I have sleep apnea. My body tries to kill me every night if I don’t use my machine. Well, that’s a bit dramatic but the theory is just that.
Apnea is when your airway is blocked by your tongue or soft tissues in the back of your mouth and neck. Usually, it’s not a blocked airway, though it could happen, enough to block some oxygen to the lungs. You experience it as snoring, your breathing stops for a second and suddenly breathing again. You wake up feeling tired or just bad. Apnea can lead to an elevated risk of heart attacks, and strokes, and can contribute to mental health issues and possibly dementia down the road.
I get horrible when I woke up after sleeping at night, over time it got worse and to a point where it was affecting my relationship with my wife. I went for a physical to see what was happening. I found out I was fat, out of shape, and just bad. The doctor asked me how I get, and I described how I felt. He told me to look at a sleep doctor because my symptoms and my neck size (big necks don’t help, hence why athletes are more likely to have apnea) were signs of it.
I find a doctor and he has me do a sleep study. The one he did wasn’t the scary one people think of where you go to a place and have tons of sensors put on you. This one was a little thing that you taped to your finger. It has an LED light like on the skin side of smartwatches to read your body. I wore it for 2-3 nights and the data was sent to the doctor via a phone app.
Results came and it wasn’t good. I had a. AHI (apnea-hypopnea index) was 15. That means every hour of sleep I had 15 apnea events, either minor or major ones. The normal number is under 2, but under 5 is considered normal. It sounds bad but I know others who had much worse numbers. They suggested a mouth guard keep my mouth slightly open to keep my airway clear, but my jaw wouldn’t move forward enough for it to work. So I have a CPAP machine, which is fine. I can go into the machines later, especially how much of scumbags Philips is, but that’s another post.
The first day I used the machine was life-changing. I woke up rested and mentally clearer. The stats on the machine said my first night I had 5 AHI, which was down from my original AHI of 15. Since I started CPAP therapy I have dialed in the air pressures to where my AHI is down to under 1 most nights.
One thing my data junkie self loves is how much data I can get from the machines. I use two apps: on my computer, I have Open Source CPAP Analysis Report (OSCAR) and a website called Sleep HQ. The apps the machine makers only show the barest of minimum stats and that’s what doctors look at. These programs show more detailed info, like your breathing down to each breath, your mask’s air leak rate, the pressure fluctuations by the machine during each event, and detailed tagging of each event.
Here is an example from Sleep HQ that my main dashboard shows. OSCAR is the same for the most part, but I like Sleep HQ because I can upload my data off the machine's SD card from my phone or tablet. Some of the data looks intimidating but some guys on YouTube (like LankyLefty27 and CPAPReviews channels) break each part down so you can get a good idea of how things are going. In this shot, I’m doing okay.
I always tell people to get a sleep study done. I don’t feel embarrassed wearing a mask every night. I look at it this way: if it adds a few more years to my life to enjoy my wife and daughter, I can stand wearing this mask and use this machine that’s blowing air into my head so I don’t choke several times a night.