I officially have obstructive sleep apnea. Apnea literally means "without breath" in Latin. So, sleep apnea is sleep without breath. It is a common disorder that can be serious. In sleep apnea, my breathing stops or gets very shallow. Each pause in breathing typically lasts 10 to 20 seconds or more. These pauses can occur 20 to 30 times or more an hour. I was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea. I stop breathing 56 times an hour! It is a little unnerving to think that I was so sick and never knew it. Read on and see how dangerous it is. I had so many symptoms of sleep apnea and was relating them all to other conditions which I was seeking medical help for! A pill for this and a pill for that. Sorry, I am feeling a little irritated by whole American Health Care experience right now. Everything from being a hostage in my doctor's office while he/she runs an hour behind to paying disgustingly high insurance rates/co-pays for health/prescription coverage. But that is another blog for another day.
During sleep the muscles in the back of my throat relax. These muscles support the soft palate, the triangular piece of tissue hanging from the soft palate (uvula), tonsils and tongue. When my muscles relax, my airway narrows or closes as I breathe in, and breathing momentarily cuts off. This lowers the level of oxygen in my blood. My brain senses this inability to breath and briefly rouses me from my sleep so that I can reopen my airway. This awakening is usually so brief that I don't even remember it.
I awaken with a transient shortness of breath that corrects itself quickly, within one or two deep breaths, although this is rare. This pattern can repeat itself all night long. These disruptions impair my ability to reach those desired deep, restful phases of sleep, and I feel sleepy during my waking hours especially in the morning. I was not aware that my sleep was interrupted. In fact, thought that I slept well all night.
I cannot believe so many people have sleep apnea. Doctors estimate that more than 12 million Americans have sleep apnea. It hits mostly men, people who are overweight, or over 40 years old, but it can affect anyone at any age. It is really hard to realize if you have it. Or, it was for me. Even though I don't remember waking up during the night, I fight serious morning sleepiness, irritability, and fatigue. I experience morning headaches which I characterized as migraines and went to my general physician for migraine medicine.
My doctor referred me to a sleep disorder center. In the hospital where I work we have a lovely new Sleep Lab. The test that they do to confirm the sleep apnea is called Nocturnal polysomnography. During this test, I was hooked up to equipment that monitors my heart, lung and brain activity, breathing patterns, arm and leg movements, and blood oxygen levels while I slept. Because treatments for other sleep disorders such as narcolepsy and insomnia differ, this test helps the doctor to arrive at an accurate diagnosis. It was really weird to try to sleep while hooked up to monitors on my legs, chest, and head/scalp. I think that it ended up being 12-15 electrodes hooked up to me total. Plus they video tape you while you are sleeping.
Complications abound with sleep apnea and may include Cardiovascular problems. Sudden drops in blood oxygen levels that occur during sleep apnea increase blood pressure and strain the cardiovascular system. About half of people with sleep apnea develop high blood pressure (hypertension), which raises the risk of heart failure and stroke. Bizarrely enough my blood pressure has been increasing in the last year to a rate that was a concern to me. The more severe the obstructive sleep apnea, the greater the risk for high blood pressure. A study published in November 2005 in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that obstructive sleep apnea greatly increases the risk of stroke, regardless of whether a person has high blood pressure. However, effectively treating obstructive sleep apnea can lower blood pressure and the risk of other cardiovascular diseases. Another problem it leads to is daytime fatigue. The repeated awakenings associated with sleep apnea make normal, restorative sleep impossible. People with sleep apnea often experience severe daytime drowsiness, fatigue and irritability. I thought that my medicines for my bipolar drugged me to the point that I wasn't able to wake in the mornings. I often drive to work in a dangerously fatigued state not understanding how I was so tired after 8 hours of sleep or more.
People with obstructive also complain of memory problems, morning headaches (my migraines that have started up after over a decade of not having them), mood swings or feelings of depression (duh, bipolar). Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) may be more prevalent in people with sleep apnea. I have had GERD since I was 21!
So, now I have a CPAP machine to help me breath in the night. CPAP means Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. This device delivers air pressure through a mask placed over my nose while I sleep. With CPAP (SEE-pap), the air pressure is somewhat greater than that of the surrounding air, and is just enough to keep my upper airway passages open, preventing apnea and snoring. So, like our villainous foe in Star Wars, I sleep with a mask on my face and an apparatus on my head to keep it in place. There is that slightly distinctive breathing with a mask on sound. It isn't bulky or loud but I still do feel like I am a little bit assimilated. Resistance is futile.
As I am still trying to adapt to the concept, I put the mask on at night and start to fall asleep. When I am almost to sleep where I can't remember anything, I apparently have been flinging the thing off of my head. I can vaguely recall doing it, but not why. Weird but true. I have yet to wear it an entire night. I don't think I have worn it for half of a night yet. But my Dad and my doctor swear that once you get adjusted to the CPAP it will change my life. Gosh I hope so.
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