For two hours.
Then they take that off and put one of the whatever-the-hell it's called breathing things, which means having to strap this mask to your face and have it blow air when you inhale for the remainder of the night, with you expected to sleep through it.
Then they take that off and put one of the whatever-the-hell it's called breathing things, which means having to strap this mask to your face and have it blow air when you inhale for the remainder of the night, with you expected to sleep through it.
Let's just say that I'm about to fall over after being up all day after that, and if they decide to tell me "You should wear one of these every night for the rest of your life" I think I'd tell them to go to hell.
Oh yes, so much fun.
15 comments:
Try Breathe Right strips first. Clean your nose with alcohol so that the oils on your skin don't keep the adhesive from letting go during the night, put one on, and see how well you sleep. I've found the store brand that said Sensitive Skin are the best.
I don't know your degree of sleep apnea, how bad it is, or how tired you are during the day. The sleep study will hopefully expose just how bad things are. For me, I used to have to slap myself to stay awake on the freeway driving home after work. I now sleep with a CPAP machine and it has made all the difference in my life. I actually get a great night's sleep now. It takes a while to get over the invasiveness of the mask, etc but Tryptophan helped and now wearing it is just a natural part of night. Sleeping is that critical. Hang in there and push through if you go the CPAP route.
A couple of years ago, I did a sleep study, but it was with some minor gear that I wore at home. No big surprise - severe sleep apnea. I already suspected it.
I hate the CPAP, but I wear it every night, it has made that positive a change on my general well-being.
By all means, gitcher self a CPAP. Incredible difference in sleep quality. Going on 35 years now.
Been sleeping with a cpap for 30 years. They take getting used to. But if you stick it out, you'll never go without it again!
Diagnosed with sleep apnea about 25 years ago. I used to snore loudly enough that guys in the ships berthing thought animals had invaded. CPAP made all the difference and as a side effect of having more energy I lost weight. Yes getting used to it sucks but it is worth it.
+1
I've had two sleep studies. Once they stuck those wires all over me, the last thing I could do is sleep.
I was diagnosed with sleep apnea when I was in the ICU. I kept setting off alarms. I did the sleep study and it wasn't that bad. The reward is well worth the trouble. Mike
I can echo everything above, and sleep studies absolutely suck - but once you get used to the CPAP the difference of actually sleeping instead of waking up (in my case) more than 100 times an hour will change your life. With the exception of living members of the household, my CPAP is what I would try to get out of the house first in a fire.
Some people can sleep with a CPAP/BIPAP machine strapped to their face...most cannot. And while they are an effective treatment they only work if you can tolerate them. I couldn't ...so I Iost 50#. Now I don't need one.
The sleep study I did was a bunch of leads all over my head, but I didn't have a tube or anything. After my formal diagnosis of "about as bad as apena can get" I got the CPAP machine and they gave me a "nose mask" that had 2 straps and a forehead cushion. I used that for a while, but I hate shaving and having any kind of moustache made it hard to keep a good pressure seal, so I went looking for different mask types. One used a mouth guard so I couldn't grind my teeth in the night and mounted on that. That was nice in that it had no straps going around my head, but I never quite got used to the feel of something in my mouth.
It took me a few years to get around to trying it, but I eventually ended up using a "nasal pillow" style one. There's just a single strap holding 2 small pads -1 over each nostril - and I've found that is easiest for me to tolerate and it doesn't matter if I have a full beard. They look like this: https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Replacement-Pillow-System-Assembly/dp/B0D9B3BFNG
But anyway... my quality of life is massively improved in the 15+ years I've had the CPAP now. Don't be afraid to experiment and find out what kind of mask works best for you. You really won't regret it.
+1 on a Nasal Pillow rig. Once you get used to sleeping with your mouth closed it makes an immense difference in your quality of sleep (and life).
Note that newer sleep studies don't require the full wiring harness and may be able to be done at home, like the one my daughter did earlier this year.
I have to agree that the nose pillow style is the way to go.
They were originally planning on the at-home one, then decided that since the problem in Summer it would be better to do the full rig.
At-home would've been nicer.
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