the other important reasons to treat obstructive apnea, besides the concern re: falling asleep at the wheel, are the increased risks of developing serious hypertension and stroke. These risks are very real. Besides CPAP and surgery, weight loss helps. There are also dental/oral appliances(like retainers to elevate the palate) but I really don’t know how effective those are.

I’ve used CPAP for several years now and it took me a while to get used to it. For me it took finding the right machine and mask setup. I use nasal pillows, which are a lot nicer than the facial masks.

There’s a web site “cpapman.com” that has about any and everything you could ever need or want re: CPAP. Cpapman.com has a custom headstrap that is affordable and very comfortable (for CPAP). There are also different machines, Bi-PAP and Auto-PAP which allow for more adjustment on inhalation and exhalation. Some people require this and respond better to these refinements.

Good luck to you!

There are three, IIRC: You don’t have Sleep Apnea, you do have Sleep Apnea and should treat it, or you have Sleep Apnea and it’s pretty much required you treat it. The last one really only applies if you have a driver’s license, as a person with the worst kind of SA is at danger of falling asleep at the wheel if they aren’t treated.

If you have Apnea and you need treatment, the government covers most/all of the cost of a CPAP (a forced air machine that keeps your airway open while you sleep).

If you get a machine, you’ll get an appointment for a followup sleep study.

They’re much easier when you have a shaved head.

All this is anecdotal and based on my possibly flawed recollections, of course.

As for the people who have no access or ability to ask questions then I guess they’ll have to rely on the people around them to find answers, or on the many people who monitor pharmaceuticals who can see the dangers inherent in any medication but who are also not afraid to talk about the benefits.

In an ideal world that might be true. having worked with the “severely mentally ill” who are not stupid, but often terribly desperate, who get so heavily drugged they can’t read, unfortunately it’s not an option for everyone to properly educate themselves…doctors SHOULD bear this responsibility and they don’t

also when I started drugs 23 years ago they DID NOT know that Zyprexa and Seroquel and Risperdal could make you balloon an extra 100lbs…they did not know that 70% of people on antidepressants lose sexual function….THAT fact is still NOT in the literature…the literature claims about 5-7%….they DID NOT know that Depakote could cause PCOS and permanent infertility in young women and the list goes on and on.

NO you cannot rely on pharma literature, but if you have access to the internet (which everyone does not) you might be able to get a more full disclosure of what you are taking…

also pharma does NOT study withdrawal AT ALL…it’s not in their interest and they simply don’t do it.

So unless you can put in hours and hours a day, you are still not informed by reading a package insert that the pharmacy gives you…

anyone who wants to start to get an idea of how little we know about these substances we put in our bodies can read Furious Seasons…the archives are well worth perusing.

http://www.furiousseasons.com/

Lists of side effects to drugs, however, especially medications to control a mental illness, are readily available online. Someone can, for example, read your blog then mine to get two different perspectives on the importance of medications and psychiatry to control a mental illness. Then they can look at the manufacturers site and check out what the medical journals say. There’s a certain amount of responsibility on us as patients to be asking the questions regarding any operations or medications or procedures we’re prescribed.

Hey Justin… talk about not knowing about what’s going on during a medical procedure, I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting from the appointment. There was no nurse or doctor on site and the technicians only knew how to set up the equipment, there were no forms to sign, no waivers and no one called my psychiatrist to let him know about the appointment. After “someone” looks at the data I think I’m supposed to get a call for a second sleep test. I’m not even sure who to call to find out what’s going on… I’ll figure it out.

Dame, getting a video of me sleeping — especially if it was in that freaky green night vision — would’ve been the ultimate in cool. I’ve tried using my tape recorder to get some audio evidence of my snoring, but it never worked out.

Qween… I wasn’t sure you’d ever come back here. Having you around, lemon, is a lot lot lot more fun than not having you around.