www.sleepapneaadvice.com

Hi folks!

I have the blessing and misfortune to suffer from a very mild form of bipolar disorder. I’m fine and totally happy and stable, but I do need to take medication each day. I see a MD Psychiatrist for that, and often see the other patients in her office waiting room and wonder what they are suffering from.

One particular day, I was in my doctors office to get my normal script, and was in the waiting room. Next to me was a very sad, overweight and beaten down looking man sitting next to his wife. He was probably in for depression, and it looked every bit like it.

His wife sat next to him, and was nagging him a bit “I don’t know why you are so tired! You slept all night!”
She kept at him like that, how he was lazy, getting fat, should “snap out of it!”

Then, I heard the man breathing, heavy raspy breaths.

“Excuse me,” I said. ” Do you snore?”
He looked at me quizzically, and said “yes, I do”
“LIKE A BUZZSAW!” his wife added.
“Are you tired all the time?” I asked. “Do you wake feeling rested?”
“All the time, I want to sleep, but I never feel any better!”
“and I’ve put on 30 pounds” he added.

“Have you ever been checked for sleep apnea?” I asked.

“No, never” he said.

I began to describe the symptoms of sleep apnea, and how I had suffered from it. Also how the doctors had thought it was depression, but that depression is a result of it! His eyes brightened as he realized it might be possible that he had something identifiable and curable. I knew exactly that feeling, I had felt it when I learned of apnea.

He said “thank you, so much, we’ll ask the doctor” and just then they were called to my doctors office. I waited and saw them leave waving goodbye to me.

I was then called to the Doctors office and I asked her, “what do you think about Apnea in that gentleman?”

She said “we’re going to have him tested, I referred him to Dr. Park and Clinilabs. Great, I thought. If it is sleep apnea, they’ll start to treat it. If not, no harm done.

I don’t know how that man is doing, but I hope he is sleeping.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 3:45 pm and is filed under Symptoms sleep apnea. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.