Hello Peggy:

My husband actually decided I had a problem with my sleeping. He said I would quit breathing, plus I started snoring really loud after I stopped breathing. It turns out that is sleep apnea. You quit breathing then when your brain finally says "hey dummy you need to breath" the gasping is actually loud snores. I asked my doctor about it and she sent me to a pulmonary specialist who runs a sleep clinic. I went in and had the study done. The respitory (sic) specialist who was doing the testing came in after two hours and said she couldn't stand it any longer. I quit breathing as soon as I went to sleep and said I had over 100 episodes an before two hours were even up. Usually with sleep apnea you have a couple hundred a night. It can cause heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, weight gain, severe fatigue (which I had extremely), and other physical ailments. Along with the effects the Graves disease gives you I have felt like (excuse me) crap for several years now. But now I am hoping that I am finally getting more to a place that is tolerable and starting to go on the upswing.

With the doctor changing my synthroid to 0.3 I am starting to feel better. It, of course, takes the six weeks to get in the blood stream, but I am hoping since I am starting to feel better, that the doc doesn't take me off of it. I think with her being female she takes more time and really listens to me. Now if we can just get me to quit smoking too! Wow. That is alot to fix in one fell swoop!

Yeah, I know, it will be harder, but I know I can lose the weight. I have just got to work really, really hard. But I will win!

Well, have a great weekend. I hope your son's friend is okay.

Pam

Hello Pam and all, DH has never said anything about snoring but my son shared a room with us at LP and he said both of us snoring was driving him crazy.My brother was told he might have a problem when he was in the hosp. recently but refused to stay the extra night to check it out.Since I am still losing wt.and my BS is excellent,if my BP is still elevated next visit I will ask doc .I still need to lose 10 lbs to get back to where I was before my BP started to rise.that's 6 wks. down the road.
Why is it so effortless to gain weight and the losing seems to take all your time and energy?

Hi! I know what you mean about the gaining being way to easy and the losing tough! It's like I woke up morning fat but my insides still feel slender. I keep thinking I will wake up from this awful dream but I don't think I am any time soon.

My husband had mentioned my sleeping habits before but I never took the time to bother about it until I started getting really tired, falling to sleep all the time and then one night my husband said he shook me and shook me before I finally took a breath. He said that was it I HAD to do something about it, so here I am with a horrible mask to wear (but I refuse to sleep w/o it now) but sleeping good and feeling more rested. I can't believe the difference it has made in a good nights sleep. I actually wake up before the alarm and before you could have had 10 alarms I would not have heard them. Go figure!

I hope you lose those 10 lbs and I know you will. Good luck with your check up.

Pam

What is the diebetic diet?

Hi! I am not sure, but I am assuming it is one laid out for diabetics like the heart association has theirs laid out. I have got to find one and check it out. It seems to be highly recommended by several people so far not just here but on some other sites as well.

Drop back in and see what I come up with. But I imagine after this posting we will have our answer.

Pam

I took Synthroid for 6 1/2 years, and was no better even after the adjusting of the dosage. I also took the T3, and after all of that, I continued to have the same symptoms as I originally went to the doctor for.

I begged each new doctor I went to to give me the natural stuff for hypothyroidism, to no avail.

So I took myself off of all thyroid medication. I feel better than I have in the 7 years since I started taking the meds. It makes me wonder if I ever had thyroid problems at all, or if they chose the easy way out to diagnose.

As to weight, if I stay off refined carbs and eat a lot of protien, I do really great. BUT, I am addicted to chocolate and that wreaks havoc with my diet.

Been off chocolate for 3 weeks and am craving lemons now. Go figure.

Have a nice day!

