Sleep Study

Several years ago I visited the sleep clinic where they hooked me up with wires extending from my arms, legs, chest, and head. A camera was aimed at my bed with a microphone close by. A technician monitored my sleep and soon after falling asleep woke me up to slip a CPAP mask over my face to help stop the snoring. The diagnosis was obstructed sleep apnea. Throughout the rest of the night the technician adjusted the air flow until I reached a safe, comfortable level of sleep.

I've been using the CPAP almost every night since - until recently. Even with the CPAP I was not getting a deep restful night of sleep. Then it occurred to me - the restless nights started at about the time I hit the 20 pound weight loss mark!

I was again referred to the sleep clinic where, to my delight, I was informed I was not a candidate to spend a night at the sleep clinic. Instead, a special CPAP machine was ordered for me. The machine was set to manual and sent home with me. There is a small computer chip somewhere in the machine. This week, I will return the machine to the health care rental place and they will upload the data from the computer chip to the sleep clinic doctor.

Hopefully the data on the chip will provide the doctor with the information needed to adjust the CPAP to the right setting so I can get a good night sleep. I am surprised, even with the machine set to manual, I have only had two or three good nights sleep in the past two weeks since the machine entered this house.

I have been fortunate to maintain a high level of energy even though I have not had a good night sleep. I know this good luck is not going to last much longer - I'm looking forward to next week when the old machine is set to new settings. Hopefully the fix will be as easy as it sounds!