postr/StutterMay 4, 2019

Get a sleep study done... now

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Get a sleep study done... now Hello all, I have posted here a few times and I love having a community that I can relate to. I have been stuttering since my early teens. I remember that I have always struggled with sleep. I never wake up refreshed or energized.. always tired for the most part. I downed 2-3 energy drinks a day just to keep awake let alone get energy from them. I recently spoke with a therapist about my anxiety problems as they have risen in the past year. It was so bad I couldn’t even function at work and my stutter got so bad I was in such a depressed state. He referred me to a sleep lab. My sleep study showed that I woke up 29 times a hour, and a normal 8 hour period of sleep for me equates to a 1 hour sleep period for people with normal/low apnea. I was then prescribed a CPAP machine. It was hard at first to keep the machine on overnight. I would unknowingly take it off in my sleep and wake up to realize what I had done. After about 2 weeks I finally got used to it and I don’t take it off anymore. My speech has improved about 80-90% of what it once was in combination with speech therapy with NO medications. If you read into sleep apnea, it causes increased anxiety and depression which makes our speech way worse (not all ofcourse, we are all different with our speeches for the most part). I’m not saying that speech apnea is causing your speech problems.. but if you snore, wake up feeling tired even tho you slept 8+ hours... it is definitely worth the trip to see a sleep specialist. You never know what could happen. This has changed my life and I hope that someone, one person, reads this and I can make an impact on theirs too.

Themes

Causes & VariabilityMeds & SubstancesTherapy & Professional

Subthemes

Energy & Biological RhythmsHelpful Med OutcomesTherapy Experiences