CPAP

[jeshyr]

In other news, I spotted a flyer up at The Alfred a few weeks back about a new screening test for sleep apnoea using home monitoring instead of an in-hospital sleep study.

I grabbed it, expecting that they would probably tell me that my seven billion comorbid conditions would exclude me from the study, but to my pleasant surprise they didn't! I've been meaning to get a sleep study done for at least three years but because it's not an urgent thing, it's never got to the top of my "medical to do" pile so I was very pleased at this opportunity to get it done.

Also because I found the flyer when I was busy getting the saline infusions, I didn't even have to make a special trip to the Alfred for the purpose - very efficient!

So yes ... it turns out that I have obstructive sleep apnoea. These are the risk factors for OSA:
- Old age ... well, OK, I'm not old but I'm not young any more either ...
- Decreased muscle tone due to nuromuscular disorder, yes hello EDS.
- Decreased airway size due to obesity.
- Decreased airway thingamajig due to allergic reactions too.
- Family history, yes Dad has it too.
- Drugs which relax the muscles, yup got those too.
- I don't drink and I don't smoke, so that's something I guess...

The study people very nicely provided me with a copy of the results at my request. I haven't had a chance to go over them with the doctor yet, but it looks to my uneducated eyes as if it's saying that 8% of my apneas are central or mixed, not just obstructive. I'm not sure if that's a normal OSA result to have those mixed in or not - can any of you tell me?

So yeah, looks like I'll have a CPAP machine in my fairly near future... lucky me.


PS
Stats! Test says: AHI of 43, and ODI of 56.

Comments

[worlds_of_smoke]

oooh. I'm glad that you looked into that. Getting a CPAP helped us so much. I hope it helps you too!

[jeshyr]

I really hope it'll help me feel less fatigue and get some better sleep, but so many times I've had people say "This will help" and it doesn't so I'm trying not to be too hopeful...

[sheramil]

... oh, CPAP! that's a P there at the second letter. i was going to say, that's not how you spell
дерьмо, and why is Jeshyr angry?

[jeshyr]

LOL! Silly troll :)

Are you working at the moment? You smhould totally visit me...

[sheramil]

i tyoattally should i should. i dontaed bplasmas at at the blod bnk last night soassono as i can stand up ill do that.

[azhdragon]

I consider myself lucky that I don't snore enough to qualify for suffering from apnoea - I would never be able to sleep with a cpap machine turned on in the same room. Heck, last night I was sleeping alone in the room and I *still* had to wear earplugs because all the tiny noises in the room were keeping me awake.

[jeshyr]

The potential noise is the thing that's worrying me most actually ... I'm not as sensitive to noise as when I was sicker, but I'm still pretty sensitive. I have nifty audiologist-made earplugs which are very effective, but I've heard that CPAP machines cause bone-conduction-type noise through the mask which would not be blocked by earplugs so I'm nervous about that!!

[kitsune]

So glad you were able to get a sleep study done - knowing is always better, I think, and those numbers are...significant.

Hope the CPAP is manageable for you. daniel finds his makes a big difference - he feels noticeably worse after a night without it nowadays...

[acelightning]

there are now many different designs of CPAP masks, and people usually have to try several different styles before they find one that's completely comfortable. i daresay some of these have different levels of bone conduction. and i think some of the newer machines aren't as noisy as the first models.

i'm very glad to hear you're going to get a CPAP machine, though, because everyone i know who's gotten one has been amazed by their improved energy levels and general feeling of well-being. incidentally, the worse a person sleeps, the more likely they are to gain weight, and conversely, the better the quality of sleep, the easier it is to not gain weight (and maybe even lose some).

(if i've made any horrible typos, it's because i still can't stare into a screen for more than a few minutes before it starts to hurt. sorry.)

*hugs*