Sleep clinic

I had a test a few months ago and it was a terrible experience -- in addition to being unpleasant, I didn't like the people and felt like I was being railroaded instead of treated. They wanted to set an appointment for someone to come and deliver the machine before I even had the damn test.

They sent a letter later saying I had "severe" apnea, but I haven't gone back in. Mostly because I'm an insomniac and can't imagine being able to sleep with the CPAP (they made me try it for like 45 minutes the first time I went in). It also requires sleeping on your back, which I absolutely cannot do.

But then I think about my brother, who says the CPAP changed his life and he feels completely different in the morning now. I also think about Reggie White ...

 

been there done that now sleep with cpap
i stop breathing every 30 seconds according to the sleep clinic tests
which is pretty crazy
good luck its not that bad when u get used ot it

 

I could never sleep on my back until I started using this thing. Now, I actually sleep on my side again. Sometimes the mask shifts but I just move it back into place and I'm out again. It's a pain in the ass but I sleep great now. And them coming to your house to deliver the machine? That's strange. I went to pick mine up, they showed me how to use it and that was it.

 

Normally I'm an insomniac, but I had the strangest thing happen the other day. I slept for 19 hours! Granted, I'd been up for two days and had just gone through some undesirable stuff, but it was still very bizarre to wake up, look at the clock and realize it was 19 hours later.

 

I did my followup last night.

Amazing, really.

I learned a few things from my first visit, such as to make sure the room was cool enough from the beginning. It took me about an hour of lying there to get comfortable with the mask, but after that I slept all the way through the night until they woke me up. And I felt like I'd had a really good night's sleep, even though I maybe only slept 5 hours or so.

 

I didn't really believe much in this stuff until I went on the machine. It took me a couple weeks to get used to the mask but now I sleep great. And the couple times I haven't used the machine in the last four years, I slept lousy and felt terrible in the morning.

 

so true... in fact that was my day today.. it seriously does change your lifestyle

 

So, for those of you with apnea or knowledge of it -- Is snoring or excessive snoring a big-time symptom of apnea? Not that all snorers have apnea but do all or most with apnea snore excessively?

 

Sorry to sleepjack here, but how do you not sleep? Do you mean you only sleep a few hours? Fitfully? Barely?

And how do you sleep for 19 hours without having the flu or something like that? Nineteen hours? Holy REMsleep, Batman.

 

Yes. As I said before, I used to peel the paint off the walls. Once, on a road trip, I had one of the players on the team I cover tell me he could hear me snoring in the room next door. The biggest sign is if people tell you that you gasp for air and stop breathing when you sleep. I did that a lot too. I would actually start to doze off and then wake myself up by snoring. On the mask, I no longer snore at all. Of course, I look like an idiot with that thing strapped to my face, but what are you going to do? It beats the hell out of ending up like Jerry Garcia.

 

I ask because I have a lot of sleeping issues and my doc suggested that a sleep apnea test "might not be a bad idea." But my insurance doesn't pay for a large percentage of it so I put it off. But I have sleeping issues. I usually have no trouble falling asleep but I wake up often and rarely just sleep through the night. I feel sluggish in the mornings. But I am not a heavy snorer. The wife says I usually only snore after I have been drinking.

 

I've been trying the cpap machine for a while now but can't get used to it. Anyone using it successfully? Is there a next step when I give up on this?