Children sleeping, something difficult to do with sleep apnea[/caption]Joel S. Hirschhorn — As I approach the ripe age of 73, I sum up things thusly: Life is tough and then it gets worse. The inevitable deterioration of the human body is not fun, despite all the junk you hear from those pitching exercise, yoga, vitamins, and healthy foods. All those smiling terrific looking people in the 80s and 90s featured on TV shows are just the exceptions that prove the uglier rule of life.
Of all the pains and indignities, the worst class is a host of medical treatments for serious ills that make you question whether the solution is worse than the problem. In that spirit, I am now suffering through what I suspect many millions of others have also experienced. More about that in a moment, but first something about the path that got me here. Because of terrible sleeping problems, I finally caved and had a sleep study. Before addressing what that led to, I want to wail about this diagnostic method embraced by the medical profession.
I had resisted doing a sleep study because of what I saw as faulty logic. After all, how could sleeping in a strange place, room and bed, as well as being hooked up to a mass of wires allow one to have anything close to normal sleep? Even if I had major sleep problems, would they be measured if I was unable to have anything close to a normal night of sleep?
Indeed, my first sleep study was exactly what I anticipated, maybe even worse. The glue paste used to adhere a large number of wire leads to all parts of my body would turn out to be difficult to get rid of, especially those on my scalp which left me with a mess the next day. How could I possibly be free to move around in the not very comfortable bed even if I fell asleep? Of course, I could not. And worst of all was the gizmo in my nose that, unsurprisingly, came loose during the night, prompting a message from the technician over the speaker system to fix the problem. I had been smart enough to ask for a plastic urinal bottle so that I would not have to get up during the night, disconnect myself from the package of wires and find my way to the bathroom. At my age, with a prostate trying to change from a walnut size gland to a melon, I knew that would happen several times.
But all this physical discomfort was soon to be surpassed by the post-study visit with the doctor, a sleep specialist. This is when they show you a large number of printouts and carefully explain in painful detail how my limited amount of sleep, even worse than I experience at home, nevertheless was enough to verify that I had sleep apnea. There was the visible proof of unhealthy sleep interruptions because my throat was essentially closing and stopping my breathing. Not as bad as being told you have cancer, but still a somber message.
Miraculously, I had somehow managed to stay alive despite my obstructive sleep apnea. Of course, I had already committed "Internet suicide" by reading loads of website materials about the many devastating health impacts of sleep apnea. Heart attack, stroke, and even cancer were serious threats. And considering that I had already survived a heart attack and was living with three stents and an implanted pacemaker and defibrillator, my stress level was much higher than normal.
I yearned for better quality sleep and more sleep. Did I have any choice other than to accept the diagnosis and pursue the acclaimed gold standard of sleep apnea treatment? Of course not. And that is how I came to my present state of misery.
I had to accept the recommendation that I use a CPAP machine for sleeping. CPAP stands for "continuous positive airway pressure". A machine forces air into your nose if you choose a face mask that just covers your nose, which I ultimately chose. This requires that you keep your mouth closed all the time. Dealing with nasal congestion is a serious issue. A larger mask can cover both your nose and mouth, giving more freedom, but during a session where I tried on different masks, this one felt even more uncomfortable. Whatever type mask you choose, it must have a system of straps so that it can be attached firmly to your head, creating a tight seal so that the pressurized air does not leak out.
After selecting a mask, I had to have a second sleep study, this time using CPAP so that the specific parameters for treatment could be determined. What fun. I slept even worse and less this time around.
At this point you might be gaining an understanding of why I found this most fascinating fact, a lot of people who try the CPAP remedy ultimately give up on it. Now I fully know why this is the case. Of course what everyone endorsing CPAP treatment says is that it takes a while to get used to sleeping with the mask and head gear and hearing varying levels of air swishing noise inside your mask. Maybe several weeks, they say, or even a few months. What is not quite explicitly said, however, is that during this period your sleep will probably be of even lower quality and duration than what you were suffering with before the diagnosis. Underlying insomnia problems may not be related to apnea. Indeed, like millions of others, I had long gotten used to taking a variety of sleeping pills. But with CPAP, I found myself taking even more.
Now I had become fully understanding of why so many people fail to stick with CPAP treatment. A husband of someone I know gave up after the first night. The wife of a friend would not sleep anymore in the same bedroom with him. But I am sure most try it for many weeks. Web surfing shows that companies are hustling various alternatives to CPAP and research and testing others. Still, CPAP is not only universally pushed by medical professionals but also has the incredible advantage that Medicare and other health insurance plans will fully cover the major costs of CPAP therapy, but nothing else apparently. But there is an electronic way your compliance with the regulatory requirement of substantial use of your machine is measured and Medicare will take away the equipment if you do not use it sufficiently in the first three months. Between 29 percent and 83 percent of patients do not meet the criteria for compliance due to removing the CPAP early in the night and/or skipping use altogether, according to studies.
One added burden of CPAP treatment is that you have to regularly clean a number of components of the system to fend off getting ill from contamination, including the mask, the six-foot plastic tube and the removable container that holds water for the humidifier, which requires use of fresh distilled water every night by the way.
