is this what normal people experience?

It'll be a year this April that I started using the cpap. This morning I got up around 7:15. I didn't sleep in. And I was fairly alert after about ten minutes of puttering around the house. B.C. (Before Cpap) it used to be that it'd take a good hour for me to truly feel awake after getting out of bed. It used to be a struggle to get out of bed. Now, I'm not saying this has been perfect as I can get into a depressive state with the bipolar and end up wanting to sleep all the time. But man is this awesome. Holy shit. Is this what it's supposed to be like? Cause I gotta tell you, this is the best I've felt in ages.

Preachy mode on: If you have been told that you stop breathing while you sleep, please go get a sleep study done. You may want to talk to your doctor even if you've never been told that you stop breathing while sleeping but you are a loud snorer (not all snorers have sleep apnea, but many people who have sleep apnea are snorers).

Sure, you've gone to look at webmd and read the symptoms and you're probably like, "Well, _I_ don't fall asleep at the wheel. Or _I_ don't need to take a nap in the afternoon. _I_ don't have most of those symptoms." Well, neither did I. I snored and people said I stopped breathing. Guess what? That's enough, don't you think? Yeah, It took me a few months to get the nerve to ask my primary care to refer me to a sleep study. But once I did, I was able to schedule it for a Friday night and I was fortunate that it was at a hospital five minutes from my house. It wasn't the most pleasant experience, mind you. But this has been one of the best decisions I've ever made. Ever.

Oh, and btw, you may eat right and exercise but if you have sleep apnea it directly affects cardiovascular health (read this) and use of a cpap will improve things. With a simple device you could improve your cardiovascular health. My cholesterol has dropped. Other people (not me) have experienced weight loss. _I don't snore anymore_. I am even pursuing surgery options that could reduce the snoring and apnea to where I may not have to use the machine all the time (I'll probably have the surgery later this year). How cool is that?

Your loved one may be all like, "Oh, the snoring doesn't affect me." Two days after I started using the cpap, nbh turned to me and said, "I am sleeping so much better. I used to think that your snoring didn't affect me, but I was wrong." Nbh - am I right, or am I right?

Sure, are there nights where I wish I could just fall into bed and go to sleep without taking a moment to put the damn thing on? Yes. Is it a pain in the ass to travel with? Actually, except for one incident with a TSA agent at Logan (assholes), I've flown about seven times in the past year and it's been a great experience. I know that after reading some bulletin boards there are some people who have had issues with cpap adoption in their lives. So no guarantee from me that you'll have such a positive experience adapting to the cpap. I gotta tell ya, tho, I went into it accepting the fact that this will be something I use for the rest of my life and I researched and cried cause these things aren't beautiful and talked and ...well, all the things you should do in order to move on (I followed a "grieving" process - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance). And I think because I went in with that attitude that's why I've had a positive experience. I've even been able to share a room with friends/family and wear the cpap. At first I was nervous and such, but since most of these people were people who shared rooms with me B.C. and experienced my snoring/stop breathing thing were in awe at how much better it was sharing a room with me that it didn't matter what I looked like with the device on. Hehe.

Every day that I wake up with so much less fogginess and every day that I sleep the whole night through, I marvel at what a joy it is to be functioning on a higher level. Best. Decision. Ever. If you decide to explore if you have sleep apnea or not, I'm here for ya. Preachy mode off.

Posted by jennj at March 3, 2007 12:36 PM