Crohn’s Disease, Sarcoidosis, Hip Surgery and whatever else I have!

Oh yeah, it get’s better - or worse.

In addition to all the other stuff, I also have severe sleep apnea and now sleep with  this big clunky head-piece with a hose that blows air up my schnoz. That’s a joy, let me tell ya. A couple of months ago I had a sleep test done because at night, as I drifted off to sleep I would suddenly become very much aware that I couldn’t move. I was awake enough to sense it, but what was troubling was the fact that I couldn’t wake myself up. I couldn’t move, talk, nothing! Let me tell you, all the rest of the crap I’m dealing with didn’t matter at that point when that would happen. So I did the sleep test and that’s when they discovered this sleep apnea issue. Apparently, I didn’t stay in REM sleep very long at all. In the 4 hours I was technically “asleep” I was only in REM a couple minutes sporadically.

In addition to that, as if that wasn’t enough; I was also vomiting in my sleep. Not alot, but enough reflux would come up to choke me, take my breath away and I’d wake in a panic gasping for air. It got to the point where I would try and stay awake as long as possible until I’d drop over from exhaustion.

That plan didn’t work either.

The sleep apnea was discovered in the test and a CPAP machine ordered for me. For those of you who do not know that that is,… CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. You can read more about it here. CPAP.

I’m happy to report that this device seems to be working, but only some times. The nose piece gets irritating  about half way through the night causing me to wake up. I have to take a break from it, but sometimes fall back to sleep without the head-piece on. Also, the hose gets a build up of moisture and condensation which sometimes, depending on how I am laying - will drip right into my nose waking me up. But none of that compares to what I was going through prior to using the CPAP machine, so overall I’d have to say it’s working. I actually dream again, I actually wake up almost refreshed.

There’s still a long way to go with this machine, some of the stuff needs to be worked out - some kind of sleep aid may help, I don’t know. But it does seem to help… and really, at this point; every little thing that helps goes a long way for sure.