I was diagnosed with central sleep apnea several years ago. I had approximately 6 central episodes per hour, with drastic effects, and went on a CPAP sometime in 2008. Memory is hazy because a lot of other things have happened since. Dealing with the CPAP/VPAP has been difficult and I wanted to find any way I could to reverse the sleep apnea and get rid of it instead of simply treating the symptoms.
First, I reasoned that since my throat never closes up and prevents breathing while I am awake and lying on my back, that my throat is unlikely to be the cause of sleep apnea. It's just as likely that sore throat and neck thickening are the result of sleep apnea and choking as their cause. So I resolved to focus my inquiry on central sleep apnea, even though the sleep test showed I also had obstructive events, on the assumption that the obstructive events occurred as a result of the central ones.
Second, I noticed that every time I had a vivid dream that I remembered I would awaken with a racing heart beat, in a central apnea attack, often also noticing that I had been holding my breath. After sitting up, holding my arms straight out to the sides and slightly above my shoulders, and breathing slowly and deeply I could get the heartbeat back down to normal levels within a minute. The VPAP seemed to prevent most of these panicked awakenings from dreams, but not all. I would still awaken from dreams at least five nights a week with a racing heartbeat in the 180 to 220 bpm range. This also raised my blood pressure in the mornings.
I'd also note that this reaction to sleep apnea is almost exactly the same reaction suffered by those who undergo waterboarding. And if waterboarding rises to the level of torture, then how much are those with sleep apnea suffering?
The first thing I did in my quest to reverse was lose weight. I dropped 35 lbs going from 235 to 200. For a while I was at 190, but that didn't last. No effect on sleep apnea. Then I tried strength training of my upper body, my lower body being in pretty good shape from the walking I did to lose that weight. That helped reduce the incidence of panicked, racing heart awakenings, and occasionally when I fell asleep without a mask I would awaken hours later with no telltale chest pain, sore throat or headache and no panicked awakening with a racing heartbeat. So I knew it was possible to sleep without experiencing apnea episodes. Having sex before falling asleep also seemed to help with preventing episodes.
Then I recalled that when I was a little boy of about 6 my parents had me checked out by sleep doctors because I was holding my breath when asleep. I would even turn blue. The doctors did a few tests, gave me a placebo, and the problem went away. Bingo! This was an interesting development. The effects of placebos are completely psychological, and if a psychological solution could solve the problem once I reasoned it might work again.
I thought about using hypnosis to convince myself to breathe instead of holding my breath. However, it's very difficult to form that as a well-formed hypnotic command because once you mention holding your breath, "hold your breath" becomes the command. But you can create a well formed command by saying "breathe easily, steadily, evenly, all night long including during dreams." But when I used self hypnosis to install this command I woke up from the hypnotic trance in an apnea attack because I was holding my breath again. Catch 22.
So I decided what I had to do was install the command before I went into trance instead of after. The typical way to do that is to use affirmations immediately before going into trance or falling asleep.
Before I get to the affirmations I am now using there is a tangent.
I came to the realization that I perceived my dreams with a wavy outline. That was the strategy my mind used to differentiate between dream memories and memories of reality. Differentiating between reality and dreams is a very important skill, and if you've ever dealt with a psycho like my ex-wife you will appreciate its importance. But I came to believe that for some reason, my subconscious mind perceived these dreams with wavy borders as being underwater. And because it thought I was underwater it held my breath. Geez, thanks!
Now do I know that for sure? No. But it's good enough as an operating assumption.
I can't communicate consciously in both directions with my own subconscious, because even though one person can listen consciously to another person's subconscious he is unable to listen consciously to his own. But I can communicate one way, from conscious to subconscious, with affirmations, and they work so well there is no reason to use anything else. However, prayer would work at least as well and maybe I should try that too.
Currently I use these affirmations every night before going to sleep. I repeat them as often as needed until I fall asleep. On nights when I forget to use them I usually awaken with an apnea attack. On nights when I use them I rarely do.
- I can easily tell the difference between my dreams and reality because my dreams have a colored border like a polaroid photograph.
- It is very easy for me to breathe steadily, evenly, easily all night long through all the stages of sleep and dreams, and even if I dream of swimming or floating in outer space my mind will remember that I am safe in bed and I can continue to breathe throughout the dream.
Repeat until you fall asleep.
I might get the words mixed up when I'm sleepy but that is essentially what I do. It is helping a lot! I have better mental acuity than I had before I started pursuing this course of reversing central apnea, and my blood pressure has gone down. I awaken with low blood pressure now, just like most people do. I am still using a bp medication but don't need to supplement doses. When I had a raging case of apnea, my blood pressure was higher on awakening than it was in mid-afternoon, or when dealing with my bipolar, borderline personality disorder ex-wife.
I should mention that I continue to use the thickest wedge pillow I can to elevate my head and shoulders. I don't think that will ever go away, though when I travel I have to substitute by getting extra pillows from room service and setting up an impromptu pillow wedge on the bed. Sleeping on my back works best, though I sometimes turn my head to one side or the other.
I'm not a medical doctor and I am not recommending this for others with sleep apnea, but I thought some of you might find it interesting. Certainly if you want to try affirmations while staying on the mask you might find your attacks decreasing. You might not either. It won't hurt either way. And if it helps then I'm glad.
Post edited by: bigembryo, at: 11/02/2011 11:11 AM
