Hi, folks. I've had sleep apnea for years, but didn't learn about it until this summer. I went to my doctor in February because I was down to two hours of sleep at a time. His usual course of healthcare is pills. I am now probably addicted to Ambien. I can't go to sleep without being on it. Then, I had an oxygen test where I wore a sensor clamped on my finger overnight until it came off, and they took a reading from that machine. Then I went for an overnight sleep study at the hospital. They discovered I was having 50.2 AHI. They put in motion the process of my getting a CPAP machine, which turned out to be an APAP machine - ResMed AirSense 10. I've been using it for two weeks.
Last Friday, they had me in for a second sleep study, wearing the full face mask this time. I won't find out the results of that until I see the sleep doctor at the end of September. My fear is that I take an Ambien to go to sleep, wait for it to start to work, go to bed, put my mask on and become sedated enough to fall asleep. At some time between an hour and a half and five hours, I take the mask off, but I have no memory of doing it. I'm not having any leak issues or a bad fit, there's this thing strapped on my face. At some point in my drug-induced state I take off the mask because it bothers me. At this point I know I have REM sleep, because I remember my dreams. So I get between 2 and 5 hours of use of the mask. My experience seems to be making me more tired; than I've ever been. I go to work and have to fight the urge to close my eyes all afternoon, or I know I'll fall asleep sitting at my desk. If if's so bad that I have to take a nap when I get home, I have to take half an Ambien, or I'll just lay there for an hour or more, not able to fall all the way asleep. I know the object is to be able to go to sleep without drugs, but I'm afraid I'm not there yet; I wonder if I will ever be there. This is also going to mess up my Ambien prescription because I'm going to run out of pills before I'm eligible to get more. That's going to be a problem.
Last night, I slept for 5 1/2 hours with the mask on, and two more without it, but I was still fighting sleep all day, and that was a good night for me so far. I can't properly articulate what I'm asking. I guess I want to know if it gets better. Another thing: when I started with the nasal pillows, I was aware that the incoming air was warm. With the full-face mask, it seems to be blowing cold air up my nose, which is making it harder to go to sleep- even though I have warming turned on. Does anyone have any words of encouragement? I would give just about anything not to be so tired all the time. I don't want to have to fight narcolepsy, too. I don't know, if I could get prescription amphetamine-type drugs I could see that helping me to stay awake. But it would also make me dependent on uppers and downers, and that's a road I don't want to have to travel on. I just need to be asleep at night, and awake during the day. I wonder if I'm ever going to get there... I'm sorry if I sound discoruaged, but I guess I am. Does it get better?
