My First Diagnosis for Sleep Apnea

by Andrea Hodder
(Dundas Ontario)

I was 33 the first time I was starting to have problems. Well not really major problems I went to my doctor because I was not sleeping well and was having difficulty breathing.

My doctor at the time suggested I do a sleep study to see if there might be a problem. I went to the study not knowing what to expect. After getting there before 9pm I waited in a waiting room where after a few minutes they called me in to another room showed me where I could put my bag and then was told to get changed and meet them in another room. I got changed and went to this other room.

There I was told to have a seat and they would start to hook all these wires up to me. I sat there for about half an hour getting all these wires hooked up from my head to my legs, my arms and around my chest. I thought what does all this do?

When I was done I carried the box in my hand and went back to my room. They asked if I was tired I said no so they said ok they would be back in about an hour.

Wow what a sight. I went to the only mirror in the room and looked. I looked like some weird science experiment was about to happen to me. All these probes (the wires) as I called them were sticking out of my head and on my face. I looked so funny and thought wow if all my friends could see me now!

About an hour later I was asked if I was tired I said no but they said I had to go to bed to get the study started. So I went to bed all the while remembering that they could see and hear all that was going on.

I was as quiet as a mouse not wanting to move or make any noise afraid of snoring when I did finally fall asleep. I lay there looking at the ceiling for what felt like hours.All the while all these thoughts rushing through my head. What if I don't sleep? What if I start snoring? Eventually sleep fell upon me.

The next morning at 6:30am the attendant comes in and wakes me up. I ask what time it was and could not belive how early it was and was asked how I slept I said I felt like I had not slept all night.

To my amazement the attendant said it only took me 15 minutes to fall asleep. How could this be, it felt like hours. I got unhooked and went home.

A few weeks later I went for the follow up appointment. I was told that I had sleep apnea. I was given the name of a company that had CPAP machines. I was told that I needed this machine to help me sleep better.

A couple days later I got the machine tried to wear the mask but at the end of a few months ended up not using the machine and just gave up on it. Later would I find this was the worst mistake of my life.


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