, and it turns out my nose had strutural problems which prevented me from breathing through it properly. Those three surgeries are supposed to improve my breathing overall, and hopefully cure the sleep apnea. If it does not, there are other procedures that can be done, such as restructuring my cheek bones to make my face not as long (a major contributor to sleep apnea).

This pain is practically unbearable, but I hope in about a week I'll be back to normal and I'll be apnea free.

I really think you should go find another doctor to see about this. It'* a very common but very dangerous disorder.

Thanks for the indepth explanation. I've gone to 3 (what we call) family doctors. 1 specialist in laser surgery, options weren't good, 2 sleep clinics. 1st sleep clinic, I got 1/2 hour sleep and the second I got 2 hours sleep. Both agreed that when I did sleep I stopped breathing, tossed around, and gasped for air many times. Nothing was done since they told me I needed to get more then 4 hours sleep. I couldn't take more time off so I gave up in frustration.

Here I am like you were and my wife frustrated that she can't get a good nights sleep.

I need to talk to a doctor again.

Yes, please get it taken care of as soon as you can. It'* a very dangerous thing to have.

Another update:

I ended up going to the ER today. One side of my mouth started bleeding pretty bad. There was no way I could stop it for good. I had my g/f drive me to ER. 4 hours later they cauterized it. Today has been complete hell.

My brother has had good luck with the mask & ventilator device. It must take some time to get use to it. He also has restless leg syndrome.

That'* very interesting. I have speep apnea pretty badly myself. I've quit breathing for over 4 minutes on some occasions. This is the first I've heard that there'* actually another treatment for it other than that CPAP machine. Please let me know how well it works for you!

Yeah, oxycodone is pretty good. When you say oxycodone, are you taking Oxycontin, or Percocet?

I'm taking both. Oxycontin every 12 hours, Percocet when needed (both are oxycodone), Tizanadine muscle relaxer, Lyrica anti-convulsant, and amytriptaline to help me sleep. I called a few pharmacists and a couple doctors and even the emergency room to make sure that this cocktail and my sleep apnea wouldn't be a deadly mixture.

Anyhoo, hope you get to feeling better soon!

It sounds like you may have narcolepsy as well.

My wife has sleep paralysis quite a bit, and also she'll be really tired through the day. Sometimes, when she goes on trip across town, she'll suddenly be at her destination with no recollection of how she got there...and she was driving.

Went to the doctor: Narcolepsy with Cataplexy. Sleep paralysis will almost alway be narcolepsy.

Percocet.

Although I am done with it now, and just taking Tylenol. I'm off all my prescriptions now thankfully. My stomach doesn't feel great though.