A short post, I’m afraid, as I’m about to be wired up for my second sleep lab test. This one will test the effectiveness of the sleep apnea machine in stopping my storing. This way, they’ll get a better idea of exactly what pressure to use in keeping my throat open and my nights long and restful. I don’t expect this night to be all that restful, but hopefully it will bode well for the later nights.
It’s been a busy weekend and early part of the week, thanks to Vivian’s fourth birthday. Hard to believe that my little girl is four years old already, but she is, and I expect that she’ll remember this day for years to come because we’re celebrating it not once, not twice, but three times. We had cake with the grandparents yesterday, a school party today, and now her school friends are coming over for a party tomorrow. Yes, that rite of passage is due, but fingers crossed, it will pass with flying colours.
What little time we’ve had in between getting ready to party and cleaning up the messes afterwards has been spent writing — except not on this blog. Icarus Down is now over 6700 words, and I’m hoping to have a scene ready to post in a couple of days. I’ve had some interesting scene ideas for the later chapters, but I don’t know how they connect to each other in the narrative. But then, that’s how some writers write: they imagine a bunch of neat scenes that they like very much, and they spend the next year or so charting out the path between them. Maybe it will be this way for Icarus Down.
Anyway, it’s time for me to get wired up, so I’d best post now, and bid you adieu until tomorrow.
(Update: 10:06 a.m. Wednesday): It’s done. It went well. I slept through most of the night, waking up only twice. Certainly a much more fulfilling sleep than I had on my first test. It will be four to six weeks before I get any official results, but there is some suggestion that I may need to turn up the pressure on my sleep apnea machine.
I’m still amazed that you can sleep with all of those wires on you.
James, if you’ve already looked into this, please disregard what I’m about to say.
About 6 years ago, my brother told me that was about to be sent to a sleep clinic for investigation of his sleep apnea problem. He was quite scared because he’d been waking up choking because he’d stopped breathing, and had visions of dying in his sleep. He’d been told he’d probably need a CPAP machine.
I asked him a simple question after requesting that he take some time to think before answering. What I asked him was, ‚ÄúIs it possible that your tongue is swollen?‚Äù He asked how he would know, so I asked if he found himself biting his tongue a lot. After a pause, he said, ‚ÄúYeah, actually, I have. Is that significant?‚Äù I recommended he go to his GP and request thyroid tests, after explaining that one of the things that can happen with hypothyroidism is that your tongue swells and it can cause sleep apnea as your tongue falls backs somewhat in your mouth while you’re sleeping, obstructing your breathing.
My brother was tested and found to be hypothyroid. In less than a month on thyroid hormone he was sleeping normally again, and was getting relief from a number of other symptoms he hadn’t realized were related.
I’m not saying this is what’s going on for you, only that it’s an avenue of investigation worth pursuing. Best wishes for your health.
Thanks for this comment; I really appreciate it. I do know that the sleep apnea machine is working to improve my sleep. I’m waking up more rested, and I’m remembering more of my dreams. I’ll keep this in mind, but I suspect the problem isn’t hypothyroidism, necessarily, for a couple of reasons, the big one being that this problem, while everpresent (my parents and my wife have been commenting on my snoring) has gotten significantly worse over the past year or so. Coincident with this has been a significant increase in my weight, which I am resolving to try and do something about.
James, not to bang on this too much, but hypothyroidism symptoms do get worse over time if it goes untreated, and weight gain for no good reason is one of the red flag symptoms. According to my reading, people gain, on average, 55lbs. by the time they’re diagnosed. Doctors aren’t good at catching this condition, and a TSH test alone doesn’t adequately evaluate thyroid function. You need the full thyroid panel.
In any case, as I said, I wish you the best.