05.27.10
Sleeping with a CPAP and coping with Sleep Apnea part 2
SLEEP STUDY AFTERMATH
So the Doctor sends you to the medical supply store to get all machinery for your CPAP or biPAP machine and you get home and you have a bunch of tubes and a mask that looks like something Chuck Yeager would need at Mach two rather than you in your bed trying to stop sawing logs.
If you are lucky, the people at the medical store took some time to show you how everything goes together. If not, you are like me. Wait until you have some time to really read and put it together, don’t try to do it five minutes before bed when your spouse is already asleep. Buy, or clear off your nightstand. You may want to invest in one of those alarm clocks that shoots the time on the ceiling.
THE POINT
The whole point of CPAP or biPAP is to push air down (usually) your nose. The air going down your nose pushes some skin and muscle out of the way. The very same skin and muscle that vibrates when you breath cuasing a snoring sound. Make the snoring sound now to yourself to feel that muscle. Nice. This is the same muscle that helps you hold your breath when you go deep underwater and let bubbles out your nose a little at a time. We don’t have time to try that now. As you age, that muscle changes and becomes flabby or less responsive. Probably in the same way that you no longer get hiccups as much when you are older.
So as the air comes in through the mask, it helps push that flabby muscle and tissue flap out of the way. The mask and machine are also designed to allow you to breathe out. Should the machine stop working, you will not suffocate. Vents in the mask will still allow you to breathe should you fail to wake up or your mouth fail to open. If you are a mouth breather - aparently I was - you will have to get used to breathing through your nose. If you are subject to sinus illnesses, infections or allergies, they may present additional complications to adapting to the CPAP machine and mask. This will be discussed further.
Next we’ll get into actually learning to use the CPAP and mask.
To be continued in part 3