Well, back from the sleep clinic and got the stuff out of my hair.
Hubby and I both got in the same time, so things got set up fast as
the tech could talk to us both together while she was getting one or
the other hooked up. Got some more details on what my results were,
I'd only talked to my nurse over the phone when she'd called to say
there was apenea and sleep problems and I needed to get titrated. I'd
canceled my appointment with the doc I had the next week to focus on
getting into the clinic so I'd not gotten full details (figured I'd do
that after everything else).
So, the lowdown is I have mild sleep apnea, I'd only stop breathing
4-5 times an hour. What I have severely is not being able to breath
effeciently once I got to sleep. I'd start breathing rapidly to try
and get enough oxygen. Now I've been a shallow breather for years,
even more so after I developed plueresy when I was in high school and
refused to go to the doctor. Took years for me to breath deeply again.
Then the ATDs I took screwed my breathing up some more, but I thought
nothing of it.
So, in the end, my breathing efficiency while trying to sleep was 65%,
normal is no lower then 85%. No wonder I wasn't getting decent sleep.
So after she got me and hubby hooked up, she brought out the various
maskes and such. Hubby has not liked his current mask as it doesn't
fit right, he's always had problems getting one to fit right. One set
up she showed us was called a Sleep Breeze headset with nasal pillows.
Instead of a mask that fits over the nose and held on with a head
strap, it was a thingy that fit over the top of the head and held a
couple rubber thingies just in the nose to create a seal. I tried it
and suddenly I could breath deeply thru my nose without struggling to
do so!!!!!! Tried a couple mask styles, kept coming back to the nasal
pillow. Hubby tried it and we kept passing it back and forth. I
finally claimed it and the tech got him his own. So that is what we
used for the titration.
The tech recommended I take an Ambien as they really needed 4 hours of
good sleep to get the readings they needed, and after the night before
I wasn't going to argue. I still had problems getting to sleep as I
had to sleep on my back, but I finally did. Did wake up a couple of
times to shift positions, but went right back to sleep right away. Did
not have to get up once to go to the bathroom! Haven't done that in years.
The tech got me up first, hubby had major problems getting to sleep
and she wanted to give him more time. So she got the wires off me,
some of the gook out of my hair and a big cup of coffee :) Introduced
me to the day tech as hubby was still sleeping. Let him sleep a little
while longer and finaly got him up. After we got hubby cleaned up and
I got our stuff packed, the tech took us down to the cafe where we got
a complimentary breakfast. I had a bagel and cream cheese (I was
seriously hungry and didn't have my usual problems with eating
anything). Hubby had scrambled eggs, sausage links, hash browns,
blueberry muffin and coffee.
So we came home, he'll get a hold of everyone concerned to expidite my
CPAP and get him his own nasal pillow set up and with any luck I might
have mine tonight!!!!!!! If we can swing it, I want one with a
humidifier, that was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO nice!
I'm starting to drag a bit now, but I had energy this morning, I
have't felt this good in a long, long time.
Hubby and I both got in the same time, so things got set up fast as
the tech could talk to us both together while she was getting one or
the other hooked up. Got some more details on what my results were,
I'd only talked to my nurse over the phone when she'd called to say
there was apenea and sleep problems and I needed to get titrated. I'd
canceled my appointment with the doc I had the next week to focus on
getting into the clinic so I'd not gotten full details (figured I'd do
that after everything else).
So, the lowdown is I have mild sleep apnea, I'd only stop breathing
4-5 times an hour. What I have severely is not being able to breath
effeciently once I got to sleep. I'd start breathing rapidly to try
and get enough oxygen. Now I've been a shallow breather for years,
even more so after I developed plueresy when I was in high school and
refused to go to the doctor. Took years for me to breath deeply again.
Then the ATDs I took screwed my breathing up some more, but I thought
nothing of it.
So, in the end, my breathing efficiency while trying to sleep was 65%,
normal is no lower then 85%. No wonder I wasn't getting decent sleep.
So after she got me and hubby hooked up, she brought out the various
maskes and such. Hubby has not liked his current mask as it doesn't
fit right, he's always had problems getting one to fit right. One set
up she showed us was called a Sleep Breeze headset with nasal pillows.
Instead of a mask that fits over the nose and held on with a head
strap, it was a thingy that fit over the top of the head and held a
couple rubber thingies just in the nose to create a seal. I tried it
and suddenly I could breath deeply thru my nose without struggling to
do so!!!!!! Tried a couple mask styles, kept coming back to the nasal
pillow. Hubby tried it and we kept passing it back and forth. I
finally claimed it and the tech got him his own. So that is what we
used for the titration.
The tech recommended I take an Ambien as they really needed 4 hours of
good sleep to get the readings they needed, and after the night before
I wasn't going to argue. I still had problems getting to sleep as I
had to sleep on my back, but I finally did. Did wake up a couple of
times to shift positions, but went right back to sleep right away. Did
not have to get up once to go to the bathroom! Haven't done that in years.
The tech got me up first, hubby had major problems getting to sleep
and she wanted to give him more time. So she got the wires off me,
some of the gook out of my hair and a big cup of coffee :) Introduced
me to the day tech as hubby was still sleeping. Let him sleep a little
while longer and finaly got him up. After we got hubby cleaned up and
I got our stuff packed, the tech took us down to the cafe where we got
a complimentary breakfast. I had a bagel and cream cheese (I was
seriously hungry and didn't have my usual problems with eating
anything). Hubby had scrambled eggs, sausage links, hash browns,
blueberry muffin and coffee.
So we came home, he'll get a hold of everyone concerned to expidite my
CPAP and get him his own nasal pillow set up and with any luck I might
have mine tonight!!!!!!! If we can swing it, I want one with a
humidifier, that was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO nice!
I'm starting to drag a bit now, but I had energy this morning, I
have't felt this good in a long, long time.
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