Major problem with Sleep Apnea

[Nullifidian]

I have really bad sleep apnea. The snoring associated with it has gotten so bad my girlfriend has to sleep in another room.

I have no idea how often I wake up during the night, but it must be frequent because during the day I'm almost narcoleptic. For the whole day. Nothing seems to help, not coffee, not green tea, not even 400mg of straight caffeine anhydrous. Still I nod off constantly.

It's gotten to be very dangerous because I have a 75 mile commute. In order to maintain focus on the road, I spend the entirety of the commute screaming at the top of my lungs to stay awake. I get to work with a sore voice.


CPAP machines don't work. I take them off while sleeping.



I know the cause of the sudden increase in severity: water retention. I've gained 25 pounds in the last week due to rebound from my competition. Yes, that's 25 pounds in 1 week. I've increased my water intake drastically, and I'm going to start taking dandelion root extract despite the fact it puts my stomach in knots. However, I've been drinking about 2 gallons a day for several days now, and my weight continues to increase.

I don't know how long it is going to take for me to drop this water retention. So until I can do that I was wondering if anyone knows of anything to combat my narcolepsy-like symptoms during the day? Something to keep me awake and fully alert. It really is awful and actually extremely freightening that I can't seem to stay awake for longer than 5 minutes at a stretch even if I had as much as 10 or 11 hours dedicated to sleep the night before.

 

[ryano]

Man sounds dangerous...I wish I had some answers for you...Short term I would talk to the doc...try to get some lasix/furosemide that will drop the water fast.

If you are ripping cpaps off in the middle of the night then maybe you need some surgery.

Im borderline apnea and need a sleep study...talk to glenihan he has apnea as well.. I hope things get better for you.

 

[size]

Have you considered having your uvula removed? There is some +/- about the procedure but it may be worth the chance in your case.

 

[Nullifidian]

Bodypart removal is the LAST thing I want to pursue seeing as how I know this will get better when I drop the weight.

I was just hoping someone knew of any fast acting temporary solutions while get my waterweght back down to normal. I heard there are drugs that can trick your body into "thinking" it had a full amount of sleep. I don't know what they are however. I just heard it's the latest craze in colleges; all the college kids use the stuff to cram for tests.

As a note, my sleep apnea all but disappeared the closer I got to my contest. i.e. the less bodyfat and waterweight I had, the less my sleep apnea. My girlfriend said that I wasn't even snoring from about 4 weeks out up till the contest. I started snoring again within a day or two after, when my waterwght already started to rebound.

Have you considered having your uvula removed? There is some +/- about the procedure but it may be worth the chance in your case.

 

[size]

Yes. Reducing your weight should definitely help. Best of luck, I really hope you can get this issue resolved as it can really hamper one's life.

 

[Apowerz6]

About your water weight, it may seem obvious have you stopped using Letro? And if so could it be a rebound a/effect? If you have not, I was watching a news report this morning at 1:30am and it talking about violent sleep apnea. In which this man used a machine, to sleep, and it worked, but in your case , it has not. But the point is, they explained about violent sleep apnea, and the constant tiredness, and fatigue. While sleeping your body is in constant fight or flight mood, causing your body to be in CONSTANT stress!!! so you are not getting any rest, being that your brain is making you move so you will not die. Maybe a trip to a sleep clinic might be an order, for the sake of sleep and those poor vocal chords of yours. Trust me i know about screaming to stay awake, that was me while on M1t during Chicago Rush hour traffic...

 

[Nullifidian]

About your water weight, it may seem obvious have you stopped using Letro? And if so could it be a rebound a/effect? If you have not, I was watching a news report this morning at 1:30am and it talking about violent sleep apnea. In which this man used a machine, to sleep, and it worked, but in your case , it has not. But the point is, they explained about violent sleep apnea, and the constant tiredness, and fatigue. While sleeping your body is in constant fight or flight mood, causing your body to be in CONSTANT stress!!! so you are not getting any rest, being that your brain is making you move so you will not die. Maybe a trip to a sleep clinic might be an order, for the sake of sleep and those poor vocal chords of yours. Trust me i know about screaming to stay awake, that was me while on M1t during Chicago Rush hour traffic...

You know, I just thought of that. I wasn't on Letro for the whole last couple weeks before the contest though since I was only on Tren at that point and the Test Prop had gotten completely out of my system.

However, one thing people say about Tren is it shuts them down pretty hard and kills libido. If you'll notice in my comments in my prep thread, I said Tren actually upped my libido. Another thing I noticed is that "the boys" never shrunk. Not at all. Not so much as a tiny bit.

So perhaps, I'm one of those weirdos who doesn't get shutdown by Tren or perhaps just doesn't get shutdown fully or very much. If that is the case then perhaps my Test levels have already begun to rebound. In that event, my aromatase levels would be likely still through the roof from Letro rebound. This would mean I've got a ton of estrogen floatin around and would definitely contribute to added water retention.



I was thinking of just that last night and decided I'd take a small dose of Letro. I'll take Letro twice weekly at about 0.6mg. Letro kicks in fast and lasts long so that should be plenty. I'll gradually taper down the dose over the course of then next 4 weeks. This will hopefully prevent the rebound effect. On Clomid just now (Tren E only just got out of my system) and will continue for 4 weeks total. When done with Clomid, I'll start using Nolva in a light dose. There will be SOME aromatase rebound from Letro cessation, so Nolva will help alleviate the negatives associated with that. You might ask why I don't use both Nolva and CLomid right now and say screw the Letro. My answer is, I already really put a beating on my liver taking Winny and Tren (even though the Winny was only for 2 weeks, tren still messes with your liver despite being injectable). Clomid puts a bashing on your liver as does Nolva. Nolva moreso. I'm trying to recover. The last thing I want is to hose my liver that badly when my health is already messed up as it is.

