Health

Well, this is interesting.

On Thursday night, I spent the night in the Sleep Clinic at the nearest hospital, having my sleep studied for apnea, which frankly you could have diagnosed in about 30 seconds with a paper cup pressed to the bedroom door (or a geophone* hehheh). It was about as unpleasant as it could be, short of, yanno, actual surgery or illness, but on the upside, the diagnosis was confirmed, and they (eventually after much shuffling of papers and waiting around) issued me with a CPAP machine.

This comes with a mask, or in my place a noseplug, to feed air to you at night at overpressure (quite a LOT of overpressure it turns out), and assists in breathing by forcing the breathing passage open when it closes.

Stupid really, I've known I have apnea for aeons now, at least 15 years - and it was probably much longer without my realising, as it's quite insidious. I'd thought repeatedly about getting this treatment, but the idea of covering up my face and nose at night just made my skin creep, so I kept putting it off. What changed my mind was simply in some stupid TV program, seeing someone getting fitted with a mask while he slept and ... son of a gun, it was a tiny thing, didnt cover his mouth at all, or most of his nose! Realising (duh!) that there must be many variations for different levels of claustrophobia, completely changed my mind.

Parenthetically, I wouldn't have said I have claustrophobia ordinarily, but something about the whole cover-the-nose-and-mouth thing just makes me feel smothered, even just contemplating it.

So, after three nights, I must admit it seems to be going pretty fantastically well. I've got sleeping pills to take at night, so I can get used to wearing the mask - just as well, it would I'm sure keep me awake otherwise. Both Saturday and Sunday, I just felt .. better. Not boing! bouncing off the walls full of energy, just better, a little more clearheaded: and I didnt need a nap either day, which ordinarily would be an absolute necessity on the weekend. Definitely a big improvement.

Now I'm trying to get my head around the idea of having laproscopic surgery for a stomach stapling, or whatever it's called now. I've toyed with the idea for a long time, but always been put off because when Mum had it done, it seemed to have an awful lot of unintended & unpleasant consequences, and not to deliver that much positive for all that price ... but as my doctor, and Cat, have pointed out, they've made a huge number of improvements and advances since then, and it's a lot safer, less invasive, and more positive in outcomes.

There's a woman at work who had it a while back, and a guy who has just had it, and both are completely positive about it.

Mostly, I just need to get it embedded and normalised in my head - especially the idea that I'll be eating tiny meals, and NOT being or feeling deprived about it. That may take a little while to drill through, but without that I can see I'd just do something foolish. Plenty to contemplate: hard to imagine a new slimline Phil full of energy, really :)