Do I have a sleep disorder?

by John
(Jersey City, NJ)

I am a healthy young 26 year old. I exercise very regularly, 3-5 times a week, and far from being obese. I would in fact say that I am in the best shape of my life, I eat healthy in small meals at the office with junk food on occasion. I occasionally smoke socially. Alcohol consumption is usually only on the weekends.

My problem is that I have daytime sleepiness consistently at the office, most of the time right before my meals and right after. The higher the sugar content of the food, the harder the crash. This occurs about 20-30 minutes after consumption. I also have the hardest time waking in the mornings, even with 8 hours of sleep. I constantly hit the snooze button 4-5 times in the morning before actually getting up. However, the daytime sleepiness never occurs outside of the office, when I am out and about moving around/active.

I also have occasional night sweats in which when they do happen, I awake and turn the pillow twice through the night. Snoring is also regular problem and considerably loud and has been described as if I am not getting enough air/oxygen. Of course, it is at its worst after a night of consuming alcohol.

Is the daytime sleepiness related to my possibly high reactive metabolism since it is before meals (low blood sugar) and after meals (high blood sugar) and in relation to my slow waking/snoozing in the mornings? I have yet to find the correlation for snoring (smoking?) and nightsweats. Any help would be appreciated!

Answer

I've had daytime sleepiness, and I also have high reactive metabolism. I'm not overweight. However, the cause of my daytime sleepiness was due to a shift work pattern: graveyard shifts work, or all night work schedule.

This schedule was terrible for me, because my body couldn't adapt to it. My sleep was poor, and I discovered why: positional sleep apnea.


Some of my symptoms are also found in your description, such as: regular and considerably loud snoring, nightsweats, and excessive daytime sleepiness.

The problem is that I couldn't do any physical exercises like you do, because I was very tired all the time. You, however, have the energy to exercise regularly, 3-5 times a week.

It is possible that you may have sleep apnea, but you need something or someone to confirm it. Although my recommendation is to apply for a sleep study, you can try to diagnose if you have sleep apnea with a simple, in your own home.

Read the page about home sleep apnea testing to learn how to use this simple method. If you have an iPhone, you should find a software that will monitor your sleep like the method described.

Did you hear about Zeo sleep monitor? Zeo is cool device with a smart software, that can show you what happens during your sleep, what is your sleep quality, discover the problems, and teach you what to do to improve your sleep. Visit the Zeo page to see the device, and don't forget to read the Zeo blog to see how effective can be for other sleep deprived patients.


I hope it helps.

Some more interesting pages for you to check out:

• Central sleep apnea together with narcolepsy
  
  
• Falling asleep while reading
  
  
• Are migraine headaches associated with sleep apnea
  

Remy
www.sleep-apnea-guide.com

Please remember...what is posted on these forums are our experiences, thoughts and opinions...it is not always 100% accurate.