Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)

Five years ago a doctor asked if I was sleeping well.  I thought so.  My wife did not think so.

My wrong analysis resulted in Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP).   

I never knew this could be a problem.  I was told diplomatically by my wife, Jean, I snored when I slept.  I never heard it.  I never knew I did it.  But I guess I did.  I always assumed I snored less than my brother-in-law.  My brother-in-law could be heard when we camped with him and his wife a substantial distance from their tent.  I thought the snoring range of my brother-in-law could not be eclipsed by someone like me.  Jean acknowledged a number of times my snoring may not be as loud as my brother-in-law's but it was substantial nonetheless.

I never thought anything about snoring until I had a doctor's visit in spring 2014.  I had some ailment which led me and Jean to our urgent care clinic.  I was examined by a woman doctor who asked an interesting question, "Do you sleep well?"

I responded to her query with, "I think so."  She suggested part of the reason I was in urgent care was due to a problem with my sleeping.  Her initial diagnosis from her was sleep apnea.  She suggested I talk to my primary physician.

Taking her advice, I contacted my primary physician who agreed it was worth determining whether the urgent care doctor's hunch was correct.  I was then referred to University of Wisconsin Sleep Clinic.  Until we heard from the clinic, Jean and I did not know it existed.

The Sleep Clinic started with a preliminary study.  I was hooked up to a monitor for a night at home.  I was to sleep the whole night with the monitor, return the monitor, and await for the results.  Jean hooked me up to sleep monitor.

After I was hooked to the monitor I felt as if I were a trussed turkey waiting for Thanksgiving. I certainly looked like it as shown in the picture above.

I went to bed with this apparatus on and an hour later we had a tornado warning.  I had to unhook much of the apparatus and head down into our basement.  After we had an all clear, I then trudged back to bed and re-attached the monitor and all of its accouterments.  I then had a fitful night of sleep.

Madison had a tornado but not where we live and so the monitor had data when I woke up the next morning.  We took the monitor back to the sleep folks and awaited the results.

The results from the one-night monitor demonstrated I had a sleep problem  The sleep people did not know how bad the problem was until they told me to come back a week later for another sleep study.

This time the sleep study occurred in the basement of the Wisconsin Sleep Center building which is located about two miles from our house.  Me and three other sleep study people were ushered into the building, given a synopsis of what would occur, watched a fifteen minute movie, and then were escorted to a waiting area.

After a 15 minute wait I was summoned by a young, female sleep researcher.  Besides sleep research, she was a waitress at a nearby restaurant.  She told me I would be placed in a room with telemetry, some of it hooked to me, some of it watching me, as I slept.  She and the telemetry would watch me all night.  After the data from the sleep study was analyzed my primary physician would be contacted.  After that contact then something may or may not be done.

 She left and told me to change to pajamas I was told to bring to the sleep study. After I changed, she hooked me up to all of the instruments and then wished me a good night.  She turned off the lights and  told me to get some sleep.  All of this happened around 8 pm and because I do not normally go to bed until 10 pm, I sat in the darkened room staring at the ceiling for a long time.

The next morning my sleep researcher came in and said they had all of the data they needed for the sleep study.  I was told to change, sign some papers, and  then I was released.

My primary physician was contacted at the end of the next week.  As it turned out, I came in second place regarding the overall results of the sleep study.  I had stopped breathing and  then started breathing again, 70 times in an hour.  The 70 times an hour was only good for second place because someone had stopped breathing and resumed breathing 84 times in an hour during a sleep study. Nonetheless, the people at the sleep study were impressed at my 70 times an hour no breathing sequences. I found out I was good at something I should not do, interrupted sleeping.

After these results, I was immediately paired with a CPAP machine.  What does a CPAP machine do?  According to the literature:

 "the soft, steady jet of air from the CPAP machine creates enough pressure to keep the airway open."

I have to admit the CPAP machine is responsible for a better night of sleep.  In fact, I take it with me wherever I go, it helps that much. 

The CPAP machine is a burden.  It is not light and does add considerable weight to your luggage.  It also likes distilled water which it consumes at an amazing rate each night.

But, I should expect it to be a burden.  What else do you expect when you finish in second place?