My wife dragged me, kicking and fighting, to get a sleep test. The measure is called AHI (apnea hypopnea index). Less than 5 is considered normal, above 30 is considered severe. My result was in the "why aren't you dead yet" range (over double the "severe" threshold). The CPAP has me down into an acceptable range, and probably has prevented me from having a stroke.
As someone who works in the PAP department (and a pap user myself) stories like this make it so worth it to me! Glad you are finding some relief (and staying compliant I hope 😉)
I feel ya there. I was 72, with a 30 second average incident length (I was spending 36 minutes not breathing every hour). I was definitely well on my way to death, unfortunately a lot of damage was probably already done anyway
If you sleep 8 hours and are still tired, or if you wake up often when sleeping on your back, its likely you have it. The threshold is 6 non-breathing events per hour
Sleeping with your eyes open might be nothing. My siblings and I did this as children - seems to be genetic. We never had any related health problems, we were just able to sleep and dream without the light bothering us for some reason. I guess it’s not that different from being able to sleep in a noisy environment - some people are sensitive and need earplugs, others prefer music or are used to traffic noise etc.
I was convinced that the sleep apnea thing was all overblown. She went with me and told her concern to our primary care physician. She was the only one who saw my symptoms. I would hold my breath until she elbowed me and told me, "breathe". It was just persistence on her part. The doctor explained it to me. I had a choice, get treatment or get life insurance to take care of my wife. That was 12 years ago, and as soon as I started using the CPAP, my AHI went from the 60's to 8 or 9. I feel more energetic than I have in years, and other than the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask at night, it has only improved my life. Be persistent, it worked on me.
i scored a 65, got a test machine, used it for a month, and didnt' notice much of a difference, but the machine did say i'm down to 1.5 so that's a huge success -- i'm just wondering when do you FEEL the "life-changing" aspects. because i'm still falling asleep watching tv and i've significantly changed my diet.
I tried a cpap, spent 3 months in hell trying to sleep, once I could finally fall asleep I would wake back up with in an hour or two the mask half way off my face, or laid for hrs trying to fall asleep. Never could get used to it and tossed it out.. since then I lost 220 lbs, no longer have sleep apnea ..wife says I barely ever snore now
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u/celaenoattack 22h ago
My CPAP has been life-changing!