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My Journey Through CPAP Treatment - I

I have copied the following here from my personal blog. It has been lightly edited but is mostly the way I wrote it on March 7, 2007 after I had completed my second sleep study or Titration test. I am posting it here to capture how I was feeling before starting CPAP treatment.

After 18 months, or so, of weight gain, loss of drive to do just about anything, and a complete lack of energy, I awoke one night in January gasping for air, scaring the hell out of both my wife and myself. I had long suspected I suffered from sleep apnea (possibly even since childhood) but this got me to actually do something about it. I saw my doctor, he referred me to a sleep center, and I had a sleep study done. They confirmed that indeed I do suffer from obstructive sleep apnea and I was back two weeks later for a CPAP Titration test. Which is really the same as a sleep study with the addition of a CPAP machine to assist your breathing.

I am now awaiting the results of the CPAP Titration test. I will then visit my doctor. He will, in all likelihood, prescribe a CPAP machine for me. I will then visit a medical supply store, purchase such a machine, and sleep with it for the rest of my life. I can't wait. <-- no sarcasm intended.

For more than a year now I have increasingly felt like another person living in my body. Moodiness, lack of energy and drive, irritability, no interest in things I used to enjoy, and lately even memory loss and inability to concentrate. I just want to be me again. If that means I have to sleep with a machine forcing air into my lungs then I welcome it.


Update: Reading this now, Christmas 2008, I can still remember the frustration during the few weeks I waited after my Titration test before I saw my doctor. When I left my family doctor with a prescription for a CPAP machine I called around and found the medical supply company that stayed open latest and went straight there to pick up my new equipment. There was more frustration to come, followed by great satisfaction but I will get into that in a later post.

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Comment by donnalyn on January 9, 2009 at 7:00pm
thank you for sharing., i am almost at the same exact point you are., i am going this sunday for the second test . the one with the cpap on. i was told that i had sleep apnea and that i stopped breathing many many times for differant amounts of time each hour . they said i have obstructive sleep...
i went for this test originally because i do have copd, chronic bronchitis., and was very tired and out of breath all the time on any exsursion. i was thinking it was all from the lung capacity not being good., however, i was told that the sleep apnea can interfere with the breathing while sleeping and cause me to wake in the morning feeling tired and just breathless?
i don't know if this is for me or not... i am skeptical. , as i would be with all types of new things they want to try.
i am going to try it this weekend., "the mask"
i tell you the truth., i do hope it helps with my breathing and energy level. however, i will not know unless i go try it out.
please email me with any information you may have that may be of some help to me., thanks so much., sincerely., donna in las vegas
Comment by E.M. on December 26, 2008 at 1:37pm
Thanks for sharing, Jess. I am on the fence about going through with CPAP myself, so I'm interested in your story.

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