Have you ever woken up to find you couldn't breathe?

You need to go to a sleep clinic and be checked for sleep apnea.
Information available at http://www.SleepApnea.org

It’s called sleep apnea, yea.. beat to it, a friend of mine did a paper on this for her term paper this year, creepy stuff, I don’t know what to do I guess just go to that website.

All I know is yes it is potentially lethal, and it is known for killing some people.

Don’t panic. Although sleep apnea can have “fatal consequences,” so can everything else. It’s fairly common, affects about 1 in 200 people, and can be monitored and treated. Since it has only happened sporadically, you probably don’t have a bad case of it (some people are affected by it several times a night!). Just make an appointment with a sleep disorder specialist and get it checked out.

Ditto. Ask your doc for a sleep study ASAP. Go to an accredited place or at least one associated with a hospital or medical practice, not a fly-by-night operation out of a hotel room. Untreated, it’s a slow road to a heart attack or stroke. I would guess that it’s probably worse than you think. In my case, I only woke up a couple of times gasping for air, but during my sleep study I had episodes every 30 seconds and my oxygen saturation (level) dropped to about 60%. Normal is around 95%.

While I agree with the above comments that sleep apnea is a distinct possibility, there are a number of other possibilities as well including asthma, pulmonary hypertension, and heart disease. You should first see your doctor for a complete evaluation, and then let her decide whether to order a sleep study.

Have you ever had anxiety problems? I’ve definitely had this happen to me when I’ve been going through really stressful times in my life when I haven’t been managing my anxiety/stress.

Thank you shilolo for referring to the doctor as “her”. And I too want tirithalui to
be very serious about this. kev, it scares me to imagine you with an oxygen level of 60%. Very scaresome.

Yeah, it was awful towards the end (of my ignorance of the problem, that is). I’d wake up some days unable to move, and I was calling in sick at least once every two weeks, which isn’t sustainable, of course. It’s all better now, though.

No problem Susanc. My wife is a doctor, so I am sensitive to this issue.

I would contact an ENT doctor and have him order a sleep study immediately. They might get you either a CPAP (or a BI-PAP) machine. Or, they might require surgery. Either way, please do get it checked out asap.

oh right. Craziness. Seems pretty serious then. Lucky both my parents are doctors I suppose!! Will talk to them asap…
Cheers guys.

My buddy did.

He has one of them St. Barnyard dogs, and one morning he woke to find that it was standing on his chest, licking his face.

August 26, 2008, 1:59 PM EDT