It's been a while since I blogged - we've been a bit busy travelling to and from Adelaide - 3 trips in 3 weekends!
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Last weekend it was for the AC/DC concert for Gus and Brianna - which was so disappointing for Gus because of the sound quality. He hated it! Other than that, it was a nice weekend spent with our girls.
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I bought a Nutri-bullet blender...which I have been giving a workout!...
More on these later!
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Anyhoo, on the 16th Nov, I received my results for my Sleep Apnoea (SA) test which I did back on the 4th and they were not good! Jen, who did my testing was quite alarmed and suggested I come the following day to be fitted for a machine.
Basically, I have 'very severe SA' where I stop breathing during my sleep. The stats showed I had 72 episodes (of not breathing) in 1 hour and one of those episodes was for 61.8 seconds - over a minute not breathing. Hold your breath and try that!
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So this bad boy is my new room mate - along with over a meter of tubing ...
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...and this highly fashionable piece of aparatus, known as a full face continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) mask...
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I have been struggling to find comfort wearing this blasted thing - it is not wearing the mask that bothers me, or the soft whooshing noise it makes as I breathe in and out - its the fact that at some points during the night, it begins to leak air so it has to be adjusted - sit up in bed, turn on light - adjust looking in a hand mirror, oops forgot to have a drink of water for dry mouth before doing so, settle back down to bed, leaks again in half an hour, rinse, lather repeat! I have not been sleeping well and most nights only tolerate the mask for 2-4 hours before turning it all off! Then I sleep...but do I breathe??
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I know it will get better but gee, its hard! The machine has an SD card inserted in it so each week I am taking the machine back to the chemist who does these tests and they upload my data to see how long I use the machine and how many episodes I have per hour. The episodes are way down from that initial 72 to sometimes 9 an hour so the machine is doing its job - its just not letting me sleep a whole lot!
Okay, stop whining Joolz, you're not dying!
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Are there any readers who have a CPAP machine - every one I talk to knows of someone who does. I'd welcome any tips and feedback.
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Cheers - Joolz xx
Hi Joolz, I have S and the CPAP machine takes a bit of getting used to. Have you tried adjusting the straps? I find that when they are loose it makes it move and lets the mask leak. I have mine taut but not tight if you know what I mean. Though it is hard to find the right position for the straps. Good luck and it's worth it because you will feel better.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jane. Yes, its just another adjustment in life! :)
DeleteOh dear, Joolz. It must be so difficult getting used to those machines. I don't sleep well either but I don't think I could cope with wearing one of those. Good on you for trying and I hope it works for you.
ReplyDeleteMy first comment disappeared while typing...don't know if I hit 'publish' accidentally or not. I wear a CPAP too. Carey got tired of waking me up to tell me to breathe. :) I've been bad about not wearing it lately...not sure why except that I've started sleeping on my stomach and don't seem to stop breathing when I do that. I really need to wear it regardless. I know a woman whose daughter died in her sleep...she had a CPAP but wasn't wearing it. Scary.
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