by Harry Burlington

Created on: August 20, 2009

Finding a way to live with sleep apnea

Being a man in my late twenties, athletic, fitness focused, and energetic, that I would not have OSA and CSA or Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Centralized Sleep Apnea but I do. I suffered for many years from the effects of OSA/CSA, what is routinely diagnosed as Mixed Sleep Apnea Disorder, caused by weight gain, head injuries in the military, and sleeping on back or supine position.

The only reason I described myself, as I did above, is because I use a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine integrated with home oxygen to improve my oxygen circulation. I comply, which is a big issue for many patients with Sleep Apnea, by wearing my mask and keeping my weight down. Also, I ensure I get regular check-ups with my doctor and sleep studies once a year to see if my Sleep Apnea is improving or worsening.

Being that Sleep Apnea does have a hereditary link, as my father suffered from it and each of his siblings, I do not believe that it will control my life and that is how I live with Sleep Apnea. I hate it and wish that it wasn't part of my life, as the mask isn't such a turn-on for the wife, in the bedroom. The sounds of the machine and my jaw opening up while sleeping are very difficult for my wife to get a good night's rest. We've made adjustments to our sleep patterns and it actually has saved our marriage.

It is really hard to believe that a sleep disorder could cause a marriage to be destroyed, but for many months my snoring, gasping, and stress of not breathing that was put on my wife, caused her to become exhausted and her entire life was made more difficult. She would lay awake for hours, just to make sure I was breathing, until she finally had enough and forced me to see a doctor about the issue.

This is the problem for so many people, they are not educated enough on the problems of sleep disorders, and therefore are living very unhealthy lifestyles because of the problems. We both did not know what Sleep Apnea was until somebody mentioned it to me at work one day. I was falling asleep in my office, when a co-worker mentioned how she notices me nodding off all the time and asked if I had Sleep Apnea? I immediately threw it in a search engine and found out what Sleep Apnea was all about and finally got educated. I saw the doctor the very next day and now live a better life and so does my wife.

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