OK, so I just woke up from my first nap and I figured I’d just post the whole “story” here to answer everyone’s questions.
So, I was diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea with an average of 35 awakenings per hour. I had an appointment on Tuesday at 1pm to pick up my equipment. Ironically, I overslept and woke up at 1:15. I called the main center and they were able to get me in at 2 instead, so I got dressed and headed over to the same place where I had my studies done.
The lady there went through every part of the machine (which costs $3000 – thank you insurance for picking up most of the tab!). I was originally going to use the mask that I selected in my study which is almost the same as Charles’ mask, but in a size larger because the one I wore then was so small that my mouth barely fit in the damn thing. She convinced me to try a mask that went over my nose and mouth and I was surprised that I actually didn’t mind it. Since they have a 30-day trial period on any mask, I decided to try it out for 2 weeks and if I don’t like it, I can use the other one. I remembered that the “pillows” that go into my nostrils were kind of annoying and slightly irritating to my stupidly-sensitive noseskins. (inside joke)
The tech at the sleep center was very patient and I never felt rushed as she made sure I was completely happy with my choice. She also patiently described how to use the machine and take care of it. I’m just remembering that now because usually I would tend to rush through something like this because I usually treat all employees as if they hate their job when I’m a customer… so I don’t know what she did to actually stop me from doing that and remembering it now, it’s pretty neat that she did that. Our doctor is the same way… he doesn’t mind spending time with you and making sure everything is taken care of. Sometimes it means a longer wait before he comes in but it’s worth it when you know he’s going to do the same with you.
Anyway, I went off track… I had only had a short nap before my appointment (which is why I overslept it) but I had been up for enough hours before the nap to need a full night’s sleep (which for me is 12 hours – see why I need this CPAP?)… so Charles dealt with getting my oil changed so that I could get to sleep. OK, so I didn’t learn my lesson I guess and my oil hadn’t been changed in a little too long so I didn’t want it to be in bad shape before I take it to the dealership to get maintenance done and some things fixed under warranty so I had it changed ahead of time. But that’s another story.
Unfortunately, going to sleep at 5pm is about the dumbest thing I could do because that’s during the prime time of Poker Nation stuff. So basically from 5pm-9pm I received like 5-6 calls and several texts from 3 different people, and had to call a customer to answer a question. Needless to say, my sleep was VERY interrupted.
Charles came to bed around midnight and that pretty much always wakes me up at least for a minute or two. But this time the bridge of my nose was really sore because I probably adjusted that part a little too tight. The rest of my mask fit really well all night but obviously I’m going to have to adjust the top of it. I loosened it in bed but it was already bruised so I decided to just get up and take advantage of the quiet house to get some work done before n00bparty which is in 3 days (OMG).
I can’t say I feel very different at this point but all I really achieved was a nap anyway so I’m not disappointed or anything. Charles hurt his hip on the Stairmaster at the gym, so he’s skipping out until it stops hurting but I’m probably gonna go by myself and get my workout in. I need to catch up to his strength anyway (haha). I am at a new low on my weight tonight (324.0 – 15 pounds of loss) but that might dip a few more fractions since I need to pee (haha).
Oh – I almost forgot to talk about my machine. So, the machine has a “ramp up” feature which starts the pressure low and comfortable and slowly increases for 45 minutes up to your prescribed pressure. I remember when Charles first got his, he was having trouble psyching himself to use this thing and the ramp feature helped him get accustomed to falling asleep with (his words) a giant sucking octopus attached to your face. For the record, I completely understand why he prefers falling asleep naturally instead of on the mask. I just hate when he does it because he feels like dog shit when he wakes up that way.
Now, my machine actually lets me set the start pressure for the ramp-up. Charles’ machine does not. (I have the newer model of his same brand) This is GREAT because the default is the lowest setting of 4 which doesn’t give me enough air so I already changed it to 6 which is what we started with in my sleep study.
This machine also has a feature called “CFLEX” which reduces the pressure when you exhale… this feature is AWESOME. The thing I hated most about wearing Charles’ mask and the ones in the sleep study was that it was hard to exhale against the incoming pressure and it made me feel a bit panicky like I couldn’t breathe. This feature reduces the pressure significantly when it detects you exhaling and it feels a lot more natural to breathe with it than any other CPAP I’ve used. There are three levels of CFLEX… I moved it to the highest setting which is such a drastic decrease that it actually feels like the mask is being sucked back off my face. Not literally, of course. I may go down to 2 when I get used to sleeping with this thing.
Since when my face is sweaty, it itches, any mask is going to be terrible for my eczema. I figured out (during my second study) that if I put my prescription cream on my face before I go to sleep, it does its job and suppresses my immune system reaction and my skin doesn’t itch or break out in a rash. When I did a trial sleep on Charles’ equipment, I had a terrible itchy rash on my face for a few hours until the cream could clear it up. My (awesome) doctor didn’t even blink an eye when I handed him my nearly empty tube and asked him to write me a new prescription. One tube lasts me about two years (seriously, though that may change now since I have to use it every time I go to sleep instead of once or twice a week) so I didn’t have a refill available. He had already said “sure” before he even read to see what the tube was.
So, I have an appointment in 2 weeks to follow up. I can trade masks if I decide I don’t like this one, completely free, and they’re going to check the SD card in my machine to make sure that I’m using it. If I don’t use it, my insurance won’t pay for it. Makes sense.