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Whistling in the Dark
There is Only One Thing That I Blog...
Bleary is my middle name, right after "Alfred."
Posted on 2002.07.10 at 09:31Current Mood:
tired
Last night was a rough night -- I'm told I'll have a good number of those before my sleep schedule settles down, over the next couple of weeks. I also discovered the problem with the CPAP machine. Since it inflates you via your nose, when your nose stuffs up, the machine becomes problematic.
Still, one night out of a week of usage really isn't bad. The CPAP has been a life saver. Literally, as it turns out. I've seen the report from my sleep apnea. I literally wasn't getting any stage four or REM sleep each night, and only a tiny bit of stage three -- which means for all intents and purposes I wasn't getting any rest. What's more, I was not breathing for a good three quarters of an hour out of every hour's sleep, and they projected my blood oxygen down into the 40% range on a regular basis.
That kind of low oxygen and, well, suffocation couple with sleep deprivation leads to things like personality shifts, loss of intelligence (!), increasingly poor judgement, falling asleep behind the wheel, strains on your cardiovascular system, stoke, and dying on operating tables. It's very likely that the apnea actually caused the cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure. It's very likely it contributed to continuing nastiness. It's very likely it would have killed me one way or another if it were untreated.
With the CPAP, however, things are almost immediately better. My measured blood oxygen was happily between 90-100% again, I had good hearty stage 3 and 4 sleep and REM (in fact, I'm in what they call "REM rebound, which means my dreams are especially powerful and evocotive right now). And I've gotten incredible sleep for close to a week. I'm in all ways doing better.
But, some nights over the next few weeks will still be hard for sleeping, and when your nose stuffs up, the machine doesn't help. So I'm tired, today.
Still, one night out of a week of usage really isn't bad. The CPAP has been a life saver. Literally, as it turns out. I've seen the report from my sleep apnea. I literally wasn't getting any stage four or REM sleep each night, and only a tiny bit of stage three -- which means for all intents and purposes I wasn't getting any rest. What's more, I was not breathing for a good three quarters of an hour out of every hour's sleep, and they projected my blood oxygen down into the 40% range on a regular basis.
That kind of low oxygen and, well, suffocation couple with sleep deprivation leads to things like personality shifts, loss of intelligence (!), increasingly poor judgement, falling asleep behind the wheel, strains on your cardiovascular system, stoke, and dying on operating tables. It's very likely that the apnea actually caused the cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure. It's very likely it contributed to continuing nastiness. It's very likely it would have killed me one way or another if it were untreated.
With the CPAP, however, things are almost immediately better. My measured blood oxygen was happily between 90-100% again, I had good hearty stage 3 and 4 sleep and REM (in fact, I'm in what they call "REM rebound, which means my dreams are especially powerful and evocotive right now). And I've gotten incredible sleep for close to a week. I'm in all ways doing better.
But, some nights over the next few weeks will still be hard for sleeping, and when your nose stuffs up, the machine doesn't help. So I'm tired, today.