Sleep Apnea

[Faith in Christ]

Hello All

My Doc has been trying to have me do a sleep study for years because all my seizures happen at night and I snore. Little did I know that when you snore the oxygen gets cut off to the brain and when that happens your seizure threshold goes down. After the study turns out that I wake up almost 30 time a hour because of snoring,not fully awake. But enough to make my body move because when the oxygen gets cut off a signal goes to the brain to tell your body to move. And when I sleep on my back it is even worse. When we sleep our tongues relax and go to the back of our throats and block the airway and that's why we snore. I always thought it was because of the nose but that's only a small part of it.

So to fix all of this they fit you wit a small mask that pushes air up you nose
and keeps you tongue from falling to the back of your throat . Therefore eliminating snoring !!!! And you get a much deeper nights sleep and wake up feeling more refreshed drastically lowering your chances of a seizure. Everyone I have spoken to that uses one of these to sleep with these machines loves them and now feels like have the best rest ever like they did when they were a kid. has anyone else used one of these to help reduce there chances of having a seizure?

[Cint]

When I was married it was my husband who snored, so I finally convinced him to go in for a sleep study because his snoring was keeping me awake also, lowering my seizure threshold. He did have sleep apnea and they fitted him with the mask and machine and we finally were able to both sleep, provided he would were it during the night. He didn't always.

[Endless]

I think sleep apnea triggers my seizures. IT's a possible explanation of why about half my seizures happen at night. And this is despite using a CPAP. Even with a CPAP I still quit breathing about 4-8 times an hour. For most people this is okay and considered excellent results. For me it's 4-8 seizure triggers per hour. Of course not all result in seizures. Just some. (and it's a guess that this is what's causing them)

That said, I love my cpap. I can't sleep without it and notice a huge difference in my energy level.

Do go for the sleep study. We're not just talking about your brain, here. Sleep apnea increases the chance of heart disease or death by 68%.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul...apnea-20100712

It's really no big deal. They put electrodes on your head (we're all used to that, right?), and sensors on your chest and legs. You climb into bed with about a billion wires all bundled up. And then you sleep. During the night the technician is coming in and fiddling with stuff, changing the air pressure from their little control room, taking the mask on and off, etc. I don't even remember them doing it, but they told me they did. So in the morning you're exhausted because of lack of good sleep. But they will have good data. You may have to go have it done more than once if they don't get all the data they need in one night. If you think you'll have trouble going to sleep by 10pm or so, ask your doctor for a sleeping pill in advance. You probably can't get one once you are already there.

If you have insurance there is no downside to a sleep study. Only benefits. So why not?

[RanMan]

Faith in Christ,

Here is my story, you might find it interesting:

Sometime epileleptic activity hide deep within the brain and doesn't show up on an EEG or MRI.


I suffered for 28 years before it was diagnosed, found this study VERY interesting.

Re Having seizures during or just before you sleep: Could be due to lack of oxygen to the brain while you sleep from sleep aids such as certain anti-epileptic drugs, sleeping pills, severe snoring or some sort of restriction to the airway.

I have recently been dx'd with Chronic Obstructive Sleep Apnia.
After my sleep disorders test the Dr. showed me the EEG from one night, I would stop breathing up to 50 times/hour and had 3 seizures and that I was waking up "post ictal" (moody and spaced out)
I have recently purchased a CPAP machine (Constant Positive Air Pressure) which provides constant air pressure and have noticed a vast improvement.
No more snoring (the whole family sleeps better now), more energy when I wake up, better REM sleep, improved memory (less short term memory loss), and most of all ~ NO MORE NIGHT SEIZURES.

Randy

[Faith in Christ]

Wow

I didn't know it helps the memory loss part ! That's great my memory has been terrible especially remembering scripture verses. It seems like I can study things and not be able to recall them shortly after. I hope that improves!!

[Endless]

Ranman,

You went 28 years without a positive eeg? Wow. I've forgotten. Where in the brain are your seizures coming from? What kind of seizures do you have?

You have a great doc to stick with the diagnosis for that long.

[RanMan]

Endless,

I was diagnosed with gran-mal Epilepsy in 1979, from the lower left tempral lobe.
It was 2007 when my wife was complaining about my snoring and then my Doctor sent me for a sleep study. It was then (by fluke) that my sleep apnea was detected.

Till that point, I thought that feeling tired, lethargic, energyless, miserable, etc in the morning was normal.

Randy