A little more on apnea...
Not that you are really interested, but...
I've been reading some more about sleep apnea. The last time I did web searches on it, to be honest, I found very little of interest. This time I'm finding a lot more. (Everything in bold is bolded by me.)
On Dr. Koop's web site [http://www.drkoop.com/dyncon/article.asp?id=6899] there's some useful background:
When people with OSAHS fall asleep and the muscles within the upper airway relax, the amount of air reaching the lungs decreases. This means that the blood oxygen levels will drop and the carbon dioxide levels in the blood will rise. The degree to which an individual's oxygen level drops depends upon how much that person weighs (heavy people have faster and more significant drops in their oxygen levels), how much breathing stops, and how low the person's oxygen level was before sleep. Low blood oxygen levels from apneas and hypopneas decrease the amount of oxygen that the brain, heart and other organs receive. This puts stress on these organs and may predispose people with OSAHS to strokes and heart attacks.
Low oxygen levels continually wake up patients, so that no matter how many hours they sleep, they still feel groggy. Due to the frequent wake-ups, people with untreated OSAHS may never get into a deep or dream sleep. The sleepiness, and maybe the low oxygen levels, can have serious adverse consequences on daily life activities including driving and job performance.
Aside from low oxygen levels and sleepiness, people with OSAHS may wake up frequently feeling as if they are suffocating. This sends a big jolt of adrenaline through the body, causing the blood pressure to suddenly increase and the heart to race. Studies are under way, which hopefully will determine how dangerous this is for the heart; intuitively, it does not sound healthy to have boosts in adrenaline all through the night. Not all patients remember these episodes because they quickly fall back to sleep and lose the memory of these events.
There are other problems that OSAHS can cause, including reduced sexual performance with a lower sex drive and/or the inability to achieve an erection for males. OSAHS frequently sends bed-partners to sleep in separate bedrooms because of the noise of the apneas. Finally, a substantial number of people with OSAHS have at least a mild depression. The good news is that most of these symptoms can improve dramatically with adequate treatment.
I've been suspecting that my ailment is due to allergies. It wouldn't be too surprising, since I do live with eight cats. But the sleep problem really got back after I got my first cat, my longhair Jack, and it seems to get worse this same time of year, every year. Maybe cat allergies, dust allergies, dust mites, seasonal, I dunno.
Take Allergies Seriously
Given the prevalence of allergic rhinitis, it is surprising that most people consider allergies "something to live with," preferring to rely on over-the-counter medications to relieve symptoms.
But, according to Dr. Rachelefsky, in addition to runny nose and itchy eyes, non-nasal symptoms can extend to headaches, thirst, sore throat, plugged or itchy ears, diminished taste, chronic or nonproductive cough, mouth breathing, throat clearing, and snorting. Nasal obstruction and mouth breathing can lead to sleep apnea and sleep disturbances.
Allergies can also lead to emotional and psychological symptoms that most often go untreated or even unrecognized as related to allergies. According to a 1990 survey published in Psychosomatic Medicine, allergic rhinitis sufferers have a higher frequency of depression, anxiety, shyness, fearfulness, and fatigue than normal subjects.
Several surveys conducted in 1994 and 1995 and published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology reported impaired quality of life in allergy sufferers. Sleep disturbance alone can seriously reduce overall performance of daily activities.