By Randall Baxley
for Awake In America
© 2008 by Awake In America, Inc. All rights reserved.
My life has been a long sleepy saga. I’ve lived a life constantly feeling sleepy. I was sleepy during my wedding. I was sleepy during my honeymoon. I was sleepy when my children were born.
Here’s a little background on my life to help you understand how sleepy I was all the time, starting with the wonderful job I left with one of the world’s largest companies because I could not stay awake at work.
I managed to destroy two fulfilling careers without ever really getting to enjoy them because I was always sleepy. So sleepy, in fact, I would fall asleep while holding open houses. Other times I fell asleep while waiting for signals about commodity trades, including some worth from $200 million dollars and up.
Unlike most people, though, I actually looked forward to dental appointments. The dentist’s office was one place I could go and fall asleep in the chair and no one said anything about my sleeping at “inappropriate” times.
While my life was slowly being stolen from me by a lack of quality sleep, I often entertained my family with sleep walking and sleep talking. My weight was going up and my overall health was going down.
I could lose weight, and I did lose weight. Many times, but it was like a see–saw. I’d lose weight, but almost as soon as I realized anything was happening, my weight was right back up where it was before.
I was athletic and had a good workout routine, followed by a swim and later, a sauna. The sauna was one pleasure I held onto for a long time. I could always sleep in the sauna.
Not all doctors are observant
My overall health kept declining. At one point, my health was so poor that for me to walk 20 steps or to stand long enough to cook breakfast would leave me in a cold sweat. The sweat was caused by pain in my feet and legs.
The back of one of my legs had turned purple. I had several hernia operations, and just when I thought surgery was a thing of the past for me, I had to have my gall bladder removed.
I had an appointment with my regular doctor. I took the opportunity to ask about the purplish color on the lower part of my leg. He turned on the examination light and said he didn’t see anything wrong with my leg. I hit me right then and there: I needed a new doctor.
Sleeping all the time, and then it got bad!
I began seeking referrals from others I knew, including asking doctor who attends the church my family and I attend, hoping he could make a recommendation for a doctor who could help me deal with my health issues. He did give me the name of a doctor, but even then, months went by and my condition worsened. I had not made an appointment with the new doctor and, except for a few hours a day, I was sleeping all day.
One night when my wife and I were in a romantic mood, well, the reality of my situation hit me hard. Seemingly, the act of love shared between a husband–and–wife, something that should be second nature, well, just didn’t happen.
With everything else that was going wrong with my health, it took the inability of me not being able to perform in the bedroom to waken me to the reality of the situation. The thing I should be able to do with my wife just wasn’t possible. It was devastating for me. That’s when I called the new doctor.
This new doctor looked at my legs, saw the one purple leg, and discussed several things with me. We talked about a variety of issues that day, including my falling asleep while sitting in waiting rooms, sleeping most of the day, and my newest symptom: the inability to perform in the bedroom.
Just what the doctor ordered
My new doctor didn’t seem to mind, or hesitate, in ordering tests for all of the things he thought could make my leg turn purple, but also ordered a polysomnography study, otherwise known as a sleep study.
Since then, I’ve learned some insurance companies actually have a financial incentive they give doctors for not ordering a lot of tests. Basically, if the doctors save the insurance companies money, the insurance companies reward the doctors.
The first appointment for a sleep study I was able to get was more than a month away. While not happy about the delay, there was nothing I could do to hurry the process, so I waited. And waited. And waited.
Finally, the day of my sleep study was at–hand. I arrived at the hospital in my normal zombie–like state: mind foggy, me tired, and ready to go to sleep. Once there, I had a walk of more than 500 feet to get to the admissions office. I completed all the paperwork, and then I trekked, in my sleep–deprived state, back to the elevator so I could finally head to the sleep lab.
When I arrived at the sleep lab, I was perspiring so heavily that my shirt was wet, not to mention how high my blood pressure had shot up from the walking. Obviously, there were many dynamics going on with my health.
Sleep lab experiences vary greatly
After getting ready for bed, a nurse at the sleep lab wired me with 20–some wires from head–to–toe. After that, it was off–to–bed for me.
Sometime during the night, the nurse woke me to put a mask on my face. When I woke the next morning, I still felt like a zombie. I learned only half the test had been done. It seems I did not take well to the mask during the sleep study. The surprising thing: no one at the lab did absolutely nothing — not a thing to help me use the mask — or to become comfortable with it during the sleep study, also known as a polysomnogram.
