Hello, everyone. I can't say I'm happy to be here, but I am happy to meet all of you. I thought I'd share part of my story as an introduction.
My name is Alyssa. I'm a 54 yo grandmother of (currently) 8, with two on the way in February and April 2018. I'm also a veteran of the US Army, serving 7 years way back between 1985 and 1993. Eleven months of that was in Saudi Arabia in 1990-91, which is when I believe my sleep issues started. At that time I thought I simply had insomnia. I currently work for the Dept. of Veterans Affairs as a Management Analyst for the Chapter 31 Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program, and commute 3 hours a day to/from Seattle, WA.
I was recently (less than a month ago) diagnosed with severe sleep apnea, although I had a sleep study done about 9 years ago that showed "extremely fragmented sleep - but not sleep apnea" - I now believe that have been living with undiagnosed sleep apnea for about 30 years or so. My family/SO have told me for that I snore like a freight train, and I wake them even when I'm on a different level, or opposite end of the house. I've also used my Fitbit for the last 2 years to track my sleep, and that data indicates I average about 2.3 hours of actual sleep a night - in 5 to 26 minute increments, with lots of restlessness in between (and while lying in bed for 7-9 hours). Needless to say, I am exhausted.
I started my CPAP therapy on 12/20/17 - it's been a whopping 10 days, and I can't say it's been easy. My biggest struggle seems to be keeping the mask on - it fits well, and I have had some successful nights wearing it up to 5 hours, but sometimes it's only 2 hours before it comes off, and I don't find it unless I come fully awake (which is somewhat rare for me). I have, so far, gotten green happy faces for both the length of time and the fit on my ResMed machine, and I think I'm feeling more rested but it's been so long since I had a truly good night's sleep that I can't really be sure.
NOTE It's my understanding that the ResMed myAir is an app, currently only for iOS (Apple) systems. I have an Android, so that doesn't help me much, but it is also available by website, and can be accessed on a smartphone by logging in. I find it a bit oversimplified, but at least it gives me some data.
Again, I'm glad that this forum exists, and I'm looking forward to participating here.
