Sleep Apnea

Living with sleep apnea pretty much sucks. In October 2005,
after one and a half years of a daily headaches and falling
asleep at red lights, I went through two sleep studies and
faced the fact that I had to sleep the rest of my life with
a machine.
Now all of a sudden the sleep is off again even with the
machine. Fear of thinking that I would have to go through
a sleep study again I have put this growing problem off
for the last few months. Finally, after a two week migraine
and dragging myself around I decided to call the doctor.
My insurance change a few years ago so to be able to see
a sleep doctor under them, I had to have a referral from my
regular doctor. I was able to get and appointment and be seen
last week by him and his office was looking into getting me
in to see a doctor. Hopefully I will know something tomorrow.
Sleeping with a machine nightly is a pain. But if things are
working correctly and oxygen is getting to the brain, its helps
with the migraines. Apparently the pressure needs to be adjusted
on the machine.
When I went through the study before, I was told that I had 146
episodes in a 7 hour study. These episodes may not have just
been where I stopped breathing, they could have been legs jerking
or something like that. But in the times I stopped breathing, I was
told that I stopped anywhere from 10 to 40 seconds at a time. I
can't hold my breathe for 40 seconds. That explains the migraines,
oxygen doesn't make it to the brain, hence a migraine!
I use to go around saying "that was a blonde moment" when I
did or said something off the wall. When I was told I had this mess,
I changed that saying to " that would be my lack of oxygen to the
brain moment"!!!!! Forgive me all you blondes out there....
Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me cause I now understand
there is a machine that can be attached to mine now a days that
could prevent me from having to go a sleep study again. It is suppose
to measure my breathing, register any problems and this should
tell if the pressure needs upping some. I sure hope so, I do not
want to go through all those wires attached to me again.
Thanks for dropping in once again...
Pam

Comments

Pam D said…
A friend of mine went through all of that back in the fall and got her machine. She regained so much energy and was able to even lose almost 40 pounds (on Weight Watchers, but before the machine she didn't even have the energy to GO to Weight Watchers). I just figured that once you got the machine, it was all good; I had no idea there were pressure settings. I hope they can get you in and get it fixed asap... there is NOTHING like a good night's sleep!

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