DISCOVERING I HAD OSA

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DISCOVERING I HAD OSA

• http//dreamsleep.ca/
  403-457-1127

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Growing up I had always been active with sports,
soccer, squash, and swimming. Later on, in
university, I would exercise daily at the gym, so
I was in pretty good shape. By the time I was in
my early thirties I had stopped going to the gym
but had taken up running instead, I had even
joined a running club in order to train for a
half marathon, with some runs going as long as 30
kilometres. I was in great shape but I was
constantly tired but didnt understand why.  
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A few years later I got married, took on a larger
territory in my sales position, and stopped
exercising as much as I had been able to before.
Life just became busy and I was finding myself
constantly tired, especially during the middle of
the day. I chalked it up to getting up at night
and helping with the newborn baby and figured it
would pass as she got older and slept through the
night.   To my surprise something else started to
happen, I found myself getting up to go to the
bathroom in the middle of the night. My wife also
started to complain that I was waking her up with
my snoring. I was surprised as I never thought I
snored and no one had ever complained of this
before.  
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After months of hearing my wife complain about my
snoring as well as the strange gasping sounds I
made while I slept, getting up frequently to go
to the bathroom, and the constant fatigue I
decided that it was time to speak with my doctor.
I was really surprised to hear about the snoring
and the lack of energy may be due to obstructive
sleep apnea. He recommended that I should get
tested for obstructive sleep apnea. I left his
office with a referral to Dream Sleep Respiratory
and decided to do a little research before
booking my appointment with them. I was shocked
to find that Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) was
very common and just how many of the related
symptoms mirrored my own. 
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Apparently, the fatigue I felt during the day is
commonly associated with the disruption of my
sleep patterns. Who knew?   A week later I
visited the Dream Sleep Clinic and one of their
therapists spent time with me getting as much
information as possible about what I did, how I
felt, took measurements, and had me complete a
survey that assisted in determining my level of
fatigue.  After the thorough assessment, they
showed me how to use the take-home sleep
recorder.   That night my wife helped me set up
the recorder and I actually slept. I still got up
to go to the bathroom once or twice, but that was
no problem.
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I then took the recorder back to Dream Sleep the
following day and was told I should have the
results within 2-5 business days, and we would go
from there.   Sure enough 2 days later I received
a call from Dream Sleep Respiratory and made an
appointment to review my results with one of
their respiratory therapists. I was a bit nervous
and at the same time glad that I would find out
if I had obstructive sleep apnea or upper airway
resistance syndrome. Either way,  I was
determined to get it fixed as soon as possible.
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I decided to go to the meeting alone, my wife
offered to come with me but I thought Id rather
do it myself, at least at this stage. Thankfully
the therapist was very nice, she took the time to
review the results and explained the print out
from my sleep recording. Yes, I had what was
determined to be moderate obstructive sleep apnea
with a respiratory disturbance index of 13. I
learned meant that I had stopped breathing 13
times per hour on average, resulting in a drop in
my blood oxygen levels significant enough to be
flagged as an obstructive apnea.   What did this
mean? How bad was it? And what the heck could be
done to fix it, I was nervous for sure.
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The therapist explained that I could be very well
treated by something called CPAP therapy, which
stands for continuous positive airway pressure.
The therapist told me the technology had improved
drastically over the past decade with the masks
being very small and the machines being very
quiet. Thank goodness for that bit of good
news!   I booked my follow up appointment to get
set upon CPAP and this time decided to bring my
wife. We were both introduced to CPAP and I was
fitted with a really small non-invasive and
comfortable CPAP mask. The therapist called it a
direct nasal mask and I knew this was the correct
mask choice right away.
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Once the mask had been fit, the therapist
adjusted the pressure settings on the CPAP
machine and asked how each setting felt until we
decided what was comfortable. She said it was
best that it felt natural when I took a breath
and was not too little or too much pressure. She
also explained that once I fell asleep the CPAP
would start monitoring my breathing and make
adjustments automatically. This prevented my
airway from collapsing which was what caused the
snoring and sleep apnea.
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I was now on my way to getting back to my old
self. It took a couple nights to get used to the
machine, but I started to feel more rested during
the day. I wasnt getting up to use the washroom
anymore and my wife was so happy to not hear my
loud snoring all night.   Im so thankful to get
my life back.   Source - http//dreamsleep.ca/dis
covering-i-had-osa/
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