Severe Sleep Apnea

Recently, I went for an overnight sleep test, as a few friends and colleagues were talking about sleep apnea... and things sounded familiar. Snoring? Yup! Feeling tired when you wake up? Yup. Difficulty losing weight? Yup. So I talked to my primary care doctor, who wrote up a referral and off I went.

I was anxious about the whole experience. Strangely, I don't mind hospitals, mostly because I've had more good experiences there than bad, but I was anxious still. What would they find out about me? Would I have to be around sick people? Would someone really watch me sleep all night long?!?!?

My fears were completely abated upon arrival at the sleep lab. Turns out that while it's NEAR the hospital, it's not IN the hospital. The rooms are like slightly over-cleaned hotel rooms - tv, private bathroom, nice mahogany bed with a comfortable mattress and sheets. And super-friendly technicians.

Once I got settled into my room (they even had the Red Sox game on when I arrived! Full satellite tv, too, and no one to fight over the remote with!) in came two techs to "hook me up". I sat in a chair in my pajamas, and they put electrode thingys (like for an EKG) on my chest and legs. This would measure my heart rate and my leg movement. Next, I was fitted for EEG electrodes - which involved goo in my hair. It felt like hair conditioner that got stuck outside the bottle - kind of waxy and soft, and washed away with water easily. More sensors stuck on my face (to determine when REM sleep occurred), a mic on my chin (to measure the decibels of my snoring... I'm guessing it rivals a Who concert!)and off to sleep I went.

They were fine with me taking an Ambien, which was good... given my anxiety and the tubes all hooked up to me, falling asleep wouldn't have been an easy task.

During the night, if I had to... ahem.... get up, I just needed to speak quietly my tech's name (I had on a mic, after all). She would come right in, unplug me and let me do what I needed to do.

Wake up call came at 5:30 am, and I was on the road home by 6. The hardest part about the whole thing was the three shampoos that it took to get the gooey stuff completely out of my hair, but my tech warned me about this. She said just do it three times in one shower, and you'll be good to go. I was.

The results came back a few days ago - I have "severe sleep apnea", which means I need to be fitted for a CPAP machine. I was having sleep interruptions as often as 50-70 times/hour, which mean that while I thought I was sleeping, I was actually just laying there making trouble for myself. The CPAP will fix that. The doctor told me that likely a good number of the problems I've been having that I've been blaming on EBV (no energy, unable to lose weight, general malaise)likely have been caused by - or at least exacerbated by - the apnea.

I go back in September to get fitted for the CPAP. I am looking forward to seeing the difference in my life, and will share my take on it here with you all. Wish me luck!