Comments on: Rosie O’Donnell and the 5 Sleep Myths That Women Have http://doctorstevenpark.com/rosie-o%e2%80%99donnell-and-the-5-sleep-myths-that-women-have How You Can Breathe Better, Sleep Better, And Live Better1 Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:10:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Anna http://doctorstevenpark.com/rosie-o%e2%80%99donnell-and-the-5-sleep-myths-that-women-have/comment-page-1#comment-10935 Anna Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:52:31 +0000 http://doctorstevenpark.com/?p=871#comment-10935 One of the symptoms that had plagued me for years was waking bolt upright at night with violent coughing fits. The intense coughing was likely a factor in my pelvic organ prolapse condition, too. Both I and my primary care physician thought it was post nasal drip causing the uncontrollable coughing fits and over many years I tried many OTC and Rx remedies to reduce the drip, as well as increased dusting and and sleeping in a semi-upright position. Mostly I just learned to live with it, but when it was frequent I was always exhausted from lack of sleep. No one ever considered it was sleep apnea. I didn't fit the "profile": BMI of 22, pre-menopausal, no snoring, side-sleeper, nose-breather, etc. My HMO primary care physician was determined that I was not hypothyroid, though I learned that was not the case at all. My husband was the one who noticed that my nighttime coughing fits ceased when I was finally treated for hypothyroidism (first by an out-of-network doctor, then later by an HMO endocrinologist, now I see an out-of-network doctor who takes a more holistic approach to health and well-being). My son noticed I no longer had uncontrollable yawning attacks when I read aloud to him. I suspect the undiagnosed hypothyroidism was the underlying culprit in these fatigue and waking/sleeping problems that must be related to my breathing, compounded by my cells being starved of thyroid hormone, especially T3. Treatment with synthetic T4, eventually transitioning to T4/T3, then eventually to natural desiccated thyroid hormone led to increasingly better sleep & better days all around. It's significant that I have a return of some hypothyroid symptoms, including difficult sleep patterns, daytime fatigue, afternoon energy lumps and throat aches, and sporadic nighttime coughing fits beginning in mid-August and increasing into the fall season. By mid-September I am symptomatic again. Over the past 4 years of treatment for hypothyroidism, this pattern has repeated every year (it took 2-3 years to see the pattern, though) - despite the mild climate in So Cal the daylight hours do change, so perhaps it is a circadian rhythm thing. I seem to need a slight seasonal adjustment of my thyroid Rx (higher in fall/winter, lower in spring/summer). Then the symptoms fade and my lab results improve. Then in the spring as the days get longer, my Rx dose can be reduced by the same amount without a return of symptoms. One of the symptoms that had plagued me for years was waking bolt upright at night with violent coughing fits. The intense coughing was likely a factor in my pelvic organ prolapse condition, too. Both I and my primary care physician thought it was post nasal drip causing the uncontrollable coughing fits and over many years I tried many OTC and Rx remedies to reduce the drip, as well as increased dusting and and sleeping in a semi-upright position. Mostly I just learned to live with it, but when it was frequent I was always exhausted from lack of sleep. No one ever considered it was sleep apnea. I didn’t fit the “profile”: BMI of 22, pre-menopausal, no snoring, side-sleeper, nose-breather, etc. My HMO primary care physician was determined that I was not hypothyroid, though I learned that was not the case at all.

My husband was the one who noticed that my nighttime coughing fits ceased when I was finally treated for hypothyroidism (first by an out-of-network doctor, then later by an HMO endocrinologist, now I see an out-of-network doctor who takes a more holistic approach to health and well-being). My son noticed I no longer had uncontrollable yawning attacks when I read aloud to him. I suspect the undiagnosed hypothyroidism was the underlying culprit in these fatigue and waking/sleeping problems that must be related to my breathing, compounded by my cells being starved of thyroid hormone, especially T3. Treatment with synthetic T4, eventually transitioning to T4/T3, then eventually to natural desiccated thyroid hormone led to increasingly better sleep & better days all around.

It’s significant that I have a return of some hypothyroid symptoms, including difficult sleep patterns, daytime fatigue, afternoon energy lumps and throat aches, and sporadic nighttime coughing fits beginning in mid-August and increasing into the fall season. By mid-September I am symptomatic again. Over the past 4 years of treatment for hypothyroidism, this pattern has repeated every year (it took 2-3 years to see the pattern, though) – despite the mild climate in So Cal the daylight hours do change, so perhaps it is a circadian rhythm thing. I seem to need a slight seasonal adjustment of my thyroid Rx (higher in fall/winter, lower in spring/summer). Then the symptoms fade and my lab results improve. Then in the spring as the days get longer, my Rx dose can be reduced by the same amount without a return of symptoms.

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