Since the entire sleep study was not completed, which, in my case, was supposed to be what’s called a split–night study. A split–night sleep study is where the patient sleeps half the night while being monitored for sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and other signs of various sleep disorders. Since I was being tested for apnea, the second half
of the night was supposed to be when the sleep technicians and nurse performed a titration on me.
The titration is when the patient is given a CPAP mask, whether a nasal mask, full–face mask, or nasal pillows, to wear, and while wearing the mask and while the patient sleeps, the technicians adjust the amount of air pressure flowing into the mask, then into the nose, and then into the nasal passages and into the airway. It’s the air pressure delivered into the airway that maintains a patent airway and eliminating the apneas.
My next appointment was — once again — more than a month away.
Needless to say, I was angry.
I called my insurance company and was provided with a list of several sleep labs in my area. By calling those labs, I was able to schedule an appointment for the next night, which went much better.
The walk from the front door to the elevator was a short distance, as was the walk from the elevator to the sleep lab. The beds were more comfortable, and the sleep lab personnel seemed more professional and pleasant.
Since I was at a different sleep lab, I had to go through the entire sleep study: both the diagnostic portion, where I am evaluated for sleep apnea for half the night, then the titration during the second half of the night. The sleep study report shows I had about 180 apneas an hour. An apnea means you stop breathing for at least 10 times an hour, and each time you stop breathing, it is for a period of 10 seconds or longer each time. It also showed I needed a CPAP machine with a pressure of 16cm/H2O.
I was sleeping when a representative from a local home health care company, often called durable medical equipment (DME) companies, delivered a CPAP machine, mask, and tubing to my home. The machine he brought out to me was used, but it was also loud. The mask was like an oxygen mask, having two prongs that fit into my nostrils. The mask didn’t fit my face well. When the DME representative left, I went back to sleep, but not before putting a towel under the CPAP device to dampen the noise.
Following some advice from experienced CPAP and BiPAP users from an online support group, I tried everything to help the mask fit. In the end, it was a mask my brother told me about, an Adams Circuit, which worked for me.
Finding support and help
In my early days of CPAP therapy, Internet searches became my friend. I found one online CPAP sales site to be very helpful, though I’ve never purchased anything from them.
One bit of information I found on that site was a way to use PVC pipe to make your own straps to make the Adams Circuit stay on your head better. On my own, I had tried straps people use to keep their glasses from slipping, socks, shoelaces, elastic, hair bands, head bands, rubber bands, and other things to make my head gear work better.
While browsing the CPAP site one day, I saw information about a mask called the Nasal–Aire. I found durable medical equipment company that would order one for me, as it wasn’t an item the company usually ordered.
Little by little, my health was coming back. I got the Nasal–Aire and began using it every time I slept. Over the next two years, I ordered two new masks. Masks like the Nasal–Aire were not made by any of the big companies in the sleep apnea field, such as Respironics, ResMed, Puritan–Bennett (a division of Tyco Healthcare) among others. Now several similar masks are available from different manufacturers.
Life’s changed since being diagnosed
It’s been six years since I was diagnosed. I have a new CPAP machine and it is much quieter than the first machine I had. Sometimes when I turn on the machine, because it’s so quiet, I have to feel for air blowing out of the hose to be sure the machine is running.
Since being diagnosed with sleep apnea, I’ve regained energy. A renewed energy level has helped me become more active, and as a result, I’ve lost weight. Over time, though, I’ve put weight on, but then took it off again.
After undergoing a new sleep study in 2006, I switched from a CPAP device to an APAP device. The difference is that while a CPAP blows a constant pressure, the APAP blows a constant pressure of air, but, based on any snoring, apneas, or other needs, the pressure can be increased or decreased automatically by the machine.
There are still nights when I would like to not have to fill the humidifier or put on the mask, but being healthy is worth the little bit of hassle it causes in my life.
If you face a challenge when starting, or even after you’re on a CPAP or BiPAP machine for awhile, remember to keep trying. Ask for help — and keep asking if needed — until you get answers.
In terms of support, it’s best if you seek information from credible online information sources and online support groups.
Credible Web sites and online support groups, if backed by people who care and are knowledgeable, can be a wealth of information.
While looking for a support system, also be sure to look for local support groups in your area. If there are no support groups in your area already, you can always start one or help in getting one started.
While some of my other health problems may not be resolved, by getting a full night’s sleep, every night, without having apneas, provides me with a healing sleep. Having my blood oxygen levels at normal levels while I sleep has helped deal with other issues. Be sure you and your doctors find just what you need, and then be sure you get what you need.
To contact Randall Baxley, email him now.
/Conquered Challenges – Sleep Apnea/dentist-office-and-sauna-helped-maintain-former-sleepy-life/2008-12-02.0817
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