Posted by BarbaraCat on June 27, 2002, at 12:23:05
In reply to Sleep Apnea and Depression, posted by optimistic on June 24, 2002, at 15:40:00
Yes, I went through the sleep study and was dx'd with sleep apnea. The tests showed I wake 10-12 times an hour due to my throat relaxing and cutting off the trachea. It's mainly on the outbreath, kind of a 'kuh' which startles my brain out of stage 4 sleep.
The main reason my doc ordered it was due to a theory of it being linked to fibromyalgia, which I have. I got a CPAP machine which looks like a Hannibal Lecter mask (very romantic, let me tell you). I'm lucky if I can manage to keep it on for a few hours without ripping it off somewhere in the night. There's got to be a better way. I haven't noticed any remarkable improvements with it. I try to practice deep full yogic breathing whenever I can, but this doesn't solve the chronic disruption of deep stage 4 sleep. I know much of my health and mood problems are linked to curing this airway thing.
Sleep apnea seems to be hereditory. I can remember my father and different relatives shaking the walls with their snoring and waking themselves up. I'm working on losing 30lbs, so it'll be interesting to see how it goes when I'm at a good weight. Having extra padding in the throat area can exacerbate this condition.
John's suggestion about hypothyroid is very interesing. I also have hypothyroidism for which I take a natural T3/T4 hormone. Hypothyroidism is also implicated in fibromyalgia and depression. This is timely news since just yesterday I got an intuitive hit to increase my thyroid dosage. - BarbaraCat
> Has anybody been diagnosed with depression which did not respond to AD's and then found out they had sleep apnea which was the root of many of the symptoms they had?
> It seems like many of the symptoms you get with depression you can also get with sleep apnea including the depression itself.
> If so what treatment was instituted and how much did it help?
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:110640
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020617/msgs/110924.html