Obstructive Sleep Apnea Diagnosis.

modawg2k · Jan 2, 2018

Hi, so I started back on TRT in Aug from my primary based purely off my Total T numbers and my symptoms. Yes, horrible idea and wrong of the doctor to do so. I went through a lot of crap with elevated E2, etc during the past few months. In November, I saw an Endo who wanted to find out the root cause of the low T, so we stopped TRT all together. I got prolactin checked out, which came back normal. Just this past week, after being off TRT for 6 weeks, I got labs done. I'm waiting for my Total and Free T, along with FSH and LH to come back.

In the meantime, I saw a sleep medicine doctor, did the sleep studies and came back with Mild obstructive sleep apnea, along with some extra little tidbits like how I didn't breath for 40 seconds and o2 sats down to 81% at its lowest. I'm getting a cpap this week and will start that journey.

I've had poor sleep quality for a few years now, and obviously low t symptoms and poor sleep mimic each other. I'm hoping that with better quality sleep, I will start to see a rise in T without having to go back to TRT.

Vince · Jan 2, 2018

I have a few friends that have sleep apnea, when they started on their machine they rented one first, to make sure they like it and were going to use it. They both got the one they like and use it every night. I'm told it definitely made their quality of life a lot better.

rhino5169 · Jan 2, 2018

I can tell you this.....

Getting my cpap machine was life changing. Not that I sleep great now because I don't but at least I get somewhat decent sleep.
Before the machine I did not sleep well at all. I would fall asleep during the day while driving.

I actually couldn't get used to it at first so it didn't use it for months. Then it tried again, and how it got used to it to was to wear it for a while before going to sleep. I'd sit in a recliner and wear it while watching TV and that helped. Now I cannot sleep without it and it look forward to it, it's almost like a relaxing therapy.
I went through all the different types of masks and I settled on nasal pillows, they are the least obtrusive and do ok while I'm tossing and turning.

When I was diagnosed my dr called me immediately himself instead of the assistants to tell me to get in there today for the prescription and get a machine asap. One of the worst he'd seen, I had 120 apneas per hour, which means I stop breathing every 30 seconds.
I've now used it every night since 2007. I have a 100% compliance rate with an extremely low apnea rate.

modawg2k · Jan 3, 2018

I'm looking forward to seeing what change it has on my overall quality of life. I spent the past couple of years just thinking I was supposed to be feeling this way being a father to little kids. Now most of them sleep through the night and I'm the one who's restless and waking up before they do still. Most uninformed people will say "that's just being a parent" but I don't think not breathing for 40 seconds or having O2 sats down to low 80's is part of being a parent.

My testosterone is tanked right now and I definitely feel the effects on libido. It's amazing how different I felt for those few months I was on it. I'm going to do my best to not jump back on it after my Endo follow up here because I want to see what effects proper sleep has on it first.

Esq · Jan 3, 2018

I was diagnoed with moderate OSA earlier this year. That diagnosis came in the middle of a 6+ month clomid trial which ultimately didn't work for me. I decided to give the CPAP a few months to do its thing before making a final decision on whether to start TRT. My quality of life improved marginally after beginning treatment for the apnea, but I still didn't feel 100%. Surprisingly, my lowest pre-TRT testosteronelevels came AFTER starting CPAP therapy. It may not be related, but I ultimately decided to start TRT (I'm about 2.5 months in at this point), and feel like the combination of TRT and CPAP therapy are improving my quality of life in a very noticeable way.

ranafertility · Jan 16, 2018

rhino5169 said:
I can tell you this.....

Getting my cpap machine was life changing. Not that I sleep great now because I don't but at least I get somewhat decent sleep.
Before the machine I did not sleep well at all. I would fall asleep during the day while driving.

I actually couldn't get used to it at first so it didn't use it for months. Then it tried again, and how it got used to it to was to wear it for a while before going to sleep. I'd sit in a recliner and wear it while watching TV and that helped. Now I cannot sleep without it and it look forward to it, it's almost like a relaxing therapy.
I went through all the different types of masks and I settled on nasal pillows, they are the least obtrusive and do ok while I'm tossing and turning.

When I was diagnosed my dr called me immediately himself instead of the assistants to tell me to get in there today for the prescription and get a machine asap. One of the worst he'd seen, I had 120 apneas per hour, which means I stop breathing every 30 seconds.
I've now used it every night since 2007. I have a 100% compliance rate with an extremely low apnea rate.