CPAP adventures

Kathy Likes Pink asked me for an update on my sleep apnea treatment. I have found a couple of masks that work well for me and I have been getting good sleep. My favorite one is the Resmed Activa, which looks like this:
Believe it or not, this thing is pretty comfortable. It's made for people who thrash around in their sleep, which includes moi, and it keeps a seal whenever I turn. It's hard to explain if you've never worn a cpap mask, but this is the best one for me.

The other one I like, for those special times when I want air blowing directly up my nostrils, is the Puritan Breeze:


Why does this man look so happy? It's because he knows he will live in the Star Trek future as a Klingon. It's certainly not because he loves wearing a cpap mask.

Although the apnea is being successfully treated, I'm still feeling kind of tired. This may be because of the restless legs (which I've been calling "the jimmy legs" since the Jon Stewart riff), known at night as periodic limb movements of sleep. I know my last post was about new health problems being made up by drug companies, but this really is a disorder that mucks with people's sleep. So yes, I am taking one of the Parkinson's meds for it. My neurologist said that the gambling side effect is rare, and since I take it at night, I shouldn't worry about it. If I start leaping out of bed at 3 am and heading for the track, he wants me to call him. I think it would more likely be online gambling at 3 am, but I'll call him either way.

So that's me and my sleep disorders. I'm not really anxious about these problems, I feel good and hopeful now that they're being treated. And, if anyone from my previous jobs is reading this, I've been on time to work since I started cpap.

Reading all day long for 3 days straight

I seem to have a little obsession with mysteries lately. Once I start reading one, I can't stop until I see how it turns out -- hundreds of pages later. I had 3 days off, I read 3 mysteries. Which means I was pretty much reading non-stop. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but reading mysteries is kind of like eating junk food -- it's good, but not ultimately satisfying.

At first I was distracting myself from the turbulence at home, what with all the contractors and everything. Now I think I am distracting myself from sleep apnea. The treatment isn't so bad, although I did pick up another mask to try because the 1st one kept slipping, but nothing says "frumpy" like wearing a nasal mask to bed. The only marginally cool thing about it is that my breathing sounds like Darth Vader. That would probably impress my nephew. I keep trying to say "Luke, I am your father" but you can't really talk with it on, and Rosie-cat probably wouldn't get the reference anyway.

I'm kind of depressed about the whole thing, I have to say. I mean, I'm glad I found out about it, glad the treatment is working, glad that it *is* treatable, and glad that a number of co-existing conditions are simultaneously clearing up. Part of it is, I feel sad that it wasn't diagnosed sooner, as I've been exhausted a long time, probably because of non-restorative sleep. And part of it, of course, is being sad that I have it at all. It's just going to make my mid-life crisis that much harder. I really feel old when I have to hook myself up to a machine to sleep at night.

But enough kvetching. I'll get used to it and be grateful for having renewed energy and pretty soon it will just be a habit that keeps me healthy. For that, I really am grateful.

Sleep apnea for fun and profit

Ok, it's neither fun nor profitable (discuss!) but I was diagnosed with sleep apnea this week. That's what's been occupying my time and my mind, which has been obsessing over the whole thing and scaring myself s***less by doing PubMed searches and reading many journal articles stating, well, how deadly this condition can be (but only if left untreated). Sleep apnea is one of those diagnoses that can explain a whole lot of other health problems, including behavioral problems, such as the fact that I've never been able to get out of bed on time in the morning, which means I either have to rush around like a madwoman in the morning or I am late, and sometimes both.

I feel like a cornucopia of health problems recently.

Anyway, sleep apnea, for those who don't know, means that you stop breathing during the night. It is diagnosed through a sleep study, where you go to a sleep center such as the one on Lexington Avenue and get yourself hooked up to a bunch of electrodes which record brain, heart, and breathing activity while someone watches you on a monitor. At first I thought "how am I going to sleep like this?" Then I immediately conked out because, hey, I have a sleep disorder. I've been a little tired!

At my worst, I had periods of not breathing 48 times per hour, for at least 10 seconds each time. Doesn't that sound scary??? Between the time of my sleep study and seeing my neurologist, I was afraid to sleep. I thought it would be better to sleep less and breathe more. In some ways, it was.

Now I have a handy-dandy APAP machine (adjustable positive airway pressure; like a CPAP but adjustable rather than constant) and a sexy mask to go with it. Here's the headgear I'm now sporting at night:

Isn't that just delightful? And believe me, it was the best of all the options. But I didn't choose it only for its smashing good looks; it also happened to fit me the best.

I'm glad I've found out about this problem, but sheesh. The whole thing is a big pain.