Coping with Snore Deprivation

mikemoran · Post by **mikemoran** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 1:28 pm

Sometimes we take for granted all the wonderful things this therapy has brought us. I mean look at the nifty appliances we get to play with. All the fun software we get to use. Exciting visits to the lab where we are pampered and catered to, with every little movement monitored to ensure our good health. The great camaraderie we experience with our fellow balloon people in this great forum. How we get to enjoy our own special little language of pressures, AHI, titration and PAPs.

Not to mention the wonderful night time fashion accessories we get to don every time we lay down to sleep. Think back to that excitement of ripping open the plastic bag hoping this will be the one. All the great adjusting you got to do, the wonderful experimentation opened up to you. How many of us never considered all the alternative uses for panty liners and pantyhose before?

Yes we should be extremely grateful for this fascinating world of CPAP. Isn’t it time for us to consider those that have sacrificed so much to give us this pleasure? Yes our loved ones. Think of all we have denied them. The sonorous rumblings they could count on being there every night. All the free bed massages they got to enjoy. That wonderful game of “Guess how long before they start breathing again?” they counted on for entertainment in the middle of the night.

Gone for them is that glorious afternoon fog from the disturbed slumber we so graciously provided them. How can we expect them to cope with being alert all day long? What will they do on vacation after sharing a hotel room with children who aren’t cranky enough to keep them occupied?

It is our duty to give back to those who have given so much to us and to this end I offer a few suggestions:

Pick the noisiest mask you can find. If it’s too quiet take it apart and misassemble it until it generates some irritating noise.

Make sure you have your leak alarm at the highest volume and just for them break the seal at various intervals during the night.

Avoid all masks that don’t direct air across the bed into their faces. If you can’t disturb them with noise the least you can do is blast them with cold air.

The CPAP Equipment manufacturers and their creative design departments have done their best to help us in this endeavor but it requires our assistance to ensure that we use their products effectively.

For those of us who find it difficult to apply their equipment properly then I suggest some homegrown solutions that can prove just as effective. Invest in a fog horn. Bring a squirt gun to bed. Go around the house setting everyone’s alarms to different times. Consider getting a yappy dog that barks at all hours. Don’t our loved ones deserve this?

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 2:53 pm

Don’t our loved ones deserve this?

It depends on what day you ask me that question...and sometimes it depends on what part of the day you catch me during that will determine how I'll answer that question. Lately, I have to say, "No." (he's been pretty nice). And then there are other times...

Unfortunately, he's getting me back now with his rumblings. But he INSISTS he doesn't not have OSA...I think he's really wrong.

mikemoran · Post by **mikemoran** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 3:45 pm

Lori,

Don't fall for it!! He is just jealous and wants to join the club. My wife has been tryign the same thing recently LOL

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 3:52 pm

mikemoran wrote:Lori,
Don't fall for it!! He is just jealous and wants to join the club. My wife has been tryign the same thing recently LOL

The big idiot, he swears if he was diagnosed with it, he would refuse to wear the gear. You'd think he'd have learned by now how important it is? Some men are so...(fill in the blank with whatever you choose-my word is not fit for the forum). I keep threatening that one night, when he's in one of his deep, undisturbable sleeps, I'm going to pop the mask on him and get his readings. He said he wouldn't care what it said, still won't wear the gear. He thinks because he's not overweight and in great shape, he can't have OSA...dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. You would think having me for his wife and telling him all this stuff, he would know that this is not something you can just refuse to acknowledge. I don't know what else to say. Maybe if I force him to sleep out of the bed due to the snoring, he'll change his mind? Gotta fight dirty...

mikemoran · Post by **mikemoran** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:03 pm

Can't really blame him. Its hard to believe this is really something. I avoided addressing for many years just because it was only snoring wasn't it? Its one of those things we grew up with and nobody saw it as a problem.

Don't push too much. Maybe you can have him ask his Dr. about it during his next exam. Thats how my wife got me to address it. It might only be snoring too. I think you should be more concerned if he is actually showing other symptoms like stop breathing, constant tiredness, drowsy while driving. I know my Dr. gave me a quick survey to fill out to determine if I had a high probability of OSA. I'm sure there must be something like it online, see if he will fill one out.

Damn see what happens when you get me all serious LOL

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:16 pm

Damn see what happens when you get me all serious LOL

Ah, it worked!!! LOL

You know, I wish I only heard snoring, but for a long time, I've heard him stop breathing now and then. That's why I really think it is OSA. He swears since he has no other symptoms and feels full of energy every day, it's not. Who knows? Do people just stop breathing and not have OSA? Since "apnea" means "cessation of breath," I can't imagine it not being. Maybe he'd fall within the not-treatable category since it doesn't happen enough to cause him health problems or loss of energy or memory?

Okay, Mike. Don't want to bring the head down here. I like you funny and happy. I think people on this site would never talk to me again if I changed your mood to one of being somber and serious. So, carry on (and I do mean carry on) as usual. Thanks for listening.

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:40 pm

Lori, I think the refuse to sleep with him would do the trick. This is what my wife did to me and it got old after awhile.

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 5:29 pm

R&R,

I don't think he'd like that idea, either.

But he is disabled from a work-related problem since 1997, a man who used to be a work-a-holic, and has finally come to terms with that. I think the idea of being diagnosed with anything else at this point in his life is just something he won't entertain. That AND he's turning 50 in December. Maybe if he starts to feel the wrath of OSA in the future, he will see things in a different light and get help, if he truly does have it.

peg · Post by **peg** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 7:59 pm

Don't sleep with him????????????
Say it ain't so.............
Let's not get carried away here. There must be a sane alternative.
Beg, whine, plead whatever it takes. But let's not cut off our nose to spite the face. There must be a better way. OSA gods......help her!!!!!!!

Grabraham · Post by **Grabraham** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:20 pm

try the voice activated microcassete recorder trick

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:24 pm

sleep as in zzzzzzzzzzzz

Grabraham · Post by **Grabraham** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:26 pm

rock and roll wrote:sleep as in zzzzzzzzzzzz

Come on R&R we all know that women have a 1 track mind

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:46 pm

Yes, you know us women and our one-track minds...

R&R had it right, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Peg, aren't you the feisty little devil??? And, trust me, I don't know if it's the Italian in him or what, but my husband wouldn't hear of what you're thinking. The blood doesn't come much warmer than his...

Barb (Seattle) · Post by **Barb (Seattle)** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:19 pm

you guys are so silly LOL

I would think that if he only does this once in a while, it's normal. If he does it all night long, then that's another story. How often DOES he stop breathing?

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 3:24 am

And you still don't know to what to attribute you frequent awakening

O.

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