The Mask of the Night
Here is what the new face of my sleeping hours will be.
My second sleep lab was a fitting; they had me take an Ambien, and had me wear a nose mask, then they tried different pressures on me throughout the evening. (This time, thanks to Mr. Ambien, I slept the full night.) Did you know that one of the side effects of Ambien is compulsive gambling? Wanna bet?
I detected no night-and-day with the night spent with the mask because it's a weird place to sleep in a hospital and with all the wires connected. But I definitely had something being done to me overnight, so we'll see what happens. As it stands, I have the mask but I don't have the machine (CPAP) that connects to it; all this has to be observed and approved by my doctor. I expect the machine to arrive soon, and then we'll see.
It would be interesting to see how much more happy and productive (and possibly weight-losing) I'll be with this new tool. Combined with my new drug regimen for my gout/kidney stones and blood pressure, I may be the healthiest in years.
If it doesn't work, of course, I intend to use it to scare children.
Comments
My mom has trying to get me tested for sleep apnea for years, and swears by her darth-vader mask. I hope it works as well for you as it has for her.
Posted by: Will | May 9, 2008 08:56 PM
My wife (once she got past the Indignant Phase, when I told her she snored AND stopped breathing occasionally) got fitted for a mask and CPAP setup.
I hope you find as much improvement in your waking life as my good lady has found.
BTW, she stopped doing Vader impressions after about six months.
Posted by: RynoBloodyRyno | May 9, 2008 11:21 PM
My wife (once she got past the Indignant Phase, when I told her she snored AND stopped breathing occasionally) got fitted for a mask and CPAP setup.
I hope you find as much improvement in your waking life as my good lady has found.
BTW, she stopped doing Vader impressions after about six months.
Posted by: RynoBloodyRyno | May 9, 2008 11:21 PM
Protip: get as many of your consumables online as you possibly can. The "provider" my MD hooked me up with was janky as hell -- as they bill it, that rig you have is $300 worth of plastic strapped onto your head with $80 worth of elastic, which my insurance company cheerily handed over every few months. Online? Like, $70 for the whole damned thing. Any mystery about the size of my health insurance premiums? RESOLVED
I'm happy to go out of pocket for replacement equipment just for the of opting out of their filthy little system.
Posted by: Lazlo Nibble | May 10, 2008 12:25 AM
Please keep us updated on this! I want know what kind of positive effects you get from this as I suspect I may have sleep apnea myself and I need a carrot to take action.
Posted by: Random reader | May 12, 2008 06:05 AM
I've been using a CPAP with a full face mask for about 9 months now, and my quality of sleep is much better than it used to be. Hope you see the same results.
'mute
Posted by: Wintermute | May 12, 2008 09:48 AM