Apparently, I DO have Apnea

I went to see the CPAP guy yesterday to get my readings since last I saw him.

Ooops.

I'm having some serious apnea events and we have to do something about it!

My breathing cessations are lasting as long as 33 seconds.

That's too long, which means I need more pressure.  He'll increase it to 14 (the original prescription from the lab was for a pressure of 12).

And I'm having an average of 10 apnea events per hour.

That's too many.  Which means that I in fact DO have apnea, in spite of what the sleep lab results showed (at the lab, I only had 2.8 events per hour).

We discussed my problem with dry mouth (and the totally contradictory phenomenon of drooling at the same time).  He is perplexed.  (I explained about my doctor's theory that I must have been made on a Monday.)

He wants to get my apnea events down to five or lower so he gave me a different machine.

I am now using an APAP -- Automatic Positive Airway Pressure.

This is one smart baby let me tell you.

It has a heated tube so that the air temperature is controlled to a precise setting, totally eliminating the problem of too much condensation building up in the mask (and drowning me while I sleep).

It is 80% quieter than the CPAP machine that I had (and I couldn't hear the other one!).

If there is minor leakage at the mask, it will adjust for that.  I need not worry about it.

And it adjusts the pressure level to what I need, as I need it, according to my breathing.  The CPAP was providing the same pressure all night long (continuous pressure vs automatic pressure).  Rep guy will be able to confirm my optimal pressure range from the reports it provides.

I can check the unit in the morning and it will tell me if the mask was on properly AND it will tell me how many apnea events I had per hour.  So I can find out each day if I'm making progress.

Cool!

I can honestly say that I slept much better last night than I have in many.

I certainly slept a lot more comfortably.

I still woke several times though.

And I still had dry mouth, just not quite as bad as it has been.

But one thing I was acutely aware of was that I was able to breathe through my nose using this machine.  I hadn't been able to do that with the CPAP (perhaps the continuous pressure was too much for me?).

And my apnea events per hour last night were only 9.9 -- woo hoo, I'm making progress!

This machine will provide another beneficial report too.  It will tell us if my apneas are coming from an obstruction in the throat (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) or from the brain (Central Sleep Apnea).

Now that's one smart machine!

In any event, my more restful sleep last night may have been the cumulative result of having used the CPAP for the past week.  (Perhaps I would have hit this progress level even had I not switched machines.)  Or, it may be because of the switch to the APAP unit.

Whatever the reason, it is more progress and that, my friends, is a good thing.

I see the rep guy again next Tuesday so he can find out how I'm doing with these latest changes.  I'm sure he'll be impressed.  I might even be down to only eight events per hour by then!