 

[ryano]

that was me while on M1t during Chicago Rush hour traffic...

I remember passing out at work like every 5 mins on my m1t cycle...one of my coworkers thought I had narcolepsy...I will never do that crap again

 

[GREENFEATHER]

I have severe sleep apnea that almost killed me. I also am on CPAP therapy for it. I use an auto titrating machine though, because like you, I took my mask off during sleep. I couldn't tolerate the constant pressure associated with it, now with the auto, I'm at 7 cm/h2o and if I have a more severe event, it ramps up to the proper pressure to stifle the disturbance. You might want to try to get your DME or insurance to let you try one since you're having an issue with the constant pressure machine. I bought mine out of pocket, I screwed around with the insurance for about 3 weeks before I gave them the heave ho. I was getting worse even though I was on therapy for it. The waking up in the middle of the night to take the mask off was worse than the apnea itself!!

I use dandelion root for water retention, it works like a charm for lowering my BP as well.
ROB

 

[glenihan]

have you tried using some aldactone post contest to help alleviate the water retention? .. it should be gone really soon though i too gained 25lbs in a week but 2 - 2.5 weeks post show i was back to a more normal weight

 

[Nullifidian]

I am now, as of today, taking 1 tab of Aldactone each morning.

I'm also back on EC 3x per day and 1mg of ketotifen ED at night. The logic here is to widen my airways to help me breathe better. I slept slightly better last night after taking keto. It was the first time I didn't fully awaken in the middle of the night since the contest. I'm positive I woke slightly several times since I still woke up feeling wiped and my girlfriend still got up at some point and slept on the couch in the livingroom (i.e. my snoring was still horrible).

Hopefully the ephedrine will help even more, and the aldactone will alleviate the water retention a bit.

I've been ramping up my water intake. My goal is 2 gallons per day.

 

[ryano]

Are their any options to surgery and cpaps as far as your apnea and snoring?

Im still dropping some weight and my sleeping has been getting better.

Im thinking about upping my cardio as well...this seems to have helped in the past.

 

[Nullifidian]

Well, I think my approach is beginning to work. I lost almost 10 pounds this weekend. On Friday I was 206.5, this morning I was 197.

Last night my gf and I went to sleep in the bedroom and she actually was able to fall asleep. That means my snoring either wasn't super loud or at the very least didn't get loud until after she had fallen asleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night to take a leak though, and at that point I slept on the couch so as to make sure at least she got a full night's sleep. At this point I'm used to that.

However, despite that, this morning I was feeling more alert than usual. It was my turn to drive to work today and I didn't have any problems staying awake during the commute, despite massive sun glare and several incidents of stop and go traffic. Before, those two things would make my eyelids feel like they weighed a ton and would send my mind into dreamland faster than you can say "Ambien".

My alertness could be attributable in great part to the EC, but when I started EC back up it didn't seem to do diddly for me as far as keeping me awake. This leads me to believe I'm at least breathing a little better in my sleep. I know I'm still snoring though and I know my breathing does get obstructed because right when I wake up, I actually snore while awake for a good 30 seconds or so. Interestingly enough, if I take a sip of water right when I wake up, I can breathe normally immediately. It's feels as though having a drymouth makes my tongue swell or something and when I wet it down with water, it instantly shrinks back to normal size. I'm not saying that's what happens, I'm saying that's how it FEELS.

In any case, I have a few more days worth of Aldactone. I hope by that time I'm down to the mid 180s. At that weight I think my sleep apnea will be minimal.

 

[ryano]

Maybe try and sleep with a humidifier running near the bed... You could throw some vicks liquid vapo in their as well.

I have done this in the past and has helped.

 

[Nullifidian]

Maybe try and sleep with a humidifier running near the bed... You could throw some vicks liquid vapo in their as well.

I have done this in the past and has helped.

Problem is that might throw in a whole otehr reason for waking up: severe discomfort. As it is, I sweat like a mofo when I sleep. In fact, I begin sweating as soon as I lie down and START to feel sleepy. Thing is, I don't just sweat, I feel warm. The sleepier I get, the warmer I feel. I sleep on top of the covers for this reason. When it is already fairly warm in the house, as it is I get so warm when falling alseep that sometimes it gets too uncomfortable to actually fall asleep.

With a humidifier, I'm thinking I would sweat all that much more.


I could try it though. I'll just have to try to keep the room cool. That'll be tough because my gf gets cold at night. She bundles herself up in the covers like a mummy. Currently it works well because she takes all the covers and I don't want to be under them anyway.

 

[Apowerz6]

Problem is that might throw in a whole otehr reason for waking up: severe discomfort. As it is, I sweat like a mofo when I sleep. In fact, I begin sweating as soon as I lie down and START to feel sleepy. Thing is, I don't just sweat, I feel warm. The sleepier I get, the warmer I feel. I sleep on top of the covers for this reason. When it is already fairly warm in the house, as it is I get so warm when falling alseep that sometimes it gets too uncomfortable to actually fall asleep.

I am glad I am not the only one!!!! my wife swears I drown her in my sleep, as I wake up in the morning, and literally the sheets are drenched, I even put beach towels under me, and I soak still to the sheets, I just don't get it, while my wife gets cold over a breeze and wraps herself up, so no covers, nor do i need them, but I am glad not to be alone in this crazy feeling.