Beware the sleep apnea symptoms...

by Shylakay
(TX)

My son had always shown some signs of snoring..and as he got older would stop breathing while he was sleeping. He was also what they called a " swimmer". He would fall asleep face down in his pillow and then wake up ..gasp for air..and kick his feet ..and then go down again.

I always woke him and had him turn on his side. No one ever talked about sleep apnea. I did not even know anything about it back then. When he was almost 22 his weight started to double..his breathing became even worse and he would fall asleep during the day when he would sit down and he was very hard to wake up.

I would send him to the ER with his wife where they would comment on how bad his sleep apnea was. They even moved his bed closer to the nurses station to keep a better eye on him. They always sent him home with an Rx for antibiotics.

The last time I sent him up there they scheduled an appt with a cardiologist. He was told his heart was 3 times larger than it was suppose to be . NO ONE ever said.. " get this young man to a sleep clinic immediately." or " we are going to keep him and put him in a sleep clinic and get him some help"..

NO ONE.......

Before he could even get to his cardio appt..we woke to my daughter in law screaming. He had died in his sleep, face down in his pillow.

She tried to roll him off the bed and do CPR but he had been gone since around 2:30am. My sons life had JUST begun...

He had just gotten married in my living room one month to the day before he died and he left a beautiful 18 month old daughter behind.

IF you have family that shows ANY symptoms described above.. GET them to a sleep specialist and clinic immediately to be tested for sleep apnea.

Three yrs ago I went to a clinic with some other health problem and mentioned I was afraid I might have sleep apnea since I lost my son at age 22 with it. They immediately pushed me into a sleep clinic and I was diagnosed and put on a CPAP machine within a few days.

I don't understand WHY this couldn't have been the way things went back with my son... but PLEASE don't let this happen to you. Sleep apnea is a deadly dangerous sleep condition. I would not even DREAM of taking a nap during the day without my cpap machine on.

If you know anyone or SEE anyone with symptoms of sleep apnea... GET them help WHILE they are STILL here.

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