My poor, poor sister :(

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Johnny or EquestriatoLA here.

I have something to tell you all that is very concerning to me. My older sister. She is two years older than me, and is about to get married this Halloween in Hawaii. But that's not what I'm here to talk about.

I am concerned for her, as her brother, because she has sleep apnea, which has been the root of all of her problems lately: She graduated from HS in 2003 (I graduated in 2005) and has not graduated college because of her laziness associated with said sleep apnea. It just makes me think, "What if the marriage doesn't work out?" "How will she graduate college?" And all sorts of other questions that are of some concern to me.

Additionally, because the sleep problem she has, she seems to be getting sick every WEEK. I have times where I think to myself, "I wish I could be my sister's own life coach."

EquestriatoLA will have more to say on this subject when I have more to come up with.

Last edited by equestriatola on 30 Jul 2013, 8:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Why doesn't she get a CPAP machine? They suck to sleep in I hear but it's better than possibly dying in your sleep.

She has. She however, gave up on it for reasons unknown to me.

I was thinking the CPAP machine too. But you need to take a sleep study to confirm the apnea and to determine the best setting of the machine for the individual, as the machine and settings are done by prescription only by law in the US. The test i took was about $4000 and that was just for 1 night. good thing i was working at the time and had insurance then. But i am not sure if she has the means to afford that test.

edit: i was typing this as the OP was replying.

Any other advice for her?

Is she overweight? I think overweight people are prone to sleep apnea. Losing weight and making healthier choices may help if that's the case. Whatever she is not doing that she needs to do, is no good. Sleep Apnea can lead to heart disease if left untreated or treated improperly.

No, she isn't overweight.

Although I wonder, if she's not overweight, does she have a 'bull neck?' It's basically a name for a thick neck, and you don't have to be fat to have it. She might benefit from surgery if she doesn't like the CPAP machine, and she could try looking for a doctor who is willing to be paid over time in installments over having to do it all at once.

www.needymeds.org is one place, although she might want to call up several sleep apnea clinics and ask them, since I don't know if they have those clinics on that site.

Also depending on how her sleep apnea is, she might have to learn to sleep on her side as that helps some people. Everything in the throat and mouth tends to relax and slide backwards do to gravity, and if she tends to have a big tongue or something else big in her throat, it will block her breathing. But sleeping on her side might help her for a bit until she gets treatment, as her tongue or whatever can't completely block her throat.

Got it.