DUH You would think it would be in book form and all laid out like the heart people. I have looked in the Joslin and ADA books and they just have a general guidline.So I guess I should not really be calling it the diabetic diet.Basically it is a healthy plan that you can live with for life and change as circumstances do.I know the ADA has a website where you can order the basic pamphlet fo a few dollars i got it for free from my HMO Check your insurance you may be entitled to RD visits then tell her you want to carb count with your meal plan.Some of the better Diabetic Cookbooks have it least the guidelines laid out in the front.Go browsing at barnes noble
I have also seen other posts from Grave's people where they have had good results from this.
I did start losing when my TSH was 1.9, I felt a little edgy doc decreased syn,I was still losing at TSH 2.4 Syn use went from .175 to .162 I have a scrip and need to get a panel done soon.BTW my edginess was not related to my syn dose as it happened again on the lower dose.Even though I am 4yrs past menopause(no symptoms) my gp says they can start anytime.Sent me to the endo for tests,MISOGYNIST that he is he refused to do the tests and told me to see a GYN endo I haven't even bothered because I have not had another episode,mabye the diet is helping that also?
Have you had any luck finding a local support group through the NGDF?

Hi Beeje and Sin Nombre:

Well, it is nice to have a new person join in. My problem Beeje is I don't have a thryoid. With the graves disease once they zapped it it put me into hypothyroidism, but they still call it graves disease. But I have been hearing alot about the help the natural thyroid stuff is suppose to be doing. Let me know if you hear anything else.

Sin you talked about a support group at NSGDF (sic) (I think I just wrote that wrong, anyway where can I locate that?

I will pick up a diabetic diet cookbook and see what I can get out of it. Sounds like I should be doing this.

Take care and have a great Labor Day!

Pam

or use a search engine for national graves' disease foundation Have a super holiday and I will stay in touch. Peggy

Hello there!

I am new to 3FC and was reading through your threads. I was glad to see a thread with sleep apnea listed. I was diagosed with SA about a year ago. I hate it! I have only had one surgery (sinus) and sleep with oxygen on at night but it seems to be getting worse lately. I stay so very tired and don't seem to sleep well when I do sleep. It's exhausting! I read your thread about SA making it harder to get the weight off. I have never heard this before. Please advise.

I would love to stay around and chat with you all. I would love to hear more about sleep apnea and your experiences.

Hope everyone has a GOOD LABOR DAY!!!!

Thanks

Hi Eeyore Sun:

Welcome aboard. I hope we can help you out some. According to my pulmonary specialist and MD, the sleep apnea causes the oxygen in your body to really go down. That is why you stay so tired and have other symptoms such as loss of memory, soreness to the body, high blood pressure, etc. With the lack of oxygen in your body all you can usually do is sleep and when you are awake you eat and the cycle repeats itself. You don't have energy to move much less excercise. When I went in for my sleep study and less than one hour after it started, my oxygen level went from 99% to 53%. So you are basically smothering to death due to the times you stop breathing. I was diagnosed last July and have started to feel much better. What type of machine are you on? Mine is the CPAP. There are still times when I feel tired, but that is usually if I don't have my mask on very well. Also, what is your setting? Mine is at 14.5 and it was originally set at 16. This could be your cause if they have you set too low. You may check with your doctor and let them know you are not having any relief from the machine. The pressure should be hard enough to keep your throat open at all times. I don't know what I would do without mine. But the tiredness does come and go. I function now whereas before I could not. Matter of fact one of the first questions my pulmonary specialist had was "Had I gained any significant amount of weight?", which I had. I am now struggling to lose it. Between the sleep apnea and the graves disease it is VERY HARD, but I know I can do it.

I hope I have helped a little, but if not let me know and I will give you more info.

I am glad you joined in and hope to hear more from you.

Pam

Hello Pam and Everyone!

