How to deal with possible sleep apnea?

May 30, 2006 3:46 PM

Another question about sleep apnea - specifically about how to deal with the actual moment of waking up choking.

Every few months or so I will wake up gasping for breath with tears streaming down my face and it takes me a very long time to be able to resume normal breathing enough to fall back to sleep. It's really, really terrible. I was told it could be apnea so I did a sleep study, but the doctor told me it wasn't (in a very unsatisfying two-sentence letter in the mail many weeks later).

In any case, my question is, for anyone else who experiences this - do you have any strategies with cluing your mind into what is happening immediately, maybe some breathing techniques? It always takes my mind a fairly long time to recognize what is going on and I feel like there must be a way to alleviate the problem.

Also, as a bonus, what could it be, since the doctor doesn't seem to think it's apnea?

posted by ORthey to health & fitness (15 comments total)

Doesn't sound like apnoea.

IANAD but if I was and I didn't know what it was, I'd be referring you to a sleep clinic...

Or at least asking whether you sleep on your stomach with your face in the pillow? Which I do and I get something similar - but a lot less intense. So if it's that, you're not alone, but the severity of your experience suggests sleep clinic required.
posted by bella.bellona at 3:55 PM on May 30, 2006

When I wake up this way I'm always on my back.

I did go to a sleep clinic and they tested me for apnea and results were negative, and offered me no further help on the matter. Mayhap I need a better doctor.
posted by ORthey at 4:04 PM on May 30, 2006

Well my post was no help then!

Only other thing I can think of is nightmares / night terrors? Do you remember your dreams when you wake up?
posted by bella.bellona at 4:10 PM on May 30, 2006

I agree that going to a doctor/sleep clinic is a good idea. The best case scenario is that you've wasted your time.

This sounds very similar to something I used to get (although mine wasn't quite as severe as what you're describing) and like ORthey, I always got it while sleeping on my back. I'd also frequently get sleep paralysis, which is always highly unnerving. Anyways, this all completely stopped when I started sleeping on my side. I hated it at first, but I got used to it (especially when I started using a body pillow).
posted by johnsmith415 at 4:13 PM on May 30, 2006

The tears sound to me like something is irritating your nose and throat, which makes me think of allergies or asthma. Have you been checked for those as well?

Are you overweight? I was overweight and having sleep problems, and my sleep study also showed no apnea. But the doctor recommended losing weight to help my sleep difficulties. Losing some weight and regular exercise worked for me, although I also have allergies.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 4:27 PM on May 30, 2006

My husband used to do this and was convinced that he had apnea. Our insurance wouldn't pay for a sleep study. It was an extremely scary thing to wake up choking! So, good wife that I am, I started watching him. When these episodes occurred, he was always on his back and seemed to me that he was choking on spittle that he had "snored" up. We got him a wedge shaped pillow for elevation and that seemed to solve the problem.
posted by crw at 4:31 PM on May 30, 2006

I'm pretty sure the tears come from the choking, but I do have allergies... this happens year round though.

I am slightly overweight (6 feet, 210 pounds) but I do exercise every day.

The weird thing is how regularly this happens, even if it is a few months on between each time.
posted by ORthey at 4:32 PM on May 30, 2006

This happens to me and I think it's what is happening to crw's spouse. I wake up hacking on drool and it scares the hell out of me. I find that it happens a little bit more when I've been eating food that is spicy or acidic and always thought there was a reflux aspect to it. I am sorry this is not more helpful.
posted by jessamyn at 5:15 PM on May 30, 2006

It sounds to me as if nasal secretions or saliva could be "going down the wrong way" --in other words, into your bronchial tubes rather than down your esophagus into your stomach. I've had coughing fits with streaming tears when something like that happened to me when drinking sparkling water.

Which, on preview, is what Jessamyn and crw are saying, but in slightly different terms.
posted by jamjam at 5:31 PM on May 30, 2006

See a different doctor. This is clearly affecting you, and if undiagnosed and untreated it could shorten your life. Second opinions can be lifesavers.

As mentioned by others, the problem could be saliva, or it could be acid reflux. If you have a bedtime partner, ask this person to observe you while you sleep and see if you appear to follow any particular pattern, especially involving snoring. If you sleep alone, rig up a video camera or tape recorder (results of which can be beneficial when seeking medical attention).

Or ...

Try using pillows or tilting the bed so that your head and throat are above the rest of your body. Try attaching a marble -- some suggest a tennis ball -- to the back of your jammies to keep you off your back, and see if that helps. Try taking an over-the-counter antacid like Tagamet, Pepcid or Zantac, or Prilosec, before going to bed.

I'm not a doctor; I have sleep apnea, acid reflux, narcolepsy and a few other things I wish were hypochondria but my doctors and sleep study results continue to insist are real. Sleep disturbances can be hazardous to your health. Keep after the doctors until someone gives you solid help.

Good luck!
posted by Seabird at 6:32 PM on May 30, 2006

I had the same condition that you have. It scares the hell out you. It would happen once every other month or so. I would wake up making this terrible gasping sounds. I finally figured it out. It's that thing that hangs down the back of your throat. Normally it is relatively short, but whenever I would look in the mirror after an episode, it was three times the length. I was choking on that.

Had a sleep study done, got a cpap machine and haven't ever had a problem again. It's been over six years. I hope this helps.
posted by ok at 6:57 PM on May 30, 2006

Same thing happens to me - sleeping on my back, and I'll wake up choking, which leads to a bit of panic. My doctor diagnosed it as allergies, and I'm inclined to agree as it doesn't seem to happen if I take a decongestant before bed. It always happens in the first few minutes - to an hour of sleep, and then I'm fine the rest of the night. As others have said, I'd suspect this was the culprit before sleep apnea.
posted by Zosia Blue at 7:23 PM on May 30, 2006

Do another sleep study and see an ENT, too. If it's apnea, it'll be diagnosed. If it's a problem with allergies or your uvula, that can be dealt with via medication and/or surgery.

I love my cpap. It is Heaven's Crack Pipe.
posted by frogan at 7:40 PM on May 30, 2006 [1 favorite]

This used to happen to me. It was gastroesophageal reflux. One of the less pleasant things I can recall, too.
posted by ikkyu2 at 8:29 PM on May 30, 2006

I have to second ikkyu2 - this has happened to me in the past, usually associated with overeating close to bedtime. If I stuff myself and don't take Tums, I will belch up acid in my sleep, causing a horrid coughing, choking fit as it burns my throat.
I have found that eating moderate dinners and/or taking antacids controls this. Also, it hasn't happened since I started with the CPAP, though I have been eating healthier in that time as well.
posted by BigLankyBastard at 7:26 AM on May 31, 2006