Posts Tagged ‘Sleep’

I came down with a cold over the weekend and discovered a cold and a CPAP don’t go well together for me.  Having just a nasal mask didn’t work out at all and I ended up taking the mask off pretty quickly in the night.

I also received a call that my data had been reviewed and the Dr. was bumping the pressure from 7cmH2O to 8cmH2O.  I suspected this would be the case, so wasn’t surprised.

I went into the local accessories store and had them increase the pressure on the machine.  I also checked out a demo full face mask to try that before my 30 day period is up on my nasal mask.  I will see how that works in general and specifically with a cold.

It would help if the cold will just go away, since having one has skewed my stats in general much less testing out a different mask.

I got some information back on a discussion the other day that I thought I would share with everyone.  I was providing some information on my diagnosis, what numbers meant, etc to a friend who is a professor at my Alma mater Jamestown College.  Dr. Dana Wallace, Ph.D., was kind enough to send back some information in return.  (I had given her some stats on my REM sleep from my sleep study and said I knew it there was more in depth information, but didn’t have that at hand.)

Here is what she sent back:

Of special interest is the decreased REM sleep.  Below I’ve attached some information on the power of sleep

• Sleep Keeps Us Safe
  • Predators sleep more than prey
• Sleep Restores Our Bodies
  • Growth hormone (GH) (this is watch helps you grow as a kid, build muscle mass, and helps your immune system)
  • Compromise between amount of energy collected and expended
    • More energy spent = more sleep
  • Sleep Helps Us Remember
    • Active role in consolidation of memories
  • Benefits of NREM Sleep
    • Restorative function of sleep
  • Benefits of REM Sleep
    • Increases after learning has taken place
    • Role in brain development
    • REM rebound (basically means elevated mood once you start catching up on REM sleep)

You also will probably notice less muscle aches and joints pain as that is a common complaint with less Stage 4 non-REM sleep.   You also probably saw losses in your concentration, motivation levels, and perception abilities prior to treatment.  I would say that the biggest health risks would boil down to the decreased immune system functioning.  The minute you start messing with immune balance that increases heart disease risk factors.

Well I dropped my data card off on Friday and am waiting to hear back on it.  Seeing as yesterday was the 4th business day they had it I called up.  They hadn’t heard from the doctor yet, so I checked into that.

Called the Sleep Doctors office in Fargo, they hadn’t received any data for review, but I was able to give the gal on the phone some base numbers.  (I reviewed a copy of my stats and had a few numbers to provide.  They would also be contacting the Jamestown office to get the full report.  My numbers haven’t been as good as when I first started, but my AHI (the key number) is less than half of what it was during my sleep study.

The gal from the sleep clinic said that an AHI of 8.8 (normal person should be under 5) and still snoring slightly was of concern, though is good I am doing much better.  What the doctor will probably do is review the reports and then order the pressure be bumped up a little.  I also have my follow up visit with the doctor in a month.  I have to have a follow up visit within 60 days anyways for my insurance to cover the machine.

Soooo now waiting to hear back from someone as to what the plan is, but treatment is still going fairly well.  Haven’t taken an evening nap since starting CPAP treatment and dream a lot more, which to me indicates hitting REM sleep far more than I used to.

In this part we will be looking at how sleep apnea is treated.

Part 5 of 5 – Sleep Apnea Education series

Today, lets look at living with sleep apnea from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.

I was prescribed a CPAP machine..  During my sleep study different air pressures were tested and my sleep Dr set a pressure of 7cmH2O.

As far as living with it goes, both the article and what I have learned so both mention rechecking in with your health care provider from time to time.  After 2 weeks on the CPAP machine, I ran my data card in and they will review that with the doctor to see how treatment is progressing and if any changes need to be made.

The next challenge I am going to have with adjusting to living with a CPAP is travel.  I travel occasionally for work, and have a trip coming up in a couple of weeks.  So I will have to make some adjustments there.  As a frequent traveler, I will have to adjust my routine to account for carrying on a CPAP machine.  (I will blog about my results here.)

See other Education articles on Hosehead Life.  (Including all 5 parts of this Sleep Apnea Education series.)

Well the first week is out of the way.  The results have averaged out to match the last couple of days.

I am still struggling on not pulling off the mask early in the morning an accidentally falling back to sleep, but I think that has something to do with the being stuffy thing and a self-training issue.  However, I believe they were going to give me a call this week to check in, so might be able to ask a couple of the questions that have come up.  (Snoring and being stuffy.)

All in  all, progress is being made.

Well still adjusting to everything.  I turned down the humidity and that seemed to help me sleep at a longer stretch at a time.

I did the weekly cleaning of everything yesterday morning, so hopefully will be able to make that a habit.  Last night was a little tougher as I seemed to get stuffed up and a nasal mask seemed to make that a bit more difficult.  That will be something I ask about this next week to see if there is something I am supposed to do about that, adjust, etc.

Also still snoring slightly, but way way better than I was.  So we will see how this next week goes.  I don’t travel for work till the middle of April – which leaves me plenty of time to adjust to the CPAP here before hitting the road.

Another mixed results sort of night.  Though I am aware that both my body *and* my mind are still adjusting to being on a CPAP.  I really haven’t had a bad night, but the first night has been the best so far.  Perhaps I was just that worn out too.

It is a little annoying that I am still waking up in the middle of the night, but hasn’t been for too long.  I think it is the little bit of moisture sitting on my upper lip that is doing it, so might try turning down the humidity tonight.  I noticed I mentioned it on yesterday’s post as well, but I think I have been worried about changing settings before I am even really used to it.  Not really rain-out, but enough to wake me up.

No matter what, haven’t fallen asleep watching tv on the couch all week.  That is a new one and a positive sign.

Well the third night on CPAP is down.  Still making some adjustment to it.

Woke up around 2am and was going to get something to drink, took off the mask, and fell back asleep for a hour before realizing it.  So missed a hour of use.  Probably not the end of the world, but something I should probably avoid.

Either way, still waking up in the middle of the night.  Might be the slight moisture waking me up, so I could turn down the humidity.  Though while the tendency to tweak everything is there, I feel I haven’t used it long enough to really worry about tweaking settings.  The mask seems to fit well enough without discomfort.  So I am planning on getting a full 7 day stats so help figure out if any changes need to be made.  Then I believe at the 1 month mark is when the doc will review the data and see if any changes need to be made to the prescription.

I doubt I will continue to do the daily updates as hopefully things will settle out as I continue CPAP treatment.

I found the second night had some interesting results as well.  The first night, I slept about 4 hours and woke up, managed to get back to sleep and slept about 4 more hours.  Last night I made it a little over 6 hours before waking up and then got back to sleep for a couple of more hours.

Prior to CPAP treatment I usually got around 6 hours of fairly non-restorative sleep and rarely woke up in the middle of the night.  (Of course it was also fairly common for me to fall asleep on the couch after dinner while watching TV.) However, as I am retraining myself to sleep, I think I will eventually be able to get back to a whole nights sleep.  Also having two days averaging around 8 hours of sleep is pretty good.  This morning though, I am feeling quite well rested.  My wife reported that my snoring decreased from last night.

So indications are that treatment is going well.  Still having a little issue with the nasal mask in that I keep thinking it is leaking, but is probably working fine.  I think that is part of the reason it takes me a little bit to get back to sleep in the middle of the night.