totor55

thank you

that is what I am doing, consulting specialists

I would love you to be right, but I am living proof you are wrong. If I understand what I read correctly, it is complex: breathing is controlled by a feedback loop measuring oxygen in blood all the way to controlling the muscles required to breathe. Along this chain, many elements can be confused, and the result of the chain is no longer working. For example, the measure of oxygen in your blood can be wrong. I dont know yet what I have, but I now know that even during the day, my level of oxygen drops below 90%, all the way down to 80%. And just to make sure I set this straight: yes, it has happened many times to me over the past ten years when working, all the sudden I had typical pain of CO2 in my lungs (like when running with insufficient breathing), and realised I had not taken a breath for a bit of time, so "Oh, jeez, I forgot to breath again". After ten years, this time I will get to the bottom of this.

Thank you for that, I think I will first get an MRI and from there go to the sleep clinic - or not, if the MRI gives bad news.

, I did more research. Most services to detect are doing what I did with my oxymeter. I might still book a test to ensure the neurologist is looking at proven data.

Hello, so my story, at least the part up to now:

Problem Now, about 10 years ago, I started to develop alarming symptoms, such as BPPV (Begning Paroxysmal Vertigo, where crystals in your inner ear start moving and your eyes are shifting very quickly), headaches and migraines. After an alarming initial diagnostic of brain cancer, I was cleared, but told that interestingly my brain looked 15 years older than my age (white spots). Since then, I have had symptoms such as memory loss, loss of speech, inability to focus, all in episodes, and a lot of them early in the morning.

Then two things occurred:

1. I started waking up in the middle of the night, with increasing frequency, with a massive pain the back of the head, around 3-4 ish. I would, if I moved, feel a sort of tingling / burning sensation.
2. After having owned a fitness monitor to verify the quality of my sleep (Whoop) that confirmed that my sleep was close to ideal - I moved to a different tracker (for completely different reasons), the fenix 6 pro which has an SPO2 monitor. To be brutally honest, I only turned on the SPO2 because I am a little bit of a geek and wanted all the functions on my gadget to work. Even though I did not think much of it, as I would not trust its accuracy.

By total accident, after worst episodes of migraines and bad sleep for 2 weeks, I opened the application on SPO2 records. I was totally shocked to discover that the watch had recorded my SPO2 level to drop to as low as 82% exactly at the time I would wake up.

I did two things:

1. I went to the doctor, and I am now referred to a neurologist as very likely to have another brain cancer scan - but at least provided me with a medication which improves blood flow
2. I bought a medical grade oxymeter, one that sits on the wrist but has an extension to the finger

I set the limit of oxygen at 90% which is I think when brain lack of oxygen is really bad. The device woke me up about six times the first night, and every time, all I had to do is breathe, for everything to go back to normal. My level of oxygen was nearly all night below 95%.

So with a bit more research, it is rather bad news, as I probably have central apnea (I don't snore, I am not overweight) so something is confusing the feedback loop, probably putting pressure on me brainstem.

Pity is takes 3 weeks to see a neurologist, as it is quite stressful.

to be continued