Monday, October 08, 2007
8th October
Earlier this year, my massage therapist notices that when I fell asleep during a massage I would regularly stop breathing.
I was still recovering from my heart operation at the time, and mentioned it to someone, who said I should tell my GP, who referred me to a sleep specialist.
This must have been in January.
And eventually, in mid June, I was seen by someone from the Sleep Clinic, who passed me on to the next stage, and then in the beginning of August I picked up some equipment that I brought home, hooked myself up to a monitor which recorded my sleep patterns.
And then last Friday I went back to them and they told me I have been waking on avaerage 63 times an hour - just over once every minute - because I have stopped breathing.
The muscles in the throat relax in sleep, the windpipe narrows and starts to vibrate - which is snoring - and then, in bad cases, the windpipe closes and you stop breathing.
You struggle for breath, wake up, struggling, and go back to sleep again. And so you forget.
And this must have been going on for years and years.
It must have so profoundly affected me, and in so many ways.
And tomorrow I spend the night in the sleep clinic, and they fit a mask which attaches to a machine which gently blows air down the windpipe and so keeps it open.
And perhaps i will sleep properly.
I feel the most immense curiosity.
Earlier this year, my massage therapist notices that when I fell asleep during a massage I would regularly stop breathing.
I was still recovering from my heart operation at the time, and mentioned it to someone, who said I should tell my GP, who referred me to a sleep specialist.
This must have been in January.
And eventually, in mid June, I was seen by someone from the Sleep Clinic, who passed me on to the next stage, and then in the beginning of August I picked up some equipment that I brought home, hooked myself up to a monitor which recorded my sleep patterns.
And then last Friday I went back to them and they told me I have been waking on avaerage 63 times an hour - just over once every minute - because I have stopped breathing.
The muscles in the throat relax in sleep, the windpipe narrows and starts to vibrate - which is snoring - and then, in bad cases, the windpipe closes and you stop breathing.
You struggle for breath, wake up, struggling, and go back to sleep again. And so you forget.
And this must have been going on for years and years.
It must have so profoundly affected me, and in so many ways.
And tomorrow I spend the night in the sleep clinic, and they fit a mask which attaches to a machine which gently blows air down the windpipe and so keeps it open.
And perhaps i will sleep properly.
I feel the most immense curiosity.
Labels: sleep apnoea
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]