1 year on the hose

[retrodave15]

What an interesting the last year has been. Except for mask issues and finding the right mask, I took to cpap quite well. Yes I have fiddled with my settings on my machine and my sleep doc will most likely give me the evil look, point her finger at me and we will move on.

The good things I have experienced:
I cut my blood pressure meds in half
My sleep is much better
I have a better handle on my depression and ADD

The crazy stuff that probably has nothing to do with it:
I broke my ankle in February but they fixed it.
I had C-spine surgery three weeks ago and I am feeling pretty good

The best part is that I made a deal with my wife if I had a sleep study, she would to. We are both 100% compliant and on the road to better health. We just finished a 6 month nutrition class to qualify her for gastric bypass, she lost 20 pounds and I got my cholesterol down to a normal range with diet and medication, but the stunning thing is I got my tryglycerides down from 700 to 231.

On Friday we got an early Christmas present, she was approved by OSU Medical Center and the insurance plan for the gastric sleeve process. We are now just waiting for me to get a bit better and for a date with the surgeon.

We are looking forward to a happy and healthy 2013

[tqpannie]

That's really awesome and gives me hope about the blood pressue issues I've had. Thanks for posting!!

[2 B Sleeping Soundly]

Congratulations Dave on your one year on the hose! May your next year be a year of healing, health and happiness! Both you and your wife have been through so much over this last year that you are both more than over due for years of smooth sailing ahead (or maybe for years of sunny days, and clear open roads for when you drive the RV ).

John

[Sheriff Buford]

Dave: thanks for your post. It appears everything is goin' great for you! You gave me an idea. I have been tryin' to get my wife to take a sleep study for years. Never thought of bribing her. Now i have to think of something she really wants... Thanks, again... Sheriff

[LSAT]

Dave: thanks for your post. It appears everything is goin' great for you! You gave me an idea. I have been tryin' to get my wife to take a sleep study for years. Never thought of bribing her. Now i have to think of something she really wants... Thanks, again... Sheriff

A box of Twinkies???

[retrodave15]

Dave: thanks for your post. It appears everything is goin' great for you! You gave me an idea. I have been tryin' to get my wife to take a sleep study for years. Never thought of bribing her. Now i have to think of something she really wants... Thanks, again... Sheriff

For us it was pretty simple - I ended up in the ER with chest pain, i had some EKG changes on my stress test so I had a cath - luckily it was clean, but when the ran a metabolic panel - they could not calculate my numbers as my triglycerides were over 1000. In the search for what was going on I was sent for a sleep study.

A week later my wife ended up in the ER / Hospital admission and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, this was secondary from living with an uncorrected atrial septum defect for 30 years. They also recommended that she had a sleep study as well. At that point we made a pact that we were going to be here for our kids and potential grandchildren.

My goal was to get my cholesteral numbers down and loose 30 pounds and get back to 190 pounds
my last numbers were:
Total Cholesterol: 185
HDL: 37
LDL: 97
Triglycerides: 257

I have 10 pounds to go to reach my goal

My wife has lost 20 pounds during her gastric bypass prep class, she made the cut and should have her gastric sleeve done by mid December.

We have made many changes in our diet and are well on the way to a health future!

[jencat824]

Wow, congratulations on all the healthy changes this past year has brought you! You and your wife have worked really hard. Sounds like next year will be even better. Keep up the good work!
Jen

[Sheriff Buford]

Dave: thanks for your post. It appears everything is goin' great for you! You gave me an idea. I have been tryin' to get my wife to take a sleep study for years. Never thought of bribing her. Now i have to think of something she really wants... Thanks, again... Sheriff

A box of Twinkies???

Can't get on the "Twinkie-thread" now. The thread was taken over by pro-con union theories. I just want my twinkies!!!!

[Sir NoddinOff]

Thanks for going into some detail regarding your success! Interesting to hear about the heart issues too. Congrats.

[sleepnasta]

congrats! i hope the coming year brings you better health.

[retrodave15]

So I had my 1 year follow up:

I did not get yelled or scolded for messing with my pressure. She looked at the reports and said I was right on track.

Regarding Sleepyhead - My doctor said "If using Sleepyhead helps your compliance - go for it!" It is your health and you know yourself better and you see yourself every day, I see you once a year. She also said that I would not trust everyone to do this, but you seem to be doing it right. I compared it to a diabetic and a sliding insulin scale.

I brought a few print outs and my yearly overview out of sleepyhead - she thought the reports was easier to read! My yearly sleepyhead report is now a permanent part of my medical record.

She wants me to watch out for future events of my periodic / clear airway apnea events - she told me to call her if I keep seing them and they might do another study, but she thinks it is medication related, so we are going to wait to see how it looks after I get off all my meds related to the neck surgery.

Can you believe this - we talked for about 20 minutes and she answered all my questions. She is also going to see if she can get the Insurance company to write for a full auto machine as well, but I have United Health Care so I will not keep up my hopes up.

She told me to keep up the good work and if I have problems to call!

[MrPianoman]

Awesome job on the one year mark! My one year mark is this November as well, and like you, I've noticed some changes for the better. I too have some mood disorders and now that I've ironed out some of the cpap issues, I've noticed that my ADD and depression has gotten way better. Whenever I got tired I'd become a real treat to be around, cranky and a major jerk. I'd have to go take a nap and pretty much 'reset' myself. I still have some issues, but I'm noticing that with the cpap treatments, they're not as severe as they used to be. Also, I love using the SleepyHead software, it makes me feel like I'm taking a far more active role in my cpap treatment, and I think that's really an important aspect of cpap. It's amazing how much you can learn and adapt to something like having something strapped to your face all night in a year. When I first started with my full face mask I'd get up in the middle of the night and put it away, and not remember that I did it. Now, after a year, I'm not moving around as much at night.

Way to go, hope it keeps going well for you.

Now back to waiting for the FedEx man, he's delivering a SwiftFX to my doorstep today, and I'm just a tad excited.