sleep apnea update
Mar. 4th, 2003 03:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
johncomicokay, so today i went to the sleep clinic's main office for a review of my test results. here are some of the salient and potentially interesting facts i gleaned from this encounter and all their nifty dot-cluster charts and spiky-lined computer graphs and other cool sutff:
- i was in bed and tested from 11pm to 6am. i fell asleep by 11:10, which im told is good -- 10 - 15 min to fall asleep is considered quite healthy. [me, i recall it more like having trouble getting to sleep because of a strange bed, being covered with electrodes and wires and tubes, etc.... i normally fall sleep in two minutes, ten minutes for me is like forever...]
- apparently in order for the body and mind to feel properly rested, about 25% of your sleep time needs to be REM sleep with another 10-15% of some other form of deep sleep called SM sleep or something like that. my percentages were more like 8% and 1% accordingly.
- REM sleep is normally achieved in about 1.5 - 2 hrs after falling asleep. i didnt hit REM for over 3.5 hrs.
- a few interruptions of breathing during sleep are normal for anybody: up to 10 during the course of a night and they figure its nothing to worry about. according to the spiky-lined chart, mine was interrupted 114 times. [and if id had a proper amount of REM sleep, i wouldve had even more breathing interruptions -- they occur more frequently during REM because your body is at its most relaxed then...]
- as a result of this, the oxygen content of my blood dropped to 85% of its normal oxygen-carrying capacity at my awake, relaxed, sitting state. it isnt supposed to drop at all while you sleep... so my whole body has been oxygen-deprived, all night, every night for years
- some people only have apnea attacks when they sleep on their back. i am more likely to have it happen when im on my back, but it happens to some extent regardless of my position
bottom line: nearly every aspect of my ability to sleep is phuct, and i am a textbook example of "moderate sleep apnea" [which really makes me wonder what severe must be like...]
- i was in bed and tested from 11pm to 6am. i fell asleep by 11:10, which im told is good -- 10 - 15 min to fall asleep is considered quite healthy. [me, i recall it more like having trouble getting to sleep because of a strange bed, being covered with electrodes and wires and tubes, etc.... i normally fall sleep in two minutes, ten minutes for me is like forever...]
- apparently in order for the body and mind to feel properly rested, about 25% of your sleep time needs to be REM sleep with another 10-15% of some other form of deep sleep called SM sleep or something like that. my percentages were more like 8% and 1% accordingly.
- REM sleep is normally achieved in about 1.5 - 2 hrs after falling asleep. i didnt hit REM for over 3.5 hrs.
- a few interruptions of breathing during sleep are normal for anybody: up to 10 during the course of a night and they figure its nothing to worry about. according to the spiky-lined chart, mine was interrupted 114 times. [and if id had a proper amount of REM sleep, i wouldve had even more breathing interruptions -- they occur more frequently during REM because your body is at its most relaxed then...]
- as a result of this, the oxygen content of my blood dropped to 85% of its normal oxygen-carrying capacity at my awake, relaxed, sitting state. it isnt supposed to drop at all while you sleep... so my whole body has been oxygen-deprived, all night, every night for years
- some people only have apnea attacks when they sleep on their back. i am more likely to have it happen when im on my back, but it happens to some extent regardless of my position
bottom line: nearly every aspect of my ability to sleep is phuct, and i am a textbook example of "moderate sleep apnea" [which really makes me wonder what severe must be like...]
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no subject
Date: 2003-03-04 03:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-04 09:07 pm (UTC)in fact they can treat this, and with an impressively high success rate too:
this machine called a CPAP is basically an air pump, hooked up to you like an oxygen mask while you sleep. it increases the air pressure in your respiratory system (primarily around the pharynx-ish) to prevent the throat tissues from being able to close in together and cause blockage, which is essentially what happens during an apnea episode. i know it sounds uncomfortable but people swear by these things: by preventing blockages they let you get uninterrupted sleep, get enough REM, keep your oxygen level up, etc etc... makes all the difference in the world
so the next step is for me to go back to the sleep lab and run the test over again, but wearing the CPAP this time. this lets them find out A) if it actually works for me (there are always the exceptional cases that dont respond), and B) what is the ideal pressure for me to use (its different for each person -- strong enough to work, but not so strong as to be uncomfortable) once we know that, i can get one, set it up at home, and theres my new sleeping partner ;)
Re:
Date: 2003-03-05 08:25 am (UTC)I've taken a couple classes which cover sleep disorders (including apnea), and I find it an interesting topic. Thanks for the personal perspective!
no subject
if i have learned anything over the last 15 - 20 years, it is how astonishing are the things a human being can get used to... almost anything short of death :)
no subject
Date: 2003-03-05 01:37 pm (UTC)Basically, they remove your uvula (the little thing that hangs down in the back of your mouth) and cut two grooves in the tissue above it in order to tighten up the tissue and open up the airway.
Painful as hell, but then you don't need a machine every night.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-06 08:36 am (UTC)- the specialist told me that losing weight is not gonna have much effect on my apnea because i have very little excess weight in the throatal area -- mine results from lost muscle tone as a result of aging. as she put it, "it's just gonna get worse and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it" [i had asked if there were "throat exercises" i could do in order to tone up or something ;) ]
so if i had a throat-tightening operation, in a few years id probably just need another one, and then yadda yadda, so theres not much point. maybe if i was a young punk like you, itd be a different story :)
- my personal physician always warns me away from any surgery that isnt absolutely essential, as (she says) with my diabetes the risks of post-op infection and/or complications is way higher than usual. so she'll want me to try everything else first before even considering the risks-benefits equation for a LAUP
but thanx for giving me the info and letting me learn sutff!