[T -46yrs] Childhood and Rip Van Winkle

I was born 1962, healthy male the oldest one of a large household. The earliest memory I have of my sleep apnea condition was dozing on the back of my dad at the back of his motorbike while he was driving me from school in Kindergarden. Apparently this happened with some regularity, though I don't remember much of it.

The next memory I have is my classmates laughing at me, while I was nodding off after lunch during my 5th grade. This I remember happened with regularity. This happened all through my high school and I believe I suffered a lot during my higher grades in high school. The theory was that I either ate too much or ate too little at lunch.

Of course, I almost always had a difficult time catching the 8:00 am school bus. Invariably I missed it quite a bit because I did not make it to the bus stop on time. The 45 minute bus ride back from school was of course nap time. The kids thought I was lazy and had a lot of fun at my expense.

One time I remember taking a vacation with my grandparents in a bus. I remember sleeping almost continuosly for 3 days in the bus. The school kids even gave me a nick name "Rip Van Winkle". He is a legendary dutch character, who takes a nap and discovers 20 years have gone by.

Here's a wiki page on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_Van_Winkle

Other than the nap issue, I was relatively slim little kid. I was reasonably athletic and was physically active. I played every sport the school had to offer. I remember talking to my mom who was a pediatrician, and she explained to me that sleep is a function of our brain. She thought that my brain was wired for needing a lot of sleep. This was in the 1960's and early 1970's, she had no notion of obstructive sleep apnea. However she may be still right, I am still not entirely sure that there is no central issues with my brain and whether removal of the OSA will entirely cure my sleep apnea.