Thanks

Jennifernorthover's blog is all about thyroid, but that isn't the one I was looking for.

I don't know much about the drug it's self, but sleep apnea can also lead to thyroid problems, a lot of the patients I do sleep studies on are on that paticular drug, I just read a messege board where someone was talking about that I'll see if I can find it again. 

Do you know anything about

Synthroid (Levothyroxine for the thyroid?

No one really explaned it to me. I asked the N/P office to send the report to my RH doctor. He said he would be glad to go over it with me. They were looking for cancer but ruled that out. i was in the dark about it to be honest. I just thought they were looking into the kidney area with the CT scan but then I got a call to go back to Nuclear medicine to do the bone scan. No one talked to me face to face to tell me anything. When I did go back to my N/P she said everything was fine but did not tell me why it was done in the first place except for the growth.

I will say it is a bit difficult to get used to the CPAP at first, but it's worth it.  Do you know what the growth is?

No not sorry at all. It is nice to think that I might have some hope afterall. I go to a N/P and not very happy with her. She did respond recently though when I came in her office in the middle of the day looking like I was druged up. She sent me to the hospital for a CT scan of my torso and then later for a full body bone scan saying they found a growth on my hip bone. Nothing came of it and I still don't feel better.

Yes! most definately, waking up with a gasp is definately a sign of sleep apnea.  Especially with Lupus, the fatigue and the potential for organ failure, and infection, it is vital that if you have a sleep disorder to get it treated, so it doesn't make your lupus symptoms worse.

 At 23 I was on 3 different blood pressure medications, about 3 months after I got my CPAP machine, I started felling awful, kinda faint, I went to the doctor really upset because I thought this was supposed to help me.  Come to find out my blood pressure was too low, I got to stop taking all 3 blood pressure medicines!!!!!  Not everyone will have that dramatic of results, but getting used to breathig with a machine at night was worth it to have more energy, save money on prescriptions, but I guess I respent that money on new clothes with my 30 lb weight loss.  I'll get off my soapbox now, your probaly sorry you asked.  If you have any other questions I'd be happy to answer them if I can.   Michele

So if they find you do have sleep Apnea also known as OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) they will fit you with a mask, there are 3 main types, full face that goes over your nose and mouth mainly for mouthbreathers and people who can not breath through their nose.  Nasal mask, it goes over your nose only, and as long as you can breathe through your nose you can learn to use this more comfortable choice. And finally the Nasal pillow choice, my pick, it's kinda like a oxygen cannula, only they are larger around and fit snuggly in your nose.  The choice you make, is what ever feels best for you, everyone is differnet.  The CPAP works kinda like a balloon the air pressure holds your airway open so you can breathe normally at night.  The reason oxygen won't work is because when your airway is closed it doesn't matter how high the oxygen is turned on it can't get to your lungs.  But because CPAP holds the airway opne yout oxygen levels stay up where their supposed to be.  Everytime our airways close, our oxygen levels drop our heart speeds up trying to get more oxygen to the body and then we have the wake up I was talking about.  When I dream, I had apnea 52 times an hour, that's almost 1 time every minute! And I didn't even know it was happening.