The Final Straw
I remember my mom saying that when people quit smoking, it is never because of one of the "big" reasons that are obvious, but some little personal thing that is actually kind of silly, but just annoys the person enough to quit. Well, the same happened with me, but instead of it being smoking, it is sleeping.
As I have already told some people, I apparently have at least one, or a couple sleep disorders. Im sure anyone who has ever met me can remember me sleeping somewhere odd and awkward... McCain, in class, during the ACTs, during the Weezer concert, sitting on the subway, standing on the subway, standing on the platform waiting for the subway.... many places. Well, when I fell asleep in the middle of talking to a student, that was it. I started researching sleep disorders.
I found out a few interesting things, but in particular that I have 4 of the main symptoms of narcolepsy. So I called a sleep center at a hospital and had a sleep study done. The first thing they always say is to take the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. At first I took it and thought it probably wasnt reliable. So I made a few other take it, they scored low, and I realized maybe it IS reliable.
I went in for the sleep study... they hook up 22 different types of sensors to monitor brain activity, eye movement, leg movement, breathing, heart rates, oxygen levels, snoring, etc. What they found is that I have sleep apnea, meaning that I either stop breathing or my breathing is so restricted for more than ten seconds at a time that my bloog oxygen levels drop. This can happen in everyone, but it should be less than 5/hour. During REM sleep, mine was 42 per hour. So, today, I got my breathing machine. I call it "Mr. Breathy" but the actual term is a CPAP machine. It just pushes air into my lungs constantly so that when my airway becomes restricted, air will still be pushed through.
Thank goodness I got it today. Right after the man left who came to set it up, I picked up my laptop. I was using it last night and had fallen asleep with it on my lap. Normally, I wake up at some point and set it on the floor. This time I hadn't apparently and it had slid onto the floor. My USB stick was still in the back of it and it bent it in half!!! Grrrr!!! I was sooo irritated... Sure, falling asleep in front of students is embarrassing, but my files!!! Luckily, they were still able to copy off of it onto my harddrive, but im not sure what will happen when i take it out of the USB port and try to straighten it out. Oh well. At least I have the files.
As a closing remark, everyone should take the Epworth Sleep scale... it takes 2 minutes and it gives you a good idea if you may have something that is uncommon, but you didnt realize because people just dont talk about it that much. Sleep disorders generally begin in teens and 20s but go undiagnosed for 10 or 20 years becuase it is attributed to other factors. So go, take it. Tell me what you get.
As I have already told some people, I apparently have at least one, or a couple sleep disorders. Im sure anyone who has ever met me can remember me sleeping somewhere odd and awkward... McCain, in class, during the ACTs, during the Weezer concert, sitting on the subway, standing on the subway, standing on the platform waiting for the subway.... many places. Well, when I fell asleep in the middle of talking to a student, that was it. I started researching sleep disorders.
I found out a few interesting things, but in particular that I have 4 of the main symptoms of narcolepsy. So I called a sleep center at a hospital and had a sleep study done. The first thing they always say is to take the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. At first I took it and thought it probably wasnt reliable. So I made a few other take it, they scored low, and I realized maybe it IS reliable.
I went in for the sleep study... they hook up 22 different types of sensors to monitor brain activity, eye movement, leg movement, breathing, heart rates, oxygen levels, snoring, etc. What they found is that I have sleep apnea, meaning that I either stop breathing or my breathing is so restricted for more than ten seconds at a time that my bloog oxygen levels drop. This can happen in everyone, but it should be less than 5/hour. During REM sleep, mine was 42 per hour. So, today, I got my breathing machine. I call it "Mr. Breathy" but the actual term is a CPAP machine. It just pushes air into my lungs constantly so that when my airway becomes restricted, air will still be pushed through.
Thank goodness I got it today. Right after the man left who came to set it up, I picked up my laptop. I was using it last night and had fallen asleep with it on my lap. Normally, I wake up at some point and set it on the floor. This time I hadn't apparently and it had slid onto the floor. My USB stick was still in the back of it and it bent it in half!!! Grrrr!!! I was sooo irritated... Sure, falling asleep in front of students is embarrassing, but my files!!! Luckily, they were still able to copy off of it onto my harddrive, but im not sure what will happen when i take it out of the USB port and try to straighten it out. Oh well. At least I have the files.
As a closing remark, everyone should take the Epworth Sleep scale... it takes 2 minutes and it gives you a good idea if you may have something that is uncommon, but you didnt realize because people just dont talk about it that much. Sleep disorders generally begin in teens and 20s but go undiagnosed for 10 or 20 years becuase it is attributed to other factors. So go, take it. Tell me what you get.
posted by Jennifer Q @ 11:29 AM
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