Sleep Diary
Jan. 27th, 2007 12:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexxkayMy CPAP unit finally arrived last night. What with one delay and another, it's been over six months since I decided "I really need to do something about my sleep problems." Still, slow progress is better than none.
The fellow who brought it was very... glib. He explained everything clearly and efficiently, but I got the strong impression he was glossing some stuff over. When he got to the part of the process which involved filling out tons of forms, he made an offhand remark that the paperwork was "almost like buying a car or something." My immediate reaction was, yeah, and I wouldn't actually buy a car from someone like you.
He said that it takes most people about a month to get fully used to it, and not to be upset if I could only wear it for four or five hours the first few nights. After about that much time, I woke up to go the bathroom, and didn't hook it up again afterwards. I did have weird dreams *about* the CPAP for much of the remaining night.
Free electric plugs are a bit hard to come by next to the bed, so I had unhooked my quiet noise machine to plug in the CPAP. Big mistake. The CPAP is actually extremely quiet, even when it's fully on and no competition for the chirpy birds outside my window at dawn. So there was some grumpy fumbling around to get the white noise machine plugged back in and stretched awkwardly across my bed. It's a good thing![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kestrell and I have separate bedrooms.
My hope is that once I'm adjusted to this, my sleep quality improves enough to get in an extra hour or so a day. I could really use it. I've just finished reading the Nebula Awards collection that included the novella version of "Beggars in Spain"; while I have a number of problems with that story, I have nothing but sympathy for the basic urge behind it: "I want more *time*!"
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Day 2: Managed 6 hours in the mask last night, which bodes well for quick adjustment. Had an alarm glitch, but still woke up at my usual time, after a total of 10 hours. So at least it doesn't seem to be *costing* me much if any rest. I remain alternately hopeful and skeptical that it will gain me some in the end.
Can't say it's a pleasant experience, though. Makes my mouth dry up something fierce, and makes my ears pop like I was in an airplane. The process of breathing with the mask on is just weird; You take breaths by relaxing, but have to keep up a steady amount of effort to *exhale*. It's surprising that one can sleep at all under such circumstances. But it works somehow.
---
Day 3: A full night under the mask! Nine hours, which is within normal variation for me. Definitely starting to get used to it.
The fellow who brought it was very... glib. He explained everything clearly and efficiently, but I got the strong impression he was glossing some stuff over. When he got to the part of the process which involved filling out tons of forms, he made an offhand remark that the paperwork was "almost like buying a car or something." My immediate reaction was, yeah, and I wouldn't actually buy a car from someone like you.
He said that it takes most people about a month to get fully used to it, and not to be upset if I could only wear it for four or five hours the first few nights. After about that much time, I woke up to go the bathroom, and didn't hook it up again afterwards. I did have weird dreams *about* the CPAP for much of the remaining night.
Free electric plugs are a bit hard to come by next to the bed, so I had unhooked my quiet noise machine to plug in the CPAP. Big mistake. The CPAP is actually extremely quiet, even when it's fully on and no competition for the chirpy birds outside my window at dawn. So there was some grumpy fumbling around to get the white noise machine plugged back in and stretched awkwardly across my bed. It's a good thing
kestrell and I have separate bedrooms.My hope is that once I'm adjusted to this, my sleep quality improves enough to get in an extra hour or so a day. I could really use it. I've just finished reading the Nebula Awards collection that included the novella version of "Beggars in Spain"; while I have a number of problems with that story, I have nothing but sympathy for the basic urge behind it: "I want more *time*!"
---
Day 2: Managed 6 hours in the mask last night, which bodes well for quick adjustment. Had an alarm glitch, but still woke up at my usual time, after a total of 10 hours. So at least it doesn't seem to be *costing* me much if any rest. I remain alternately hopeful and skeptical that it will gain me some in the end.
Can't say it's a pleasant experience, though. Makes my mouth dry up something fierce, and makes my ears pop like I was in an airplane. The process of breathing with the mask on is just weird; You take breaths by relaxing, but have to keep up a steady amount of effort to *exhale*. It's surprising that one can sleep at all under such circumstances. But it works somehow.
---
Day 3: A full night under the mask! Nine hours, which is within normal variation for me. Definitely starting to get used to it.