[silisili]

Interestingly...well to me, at least, I went to the doctor for being constantly tired when I was younger. The doctor asked how many friends I had, I said oh a few, then diagnosed me with depression and recommended an antidepressant. I left and never went back.

Two or so years later I got a long term girlfriend, who told me I quit breathing in my sleep and gasped for air. Obviously, this is something you don't even think of yourself.

I didn't go on CPAP, but did see an ENT who did a couple sinus surgeries and put me on steroids for chronic sinus inflammation. That treatment changed my whole life. The fatigue disappeared immediately.

[ethbr0]

That was almost my exact experience with a former girlfriend, except my advising her about sleep apnea.

I was amazed no one had mentioned it to her before, as she had quite lengthy pauses and then gasps after them, all night! Scared the hell out of me, until I finally said something, and she went for a sleep study.

[silisili]

It's so wild. The first time I woke up to her hitting and shaking me, she was visibly disturbed by it as I'm sure you were. And here we are our whole lives not even knowing we are doing it!

[Auracle]

Similar experience for me except the root cause was low testosterone (probably ultimately caused by a traumatic brain injury).

I kept telling them the only damned thing I was depressed about was how tired I was.

[silisili]

That was exactly my sentiment! Crazy how many doctors look for the easy way out. Glad you also found your cure.

[mecha_ghidorah]

Hey can you please PM me a bit more info on how you were treated and some facts about your case if you are comfortable to?

I have been using CPAP for years but my case is weird: I was diagnosed in my early 20s, I was not and am not overweight, I only drink socially (so less than once per week), I don't and have never smoked, etc.

CPAP has massively improved my life, I'm feeling much better, but honestly my sleep specialist was kind of shit when it came to answering questions. When I asked about surgeries and the like he just said "No, we can't do that" and I couldn't get him to elaborate on why.

I never pushed it because I used to be too poor and I was too exhausted to bother with screwing with my treatment but I'm reconsidering that. Don't worry I won't take anything you say as medical advice or anything, I just... I dunno I guess I'm curious to hear about the experiences of someone who had a different treatment avenue in some depth. It might make me feel for comfortable/proactive about seeking a second opinion and pushing for specific answers

[silisili]

Hi,

So to avoid confusion here, my surgery wasn't some alternative to CPAP per se, but fixed my breathing issue. In short, my nose got so restricted I could barely breathe from it at all.

My journey began by seeing a doctor for it, who tapped on my forehead and said I don't have a sinus infection, take an allergy pill and go away. Nothing but pseudofed ever helped at all, and that got expensive and restricted.

Then I saw an allergy doctor, who said that's a stupid test and did an MRI and found that I have something like a constant sinus infection, and inflammation everywhere. He sent me to an ENT, which honestly is probably where I should have started. As a side note, I did try allergy shots for about a year with no luck.

The ENT has these cool but odd feeling cameras they shove deep into your nose to see around. It's a horrible feeling tbh, sometimes you feel it in your eye or even tooth(nerves, I guess). He determined I had polyps really bad and a deviated septum, so in one marathon surgery did both.

Afterwards, it was great, and slowly got worse. ENT said polyps were coming back, so put me on a daily sinus rinse with budesonide(sp?). So each night I rinse my nose with that, and have for going on 8 years now I guess. It's kinda gross, you wouldn't believe all the snot that comes out after the steroids open everything up, which usually takes about 20 mins.

Feel free to ask any questions.

[mecha_ghidorah]

Ah thanks. I've had the scope shoved in my nose it is terrible (I had a chuckle after getting tested for COVID because boy is that camera worse).

I definitely don't have a constant sinus infection, so it sounds like your situation isn't at all like mine. At least probably not. Nonetheless I really appreciate your time writing all of that out, thank you