It remains my winter of doctoring and dieting so what’s up next you ask? You got it; learning to use a CPAP machine to manage sleep apnea. Doctors have been trying to get me to do a sleep study test for decades and I was always resistant; my flawed logic being that I would never use the CPAP machine so why get the test! As Father Time marched on, the combination of high blood pressure and risk of stroke along with sleep challenges and all manner of other complaints which could be related to sleep apnea finally got me to acquiesce and I got the test done. Due to my nocturnal nature and daytime sleep habits the sleep lab couldn’t accommodate me so I did the at home sleep test on my schedule. They sent me home with some kind of computerized gadget, nose tubes and a pulse oximeter that I hooked myself up to. After three nights of trial and error I returned the equipment and waited for my phone appointment with the sleep doctor to hear the results. The gadget captures average hourly sleep disruptions that lead to a score; 30 hourly incidents indicates severe sleep apnea and my score was 59 so surprise, surprise, I’ve got sleep apnea. How he described it is that while sleeping it’s like I’m breathing through a straw (collapsed airway) and getting nudged awake once a minute all night. Sounds wonderful, right?!? No wonder I wake up feeling like a truck hit me most days.
I’d been preparing myself for this outcome so after some Q & A with the doctor and online education, off I went to the medical supply store to pick up my personalized CPAP machine. I was clear this wouldn’t be a one and done effort and that it can take months to get used to the device so I wasn’t too fussed. That night, or I should say early the next morning, I got the thing assembled, suited myself up and attempted to fall asleep. Now remember I normally flip around like a fish and circle around like a dog trying to get comfortable for at least an hour before I fall asleep which I was now trying to do with this air blowing plastic suction cup over my nose and coiled up tube on top of my head with my mouth taped shut to prevent mouth breathing. Oh, and don’t forget, one hand was out of commission due to last week’s wrist surgery further compromising my settling ritual.
The machine itself is fairly quiet but gets louder when you inhale and my inhalations kept getting stronger and the machine louder the more frustrated I got thus, creating a deafening effect. After hours of this, continually adjusting the nose suction device to prevent air leakage and terrorizing Paul with the instruction manual when he got up to go to the bathroom, I was in tears. Did I mention the machine has a ramp up function so the longer it’s on the higher the air pressure gets so if you fall asleep while it is still ramping up and wake up during the night it is to a cyclone of air in your eyes/nose/mouth. The perceived suffocation that followed caused me to quickly rip the thing off after which I fell into a deep sleep due to frustration and exhaustion. I ended up keeping the machine on for 4 hours that first night, although I don’t think I slept much during that time.
Armed with questions I called the respiratory technician the next day who allayed my fears and said I did well to have kept the device on for 4 hours the first night. Feeling more confident, I managed 2-4 hours of use during nights 2-8 although you aren’t considered compliant until you average 4 hours of use a night. A bigger concern was that my sleep deprivation was growing due to the stress of it all. One afternoon while taking a nap, I successfully used the machine without taping my mouth shut so am now able to avoid that restriction. Finally, on night 9, I logged 6 hours of use. If I can keep this up, I will consider myself having successfully navigated what is officially called “CPAP Desensitization,” although I would give it another name not fit to print and don’t even get me started on what this has done to my diet and exercise program.