Sep 3rd, 2008I am pretty nutso when it comes to to-do lists. I always have several going at work. One thing I didn’t think I’d have to remind myself to do was breathe. But apparently I’m not always remembering. At night Linda says she can hear me stop breathing for long stretches of time, and then I’ll suddenly gasp for air. It’s apparently worse when I sleep on my back (which I have to do most of the time, because of shoulder injuries), and worse when I’m at altitude in Tahoe. For the most part, I’m oblivious to my problem, which I am assuming is sleep apnea.
I know the problem is getting worse because the quality of sleep I’m getting is far worse than just 5 years ago. Over the weekend while we were in Tahoe I woke myself up, gasping for air. My heart was racing. It was unnerving.
So I’m off to see the doc on Friday. I’ve heard that common practice is to give people with sleep apnea an overnight test to measure blood oxygen levels, and based on the results, I might get a little box that pumps air into my nose or mouth all night. Yeah, I may need to wear a mask to bed for the rest of my life. Pretty depressing. But I guess the alternative is worse, as I’ve read that people with untreated apnea have far greater incidences of heart attacks, high blood pressure, and of course are more zonked out during the day because they don’t usually hit the REM sleep stage very much.
