Sleep Study? No thanks ... I just had one

When my weight starts heading toward 190 pounds, I tend to snore and display some other sleep apnea symptoms. Sleep apnea has been linked to high blood pressure and other cardiovascular disease, memory problems, weight gain (so you see it can become a vicious circle), headaches, etc. Lack of good, restful sleep also makes one more likely to experience depression (something of particular concern to me). We also learned recently that people with sleep apnea are more likely to develop glaucoma. Because of my father-in-law’s recent loss of eyesight, we are particularly vigilant about that kind of thing.

Since that’s been happening to me recently, I decided that I probably ought to be checked out to see if a CPAP were indicated. I called my doc and had him set me up an appointment for the study, which was done on Monday night. A couple of days after I made the appointment, my episodes decreased. My mood improved, and I was feeling much more energized during the day. The lovely wife was sleeping better, too (surprise, surprise). I’m happy to say that that’s still the case … but since it was only for a few days before the date for my study, I kept the appointment. Maybe something would show up.

Monday evening, I showed up at the Laurens County Hospital and checked myself in for the most uncomfortable night in recent memory. As far as I can remember, here’s how “hooked up” I was:

• two electrodes on my chest to monitor my heart rate,
• two on each leg to check for restless leg syndrome
• bands around my chest and stomach to measure breathing
• one something on my throat to measure volume of snoring
• two on my chin to measure for teeth grinding
• one nasal probe to measure nasal breathing
• a probe underneath that for mouth breathing
• an oxygen sensor taped around my left index finger
• and 8 electrodes glued (yes, glued) to my head for the EEG
  

With all of that junk on me, can you believe that they expected me to sleep? I don’t sleep well when I’m away from the lovely wife anyway. Whether I’m away by myself, or she’s away and I’m home alone, I find it terribly hard to unwind without her. I slept some, but didn’t snore much at all.

I had hoped to be able to discern some spiritual truth from my ordeal. I’m sad to say that I haven’t … yet. If something comes to mind, I’ll let you know. That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.