Written by Kevin Hansen, CFILC's Information and Data Specialist
Have
you ever slept for eight to ten hours during the night and then woke up feeling exhausted the
next morning, as if you had not slept at all? Have you ever felt an overwhelming
urge to take a nap after being awake for only a couple of hours because the
eight to ten hours of sleep didn’t feel like enough?
This
is the way that I felt each morning after what I considered a deep sleep. In
fact I would take two naps a day for two hours a each day for three days a week
and I was still tired.
During
an annual physical, I told my doctor about my sleeping problems. After discussing other options we decided that I should be tested for sleep apnea. The first test was
taking oxygen monitoring system home and attaching the sensor to my index
finger as I slept that night. I received the instructions that every time I
woke up I should write down the time that I awoke on a piece of paper. After
the fourth wake up I finally realized that I was waking up a lot at night but
never realized it.
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| photo courtesy of http://sleepapneadisorder.info |
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| photo courtesy of http://sleepdisorders.dolyan.com/ |
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| photo courtesy of http://www.drpaulo |
The
next morning I awoke and went home - and took another nap! A couple of days later my doctor called me in
to go over the results. He told me that I stopped breathing 7 to 10 times a
night and my blood oxygen level went down to 81%. He said that he was
prescribing a CPAP machine for me to use every night. When I heard this I
realized that I actually was waking up multiple times every night. I still had
thought it was just that I was uncomfortable and needed to find a new sleeping
position in my bed or a new bed or pillow. However, this was not the case. The
reality was that I had stopped breathing
and was gasping for air. This personal revelation was very scary!
The
doctor explained to me, that, at night when I sleep my throat closes
shut and does not allow air to move freely. He told me to imagine taking a straw and placing one end of
the straw on my finger and sucking on the other end of it. The straw looses it
shapes and becomes flat and no air can pass through it. This is what was
happening to me every night I thought I was going to sleep. The CPAP machine helps
you re-inflate the collapsed straw -or throat- and thus keeps your blood oxygen levels
higher.
It
took me a couple of weeks to get used to sleeping with the CPAP machine.
I have now slept with this machine for over thirteen years and I cannot imagine
sleeping without it. I wake up feeling refreshed after 7 to 9 hours of sleep
every night and no longer need to take two hour daily naps.
The
CPAP machine is one of the best things that has happened to me – I am grateful
for this life-saving AT device every night.
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| photo courtesy of http://dormiamattress.wordpress.com |
