Wednesday, June 16, 2010

I Have (YAWN).........

Obstructive Sleep Apnea!  Not just OSA, but severe OSA.  There's that "flippin' overachiever" streak coming out again.  It seems that I stop breathing for at least 10 seconds over 100 times an hour.  The average episode of apnea (a Greek word that literally means "without breath") lasts 17 seconds.  The longest episode recorded for me was 33 seconds.  Well, for pete's sake, no wonder I'm so tired all of the time.  First I've got the fibromyalgia zapping all my energy and now OSA on top of that.  I have a narrow airway and it collapses when I'm sleeping.  Can't I just have something normal like simple insomnia and fix it with a pill?  Okay, Debby, no whining! :-)

The night that I did the sleep study, I had no stage 3 or stage 4 (REM) sleep at all.  I'm surprised I'm on my feet, much less actually functioning at home and on the job.

So I go back to see one of the technicians on Friday.  We're going to take an hour or so to let me check out the CPAP mask, try wearing it (I've got this thing about devices on my face, especially covering my nose), see if I can handle having air blasted up my nostrils to keep the airway open....you know....all the fun things a gal likes to do when she has a day off from work.  I had already planned to be seeing a movie on Friday afternoon, but now I'll be panicking at the sleep lab instead.  The next night that I'll actually sleep there is July 7th.  That's when I'll try to sleep for the first time with the mask on and if I can, the tech will spend the night adjusting the air pressure and personalizing other controls just for me.  Because I'm spatial.....I mean special!  Then I get to bring it all home with me and try it out for a month, after which I go back to see Dr. SnoozeAndDoze on August 11th to consult on how I'm doing after a month with the mask and machine.  I'm predicting that by then I will have clawed all the flesh off my face after ripping that thing off every night in my sleep and I'll be a raving, sleepless lunatic, haha.

Let me present you with a little something about OSA for your reading pleasure:

"Obstructive sleep apnea is a very important diagnosis for physicians to consider because of its strong association with and potential cause of the most debilitating medical conditions, including hypertension, cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease, insulin-resistance diabetes, depression, and sleepiness-related accidents.  Over time, untreated obstructive sleep apnea may hasten death through heart disease, hypertension, stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure, cardiac arrhythmia, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, or vehicular or other accident due to sleepiness or other behavioral affects noted."

As Cheech and Chong used to say about some of their marijuana...."That's some serious sh#t."  But that's why we do the sleep study and start using the CPAP mask whether we like it or not.  It keeps all that bad stuff from happening, and we live long enough to play with the nieces' and nephews' children. :-)

I'm going to scroll down to the bottom of the screen now and play with the fish.  Nighty-night, sleep tight!

1 comment:

  1. Suggest a nice dose of alprazalam before they fit you for your new evening look. No use having a panic attack. Might as well have a stock of it around for a while. I'll say it for you....SHIT

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