Sleep. It's a beautiful thing!

Sleep. It's a beautiful thing! I have just awaken from my second, yes second full night of sleep in the same room as my husband. To the average married person, this may seem trivial. But I think it's probably been a year or two since we've slept two full nights in our bed together. You may be asking yourself why the sudden change? The sudden change is my new best friend. It's called CPAP. You probably didn't read that correct. It doesn't say CRAP. It's CPAP. CPAP is an acronym, and stands for Constant Positive Airway Pressure. It's a small mask that Mark straps to his face. It covers his nose, and has a hose attached to it that connects to a machine next to the bed. There are several different machines. His has a heater and humidifier, as well as the standard air. Hi.s machine also has a "ramp" feature. This is probably the most important feature for him right now. It takes some getting used to, having a mask blowing air down your throat! So when he turns it on, he can press the ramp button, and this allows the air pressure to start at 1/2 of his prescribed pressure, and gradually increase to the correct pressure over about 20 minutes. This makes it easier for him to fall asleep. He hasn't had any troubles at all. He took the mask off once while he was asleep. I was awakened by the snoring, I could tell he was back to the same old pauses in breathing, so I reached over and felt his face. That answered the questions. I woke him up and helped him get it back on. As long as he has the mask on, it has virtually eliminated his snoring!


This may make it sound like it's more for me than him. I will admit I'm reaping the benefits of this machine. But Mark is as well. He wakes in the morning feeling more rested. He has more energy throughout the day. He is just feeling better!


Mark had two different sleep studies. The first diagnosed that he did in fact have Obstructive Sleep Apnea. I explained exactly what OSA is in a previous post. The second sleep study was called a CPAP Titration. That night they hooked up all the same wires and monitors to him as the first sleep study. But this time they also hooked up a CPAP machine. Throughout the night, the tech adjusted the pressure on the CPAP to find out exactly what pressure he needed to eliminate the apnea events.


For those who like visuals:

This first image shows a few minutes of his first sleep study. The biggest thing I noticed on this is his airflow. When it's flat, he's not getting breath. Then he takes in about two breaths, and then no breath. This repeats over and over again. Keeping the airflow line in mind, look above at all of the other lines in the top half. Just before he breathes, he has increased activity. This is his brain waking him up enough to make him breathe again. At this particular time his oxygen level was 89.1 (but eventually got down to 75) his pulse was 68.4, and he was in stage 2 sleep.

With his second night, the CPAP flow replaces the airflow. With a consistent air supply coming in, everything else seems more consistent. His oxygen level is 95, his pulse is 73.4 and he is in a deeper stage 3 sleep.

Looking at this on a chart was amazing to me to see how much of an improvement this was for him!