fluffy rambles: Sleep study results

Sleep study results

February 6, 2019 11:48 AM (5 years ago)

I finally got the results of my sleep study. Well, partial results, anyway. In-home tests can find either obstructive or central apnea, and complex apneas appear as obstructive. So, unsurprisingly, it determined that I have obstructive apnea.

Anyway, the good news about this (and it’s all good news!) is that I’ll be getting a CPAP machine, and modern CPAP machines are small, lightweight, self-adjusting (no need for a separate titration!), and also provide ongoing diagnosis. So after two weeks of sleeping with it, I’ll know if I have complex or simple obstructive apnea, and either way the treatment is a CPAP so I don’t really care to split hairs about what the underlying problem is.

Some interesting/horrifying things regarding my diagnosis: Apparently during REM sleep I had 14 obstructive events per hour, and my SpO₂ dropped to below 90%! Holy heck. No wonder I’m so fatigued all the time. And this definitely contributes to the severity of my fibromyalgia symptoms (because my body just plain can’t heal itself very well), and also is probably a direct contributor to anxiety as well as why I have so much trouble losing weight (because of the constant stress response generating cortisol and so on).

I don’t mind having to wear a CPAP, what with already having a bruxism night guard and wrist braces, and I already have so many environmental sleep aids set up in my bedroom as well that this is just, like, one more thing for me.

A lot of people fear CPAP machines but I just see them as a tool. I wish my dad would get better about wearing his, for example, and it’s frustrating to me how much CPAP machines are made fun of in the mass media or seen as some sort of physical failing (then again, lots of vital health aids are, like don’t even get me started on how systematically attitudes towards “crutches” are – including and especially literal crutches!).

I’m also glad that the medical community has, by and large, come to realize that obesity is caused by apnea, not the other way around. Maybe at some point society will catch up.

Anyway. Here’s to getting better sleep and better health.