Word: cpap
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Dates: during 2004-2004
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...brace to measure my chest movement. Then I was told to relax and fall asleep. Yeah, right. Eventually I did. And then halfway through the night, a nurse came in and put a special mask on my face. It looks like a respirator, which is what it is. The CPAP (an acronym for continuous positive airway pressure) machine is designed to blow air at a steady pressure into your airways to keep you breathing regularly. Hooked up, I drifted off again. The nurse measured my sleep patterns remotely and varied the air pressure in the CPAP to maximize my sleep...
...felt like a 10-year-old after a cappuccino. Since I normally take a couple of hours after I wake up (around 10 a.m.) to arrive at even moderate alertness, I was stunned. What had happened? A week later, I got my results from the sleep clinic. Without the CPAP, I had stopped breathing on average 38 times an hour. I had got absolutely no Stage 4 sleep, the kind that really refreshes your mind and body. With the CPAP machine, I breathed normally, and 17% of my sleep was Stage 4. No wonder I felt better. And that...
...first few nights using the CPAP at home were not quite so dramatic as the clinic stay. It takes a while to get used to the thing, as you can imagine. At first, when you clasp the oh-so-attractive contraption to your head with its Velcro straps, you feel like Jacques Cousteau at a slumber party. But you get used to it. And as each day passed, I felt energy gaining in my mind and body. My postapnea life is just beginning. And for the first time in a long while, I'm raring...