This article was written by an actual patient of the Sleep Center at Share. We appreciate his willingness to share his experience.
Roger’s Ramblings
Wired for sleep
By Roger McKenzie
Courtesy the Alva Review Courier
I stop breathing in my sleep. At least I used to. This condition, called sleep apnea is actually quite common. I never much worried about it because it didn’t prevent me from sleeping. In fact, I slept too easily. The reason is that a person with sleep apnea doesn’t get a deep sleep. So you are always ready for a nap.
This can be a real problem, however. I have to eat and listen to public radio when I’m driving on long trips. Otherwise, I get sleepy and my wife has to take over. That makes her grouchy. Believe me, that’s something I try to avoid.
It’s also a problem at work. Especially after I’ve eaten lunch and I’m working at the computer, I get sleepy. It was not uncommon to wake up after an involuntary three to five minute snooze. That kind of makes the boss irritable, too.
Oh, I almost forgot. While my sleep at night seemed fine to me, I had another sleep apnea symptom. I snored. Big time. That kept my wife away and made her, well, you know.
When I lived in Texas before moving here, I was tested and given a machine. The C-Pap machine is a forced air machine. You wear a mask and it forces air into your lungs to keep you breathing non-stop. However, when I moved here that machine disappeared in the boxes we packed, many of which remain buried in our basement storage area.
So for almost three years, I lived without it. But my snoring, my sleepiness, and the problems they brought came back. Give my wife credit. She stuck with it. But I knew things had to change. Then I learned about Share Medical Center’s new Center for Sleep Medicine.
I got a referral from my doctor and went to be tested all over again. The process is not without some discomfort, but the folks at the center try to make it as simple and easy as possible.
First, you have to get wired. This is about a 15-20 minute process of having wire leads attached to your body. It makes the FBI version look simple. The wires collect all kinds of data and send them to a computer that is monitored for the next six or seven hours while you sleep.
If you toss and turn a lot (and that’s another sleep problem), the wires make it more difficult. But if you are a turn left once, turn right once, lie on your back or side sleeper like I am, it’s not too bad. Like I say, I never had trouble getting to sleep. I just wasn’t getting enough of the right kind of sleep.
But the wires aren’t the only impediments you have to deal with. Part of the study requires you to wear a mask and use a C-Pap machine. This is so the technician can tell if the machine is improving your sleep patterns. The mask is not unlike that you see worn by fighter pilots in the movies.
The Sleep Center uses two rooms at SMC, but they are not your typical hospital room. Soft lighting and a big queen size bed with really nice sheets await sleep study patients. There’s a big screen television to watch—though only briefly, because soon it will be lights out. Even when the lights go out, however, you are being watched and listened to. An infrared camera on the wall sends pictures of you to the technician in the next room who monitors your sleep. He can interpret the rush of incoming information from the wires attached to your body. From that he can tell exactly what your sleep problem is and how to best fix it.
He stays awake while you sleep. He is also listening to you. If you wake and need something—a drink of water or a trip to the bathroom—you just call out and he’ll come and get you a drink or detach you from your wiring harness so you can get out of bed.
All too soon, hopefully because you are sleeping deeper, the night is over and he will call in to wake you. In my case, I had some apneas that were more severe than normal and I had to go back a second time. I learned that sleep apnea is not only disruptive of your sleep, but can be life threatening. I never took that seriously enough. I do now.
After the second sleep study, I was outfitted with a C-Pap machine especially made for the kind of sleep apneas I was having. The machine I had in Texas was like a Corvair. My new machine is a Corvette. It even has a moisturizer to prevent dry throat.
I faithfully use it. There are no wires to contend with, but the mask still makes me feel like an elephant with a long trunk. It is long enough and small enough, however, that it does not impede my turning in bed. And I still go to sleep easily. I can take off the mask to go to the bathroom or, more likely, to get a midnight snack (which is another problem, but that’s another story). The difference now is that I feel ready to get up when I wake up. I don’t have to drag myself out of bed. My wife’s happy because I don’t snore. My employer’s happy because I’m more productive.
The Sleep Center at SMC is relatively new, but it is state of the art in equipment and people. I’m thankful I went there.
So now, I can work on solving another of my problems. I just haven’t got the nerve to ask my wife what it is yet. |
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