Monday morning check-in

Weigh in this morning went well, don't .9 is nothing to sneeze at. Continuing to trend downard is a good thing, weight-wise!

James M. was a good CPAP last night, as far as not filling my tummy with air, but yet I'm sleepy this morning. I think I just didn't put enough hours in. Remember when I used to go to bed by 10 pm nightly? Well, those days are down the tubes. I'll have to pull them back out again and brush them off. Might as well start today!

No school for the wee one today.  She has friends coming over in the am while their mom teaches at the local community college and then who knows what the day will bring. We were hoping for a trip to Ann Arbor but with the weather the way it is, that's certainly questionable at the moment.

Spunkysuzi's challenge this week is to try a new recipe, blog about it, review it, and take photos. I have 2 I want to try from the Cook This/Not That cookbook so I intend to play along. One was banana bread but I see that one of my over ripe bananas has gone missing. I'm often suprised at what people will eat around here. I bet I could sub some greak yogurt for that missing banana, though!

Apnea report

Long story short.

I've been mostly dead all night.

Severe sleep apnea 55.2 average events per hour, or 93.9 events per hour on my back.

Those are the results of the 2 sleep studies I had in December.

30 events is considered "severe" and increases chance of serious heart disease  by 50%

No wonder I'm so freaking tired.

I don't want anybody giving me shit about being lazy or needing  a nap ever again.

Dammit.

So we only have 2 days of data with the new machine but it appears to be a great improvement.

I am never to lay down without it, though.

Something about each time I sleep w/o it I'm training my brain into "central sleep apnea" which is an instability of the body's feedback mechanisms that control respiration.  So yeah, I'm too stupid to know when to breathe and if I don't have the mask on telling me when to breathe . . . it'm going to get stupider and deader.

Anyway, last night's sleep wasn't as good as before, but it's much better than it had been. No changes were prescribed and Dr. will see me again in 3 months. He said I only got 5 1/2 hours of good sleep the night before and I'm a little worried how great I'll feel if I actually end up getting 8 good hours of sleep on a nightly basis.

I'm sleepy.





It's a new record!

I slept six and a half hours straight last night! YIPPEEE! I think maybe we've got it!

CPAP update

Sorry - I forgot that I owe you all an update on the CPAP.

It's been since Monday that I've been using the nasal pillows instead of the full face mask. I must say that it is infinitely more comfortable. However, it still takes about 4 hours to fill my stomach with air. At which point I am so uncomfortable that I don't want to mess with the thing the second part of the night. I'm toying with the idea of asking to reduce the air pressure and see if that helps.  It can't be good for a stomach to be pumped full of air nightly. Ugh.  Maybe I should fill it with ice cream before I lay down!

I think I will try propping myself up more and see if that helps.

Sleeping update

Over the weekend, I had some limited success with the CPAP. The trick was to actually tape my mouth shut with masking tape to prevent air blowing into my mouth and down my esophagus. Well, hey, at least my reflux wasn't bothering me when that was happening.  Today I received a chin strap from the equipment company. The idea is that it will stop my jaw from dropping open as my facial muscles relax, making the tape unecessary.  This should also help prevent the horrid flatulance sounds that emit from the side of the mask just as I fall asleep. Now if I hear it I will know for sure it is Hobbes or Sweetie emitting such racket.

So, just as all this falls into place, I come down with a cold. We'll see how the CPAP does with that.

For some reason it occured to me that I could name my machine. Hey, some people have named their "bands."  I think this guy is going to be around for a while. I'm sleeping with him. I should know his name after all.

Any suggestions?

First Night with CPAP

Again with the rude noises. It doesn't even say "excuse me" when it toots. At least they don't smell (just like my real ones!)

After four and a half hours, I had a stomach full of air. Turned off the machine, sat up and burped about 7 times and immediately got the hiccups.  Downstairs for a spoonful of peanut butter - works every time.
Apparently, it's not that unusual.

Who has an annoying song in their head now? Go Carleton, go!

I think I'm giving up for tonight. Maybe will call the equipment provider tomorrow or try one more night before I call them. Maybe the pressure is too high?

possibly my last day waking up with a headache

Working out at the gym first thing this morning.

Then off to a little workshop on using machines to breathe while I sleep

Then off to Meijer

Hopefully home by noon for lunch with Sweetie. He'll want to check out the new machine, I'm sure

Laundry all afternoon

Pick up "Market Day" after school

Upper back is sore from yesterday's weights.

Looking forward to waking up perky tomorrow

The "X" key has fallen off of my laptop. I have an ex-X key.