My journey with Sleep Apnea
Just got home from a sleep study, and I am tired.
Like many obese people, I have sleep apnea. I was first diagnosed 8 years ago and sleep wearing a CPAP machine, which provides a continuous column of air to keep my airways open during the night. Last night was a long-overdue follow-up study to determine if any adjustments need to be made.
Because it had been so long, they had to re-baseline me, meaning they had to do a “split-study”. During a split-study, they make you go to sleep without any machines and measure your sleep interruptions. I could not stay asleep. I’d grown so accustomed to sleeping with a CPAP that I felt the way other people might feel trying to sleep with the lights on and music blaring.
Even with the fractured sleep, they managed to measure enough sleep interruptions to warrant the second half of the study, measuring my sleep interruptions with their CPAP. The purpose is to determine the appropriate settings for my machine. Had I not had at 30 interruptions in two hours of sleep, I would not have taken the second half of the study.
It will be several weeks before the results are analyzed and any adjustments made. The first time I went through the study, I was measured with 114 interruptions per hour, or one about every 40 seconds. Obviously, this was considered very severe, and there was an immediate improvement in some aspects of my health once I started sleeping with a CPAP:
- More energy.
- Better memory.
- Less cravings for sugar and caffeine.
- Complete elimination of daytime sleepiness.
In the past year, I’ve noticed more sleepiness in the afternoon. I try to combat this with sugar and caffeine, which exacerbates my weight problem. I’ve also noticed that I’m forgetting details at work. My wife also told me I’ve started snoring again, even with the CPAP. For these reasons, I felt it was time to get checked out again.
So, even though I’m fairly miserable from last night’s lack of quality sleep, I feel good about getting the information I’ll need to take care of my apnea. Hopefully, I’ll see the same results this around.
