My Sleep Apnea Chronicles

My Sleep Apnea Chronicles

Oh to sleep like a baby again!

To continue with my experiences of dealing with my Sleep Apnea, my bi-pap machine has finally arrived. The young lady from the medical equipment supplier came to the house this past Friday to explain how it works.

It’s quite a technological feat indeed. It’s like an air pump and heated humidifier all in one. It’s about the size of a bedside digital alarm clock with a hose attachment out the back of it attached to the full face mask (over your nose and mouth). She quickly explained to me how simple and easy the machine is to use. She explained the cleaning and care instructions for the hose and mask, then we tried it on to make sure I knew what to do, and that was it.

I couldn’t wait to try it out. I quickly asked my wife if I could take a nap right then? That first night took a little getting used to with the adjustments of the straps that hold the mask in place, but after my first wake up around 3:00am I finally found the right adjustments. It also took a little time to get used to the breathing. I liken it to the first time you ever use a floor buffer. When you try to control it, you spend the whole time with it controlling you. Once I let my natural breathing take place, it felt like the machine responded to me properly It’s hard to explain, but it works.

It’s been Friday, Saturday, and now Sunday night with the machine. I have to say, the caffeine intake has decreased slightly and I have not been falling asleep as often when in a seated position in a car or in front of the computer. I did notice last night that around 7:00pm I was exhausted. I looked at my wife and told her to hold dinner for me, but I’m going to bed. By the time I made it to bed was closer to 8:00pm but the good news is I slept like a baby.

It’s an odd treatment for sure, but whoever invented this procedure should get a Nobel Prize in medicine for sure. Some of the early treatments included surgery to remove adenoids, tonsils if you still had them, even laser surgery to sculpt away some of the inner lining of your mouth and throat leaving you with the sensation of hot pizza burns for long periods of time. No thank you. This apparatus will do just fine.

Now I can’t wait to meet with my doctor again to start talking about how the ph. is doing in my blood. He said he could have 60 to 90 pounds (depending how much I had to lose) off of me within 90 days. That alone makes treatment easy to sleep with.

Once again, if you or anyone you know suffers from some form of sleep disorder, whether it is heavy snoring, fatigue, or constantly falling asleep in abnormal situations, get them to a doctor and discuss the possibility of some form of Sleep Apnea. Don’t wait. There is treatment available that works.