Thanks for info on SA. I am not presently on the CPAP because my MD wanted to see if I would do better after the sinus surgery which I did for a while but now.........I'm getting exhausted again. I have never wanted the CPAP but at this point I may have to get it. I work long hours and some days can't hardly get through my day and it seems to worsen nearly daily. My poor hubby thinks I just "feel bad" all the time. It's true I do most days.....between my diabetes, severe allergies, asthma, Aortic stenosis, and the SA, on top of working 45-65 hours a week and carrying around an extra #150 lbs everyday. Well duh! I think I have been doing pretty well for being as exhausted as I am. Whew! What it would be like to wake up refreshed? Does anyone know?

Thanks so much for sharing with me. {hug} Sometimes I forget that there's someone else out there that have problems. I look forward to getting to know you and hope that somehow in someway I can help you.

Have a Good Day!

~Sherry~

Hello Sherry:

Nice to see that we all have something that we can help each other with. I go back to the doctor in a couple of weeks and hopefully she is going to take me off of some of the high blood pressure medicine I am on since she believes it was mainly caused by SA. Also, you will notice that you retain a lot of fluid, another side effect of SA. I can tell you this, with the CPAP machine I would kill anyone who tried to take it away from me. At first you don't want it because it is not very sexy or glamorous, but let me tell you, after a few nights with it and you will wonder why everyone doesn't sleep with one. The times I do have problems is when my sinuses are really bad and I don't put the mask on right (but that is happening less all the time). Also, I have noticed I get up so much better, have actual energy to do things with my family again (before they did everything without me). It has done wonders. I don't care what I look like at night (I mean we are asleep after awhile anyway) because the way I feel now means ALOT to me! I would recommend that you talk to your doctor again and see about getting on one. Also, if your husband is supportive at all he will not care. My husband said he didn't care because he loved me and didn't want to lose me. SA causes heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure and in severe cases death, so we figure the mask is very little compared to that. Even my 6 year old daughter says I have to put it on so I want stop breathing.

I am 44 years old, my weight right now is 282 (down from 297 July 30), and my height is 5-7". So I would like to be here for my child and am determined if I can't get help elsewhere I am going to find it here or somewhere. So, hang in here and we will get ourselves into a more fit body, and healthier life.

If you ever want to write and you don't want to do it here my home e-mail is [email protected]. I will be here for you no matter what and we can do this together. I have found everyone to be of great help and inspiration. I am truly glad I found this site.

Also, check out this site: www.angelfire.com/ald/hillaryandali/. I am on the friends part of that site under "Our Friends". It is linked to 3fatchicks under other peoples stories "The Long Journey Begins...." .

Take care and keep your chin up!

Pam

Hello Pam!!

Wow, we have a few things in common..........like living in the Lone Star State.....SA........weighing 282.......etc.... I'm glad to know someone I can talk to about the SA. You will be glad to know I made an appointment with my specialist today for this Friday. Do you see an MD in FW-D area or closer to home? Just wondering. So maybe help is coming soon. Now, to rearrange my schedule so I can take off Friday afternoon......

You mentioned the edema (extra fluid) and I have had it for several years and it only seems to get worse. I never knew it was connected to the SA. I'm an LVN but no book, no internet site, nothing has ever mentioned the edema or the extra weight. That is why I think it helps to talk with others who have it. Books don't mention everything.

Thank you again for the info and the friendship.

Have a GREAT Wednesday!!!!!

~Sherry~

Hi!

I am so glad you made an appointment to go see someone on this. I never wanted to deal with it until my husband made me. It hit the fan when one night he said he had a hard time waking me enough to take a breath. He said he kept shaking me and nothing was happening. It scared him so bad that I finally gave in and I am very thankful now that I did.

I want you to let me know what the specialist says okay. You can lean on me while you deal with this. It is very serious and I had no one at the time to lean on or to talk to about it. I have found several people now who has had it for years and they have been a huge help. You learn something new about it every day.

I work in Dallas but live in a small town about 50 miles south of there. My doctor is in Ennis, Texas and my specialist is in Corsicana. Besides being a pulmonary specialist he has a sleep clinic in Corsicana and Dallas.

Good luck and KEEP ME POSTED!

Pam