Sleep Apnea… Really?
Sleep has been something I have struggled with for the longest time. I can remember growing up and spending hours staring at the sealing waiting to find sleep. I never was someone who could go to bed, put their head on the pillow and sleep through the night. I honestly wasn’t completely sure if that was a real thing. Did people actually just lay down… and fall asleep? Weird. I have countless memories of having to run into my Mimi’s room for back rubs so i didn’t feel so lonely in the dead of night.
I tried all the sleep hyenine things that you hear being recommended and I mean everything. Only use your bedroom for sleep. Don’t sit in your bed if you don’t plan to sleep. Dont do your homework in your bedroom it will make it difficult to sleep because you will be thinking about school then. I tried no screens hours before bed. I created a bedtime routine that I didnt stray from. I washed my face and did a face mask with soothing music. I started reading before bed to help settle my mind. I usually read a portion out of my devotional book and then read the section that was talked about in my Bible. I also add extra sleepytime to this plan. I add in my local honey that my honey got for me(; Lastly, I take 5 mg of melatonin 30 minutes before I wanted to go to bed. I had an EXTENSIVE ROUTINE but it didnt matter. Sleep was just not meant for me.
I saw no improvement. Yeah, I would fall asleep sooner than before but I wouldn’t sleep longer than an hour. Plus, I would snore. Mike said it wasn’t every night and it wasn’t all night however staying asleep seemed to be impossible. I eventually talked with my psychiatrist and he prescribed trazadone. It worked but I was drowsy in the morning. I didn’t want any reason to be more tired than I already was so eventually I tapered off of it.
So, here I was sleeping at most 4 hours a night and then dozing on and off throughout the day. I was exhausted and running ragged. Mike suggested that I ask about a sleep study. It took awhile because I was having the hardest time finding the right doctors in Louisiana. After, we were settled in texas a sleep study was one of the first things I asked about.
My new doctor, who is incredible by the way, immediately ordered a sleep study and ordered it to be done at home. As someone who grew up with a dad with sleep apnea and then a sister I couldn’t believe how easy it was for him to give me an at home sleep study but i wasn’t going to argue. Mike went to pick up the supplies. We did the study. About a week later I get a call from someone random who ends up being my respiratory therapist saying i have mild to moderate sleep apnea and I need a CPAP. I was not prepared for this. I didn’t think this was the problem at all. I didn’t have any of the more typical risk factors and I have lived in hospitals and have been with so many doctors and they have all just said I had insomnia.
I had had issues with snoring and sleeping when I was a child but that had been “fixed” when I had my tonsils and adenoids removed. My freshman year of college my snoring started getting really bad again and my roommate told me so I asked my doctor about it. My adenoids grew back. Apparently that does happen and they were obstructing my airway. They scheduled surgery and removed them. Things usually got better to an extent with the snoring and again I was diagnosed with insomnia so I had my answers. I didn’t think there was larger underlying problems, but I am happy we found it and are treating it now. I obviously wish I didn’t need another machine to help me function, I didn’t want to have to worry about another medical device while traveling, I didn’t want to deal with more medical stuff in general. However, it has only been about 2.5 weeks and I can tell a difference. It still isn’t perfect but I can tell it is helping. I plan to keep you guys updated on how things move forward.
