I'm still using my CPAP machine every night. Almost 10,000 hours now. My only problem is that when I sleep, the mask pushes into my right cheek and has formed a small dent in my face. Oh well. Not a big price to pay. A reader writes:
Long, LONG time reader here since your early days, but I don't e-mail you much.
I'm 28 and I've been dealing with 'not being a morning person' for my entire adult life. I've suspected for years I had sleep apnea (girlfriends telling me how I stop breathing at night, etc) but for whatever psychological reasons, put off going to the doctor. Even after you blogged about it -- a guy I read multiple times a day - I still didn't find a good reason to go.
A month ago, my sleeping became worse and one night in particular I woke up in tears because I just knew I was gasping for air that entire night when sleeping and I couldn't deal with it anymore. I made an appointment with the sleep doctor the next day, slept in the lab, and finally got my results back. 67 episodes an hour. Low blood oxygen. Barely any rem sleep. I've literally been robbed of good sleep my entire adult life.
I've been wearing a CPAP machine for the last few days, and I cannot begin to tell you what a difference it makes. I can't get used to the feeling of waking up and actually not wanting to immediately go back to bed.