Better cpap sleep

The doctor returned my settings to CPAP from auto pap. The force of the air is still very strong, but I actually slept last night.

I woke up with no headache,  no sleepiness and no crazy dreams.

My first thought upon awakening was, now THIS is how good sleep feels.

I meet with the sleep doc on Monday to adjust my air level, I believe it's a bit hight right now.

Four + weeks until surgery!

Hi everyone, which is probably no one, because no one ever comments.

Anyway, I am past the five week point and now at four weeks plus change until my VSG.

I see a sleep doctor on Monday to adjust my CPAP settings, I have not been sleeping well since I asked my family doctor to change me to the auto pap setting.

When am I going to learn not to self-diagnose?

I bought some supplies for after my surgery and the anti-bacterial soap for before the surgery. I am getting excited, but it is not close enough for me to be getting scared yet. That will come, I am sure.

The thing that has gotten me through my previous surgeries has been faith in God. I know that if it is my time to die on the table, that I have trusted Christ as my savior and I am saved. If I survive, then I am a fighter and I will do the very best I can, with His help, to get better and whip this weight battle.

I am feeling much better about the diet that will be my life, since lately the six month diet is coming easy to me. I rarely have days over 1400 anymore and some of my days are closer to 1200. That is good news in that I have not eaten a lot of the crap that I used to eat.

If I go out for food, I am having salads with low cal dressing or chili. If I have chinese, I am having veggies and chicken with no rice or noodles.

I have not had a reese cup pass my lips or a double or mega stuffed orea in two months. That is really saying something.

Watch my surgery date tracker. Prayers are requested.

I am off to swim. Gotta get that swim in!!!

More CPAP problems

By the way, I am down to 262 today. My last weight report was 268, all time high 298. I have brought my food intake down to about 1200, rather than 1400 on most days and am swimming about 42 minutes a day of hard laps.

I messaged my doctor about this and have set up an appointment for January 5th with a sleep doctor. This is not a sleep study, just a one hour appointment. Hopefully the doctor can try to moderate my settings using the CPAP setting. I am at 13 on my back and 8 on my side, but with the CPAP, I only get one setting. 

There may be other alternatives that I am unaware of. I don't know much about the world of CPAP, but I know two things:

1. The risk of death during surgery for someone with sleep apnea but who is untreated is 30% higher than those without sleep apnea.

2. Having air blown into my stomach would SUCK when after my VSG surgery. Can you imagine that one?

CPAP and Power Failure

The power went off last night long enough for the house to get cold before I woke up. I was using my CPAP machine, as always, and when I woke up, I was breathing and looked at the machine and it was off.

There are vents that prevent us from suffocating. I did have a headache, which is normal for me when I sleep without the CPAP.

So -- good new, now I know that I won't die if the power goes out.

CPAP Demonstration

Gaaaa! Nasal CPAP Mask.

I tried using the nasal CPAP mask last night. Not the nasal pillow mask, but the one that goes over the nose.

Not good. The humidifier made the whole thing leak into my nose at one point, while I was sleeping. I felt like I was drowning.

I did not sleep well and woke up with a headache and pissed off. So, I am going back to the mouth and nose mask.

Doing Better with the CPAP, also more about Swimming and the Sleeve

Good morning!

I had a good night's sleep last night. Twice I woke up to see if my CPAP machine had turned off. I didn't feel the air pressure, but upon checking, all was good. So, apparently, I am adjusting to the air pressure.

I have put a container of vaseline on my bedside table to coat my lips before bedtime. This helps keep the air from drying them out. If my lips get dry, I tend to open my mouth more during the night. The vaseline is just the ticket. Now that I have adjusted to air flow, I plan to get a nasal only mask today with a chin strap, to try to eliminate some of the dry mouth and facial reddening from the air on my face.

My face is a little red, as you can see in the video that I made this morning. It feels a little warm to the touch this morning in the cheek area. But I think it's just from the humidifier and the mask. It does not hurt.

I am off in a little while to go for my swim. I have a lot on my mind and that half hour of silence in the pool is wonderful. I went twice this weekend and on Sunday the pool was just jammed. I didn't like that much. It's hard to swim around people and my pool does not have lane ropes. But I got in a good swim anyway.

I saw a video recently where a woman was talking about how her sleeve keeps her from eating, even though her mind really wants to eat. Although she was upset about it, at the time, it really encouraged me because I tend to eat when I am not really hungry and eat past my hunger and that is what I want the sleeve for, so that my BODY can meet up with my MIND and keep me from giving into fleeting urges brought on by the sight and smell of food.

Here is the link to that video. 

By the way, just so that you know, I cringe EVERY time I make a video. I dislike looking at myself, but I know that it is important to document this process.

Here is one of the very first videos that helped me conquer my fear of swimming.

First Night of CPAP

1. Set up the machine, take two xanax, rather than one, get in bed, strap in.
2. wake up at 11;38 surprised that it's not morning because I am wide awake.
3. Rearrange mask, tighten straps. Back to sleep.
4. 12:30. Mouth is dry. Can't drink water. Take mask off, drink, spill cold water down my front.
5. 12:38 have to pee.
6. 12:45. Mask is whistling, adjust. Mask still whistling. Adjust again. Try to sleep.
7. 2:30 Apparently sleeping on my back is the only thing that works. I hate back sleeping.
8. Some time later: Mask is dripping condensation onto my face.
9. Still dripping. Turn down humidifier.
10. Still dripping. 
11. Have to pee. Detach hose and have three blessed minutes of room air.
12. Reattach mask, get blasted by gale force winds. Water flies out of hose and wets my face.
13. 3 am. Is is seriously only 3 am? Fuck.
14. More whistling. Screw it. More rain on my face. Turn on my side and whistle my way to sleep.
15. 5:38 Did I seriously get this thing to help me sleep?
16. 6:00 Why does my husband set an alarm for which he never wakes up, but which wakes me up every morning? How shall he die?
17. 6:15 my alarm goes off. Thank God. I turn off the machine and release myself from it's bondage. 

I am going to learn how to deal with this machine. I swear I will.

Update - same day:  I decided not to give into one bad night and put the mask back on and went back to sleep and napped for an hour. It was much better. I could feel myself stopping breathing though and I would wake up. But each time I was able to go back to sleep until I woke up naturally an hour later. I had a restful dream, so that was good.

THERE ARE TWO VIDEOS ABOUT THIS ON MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgvSAugTmyRTBm_ThLQurJg/videos

CPAP on order

I was writing the other day about how I was wondering when they were going to call about getting me a CPAP device. I got a call yesterday and they have ordered it and will be calling when it is in.

That's a good and scary thing. Good, because I am ready to have better sleep and scary because I wonder what my husband is going to think of it. Will he think I am even more unattractive than ever?

I did check out another pool and I bought a membership and swam there yesterday. However, the water was sooo cold and the saline was so uncomfortable on my skin and on my lips -- plus the locker room was so full and I am so embarrassed in there that I have decided to cancel.

I called my pool people and told them about Creepy Guy. They have assured me that they will be on the lookout for him. Damn, I wish I knew his name and license number, but I didn't keep that information.