My Sleep Apnea/CPAP Journey

Join me as I recount the personal challenges and triumphs of living with sleep apnea, sharing insights that will hopefully illuminate the path for others trudging through similar struggles. This episode peels back the curtain on the daily reality of this condition, debunking the myths and addressing the hesitations surrounding treatments such as CPAP machines. It’s a transformative journey from diagnosis to finding modern, less intrusive solutions that have reshaped my life and could potentially do the same for yours.
 
I invite you to become part of our community. Whether you're someone living with sleep apnea or just curious about it, your stories and experiences are invaluable.

Reach out, connect, and find solace in shared experiences as we explore the power of kindness in the face of health challenges. Remember to LIKE, SUBSCRIBE and SHARE and join us in two weeks for more engaging discussions to enrich the lives of all Young People Who Have Lived a Long Time.

Chapters

• 0:00 Bill Monty's Sleep Apnea Journey
• 13:05 Sleep Apnea Journey With Bill Monte

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

If it's warm outside but you're feeling colder, not sure what to do without a friendly shoulder, you're not alone, so start feeling bolder. Welcome to Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older. There are millions of people who suffer from sleep apnea. I'm one of them, and I invite you on this episode, to come along with me on my sleep apnea journey, and hopefully you can learn something from this that will help you if you or if a loved one of yours has the same issue. So what is sleep apnea?

Speaker 1: 0:47

Sleep apnea is a condition that causes you to stop breathing while you're sleeping. This is not a good thing, folks. The word apnea comes from the Greek word for breathless, which is what happens to you. Sleep apnea happens because you stop breathing in your sleep. This is according to the Cleveland Clinic. This happens either because of a blockage of your airway or because your brain doesn't correctly control your breathing. So the blockage of your airway is that, literally, if you have obstructive sleep apnea, your airway shuts down while you're sleeping. The only method you have of trying to cure this, without going into the detail we're going to talk about in a few minutes, is sleeping on your side. That might help. Chances are it's not going to help a lot, though. The resulting lack of oxygen from stopping breathing while you're sleeping activates a survival reflex that wakes you up just enough to resume breathing. Problem is with that. While that reflex keeps you alive, it also interrupts your sleep cycle. This prevents restful sleep and can have other effects, including putting stress on your heart, that can have other potentially deadly consequences, such as a heart attack, a stroke, blood pressure problems. The list goes on and on. Fatigue is one of the big problems.

Speaker 1: 2:06

I can tell you that Sleep apnea can happen to anyone, ranging from infants and children to older adults. It is more common, though, in certain circumstances and groups of people. Before age 50, it's more common in men. After age 50, it's a little more common in women. But make no mistake about it, men, this is a race more common in women. But make no mistake about it, men, this is a race that we're winning. We don't really want to be winning it. There are many more men who suffer from sleep apnea than women. You're more likely to develop it as you get older, and if you have excess weight or obesity, it strongly increases the risk of developing it. Most common adults over 60 years old. This is where I fall into the category. After all, this is Bill Monty's guide for getting older. I have gotten older in the last few years, so how did this all come about?

Speaker 1: 2:58

Several months ago, I went to my doctor for my checkup and when he asked me how I was feeling, I said I don't feel well. I'm tired all the time. I'm trying to lose weight. I'm dieting, but I'm gaining weight, literally two to three pounds every week. I'm gaining weight. I'm depressed because I'm tired and it's just nothing seems to be going right for me. And he looked at me and said well, have we ever done a sleep study on you? I love when doctors ask you this. Don't you have the notes in front of you? So I have to remember for you. Okay, do I get a discount for this? I'm kidding, he's a great doctor. But I said yeah, we have talked about this before. You gave me a list of five questions. I asked my wife because, since I'm sleeping, I'm not aware of what goes on and she confirmed that, yes, I do all five, which is snoring, snoring really loud and stop breathing during the night and gasping for air during the night and a couple of other things. So, yes, I have sleep apnea. We don't have to do a test. I have it and he says well, we have to do a test or else your insurance won't pay for the CPAP machine.

Speaker 1: 4:06

So a couple of things that are running through my mind right now. A I don't want to do this sleep study test. I've heard about it. You have to go to some clinic somewhere. One thing you should know about me I don't sleep well in new places. Even when we go away on vacation, if I go to a hotel, I can't fall asleep until like two or three in the morning, no matter what time we go to bed. So the thought of going someplace where they're going to attach a bunch of electrodes to me and wires and heart monitors and everything else, and how am I supposed to fall asleep with all of this, and it's going to last for a couple of nights.

Speaker 1: 4:38

Part two I don't want to be hooked up to a CPAP machine. I've seen them on TV. I have a friend who has one. It's this large mask that goes over your face. You've got these straps around your head and your face and your chin. You've got this long hose hooked up to a machine that produces oxygen or something like that. How am I going to sleep with all that. So these are all the things I'm thinking as he's telling me this.

Speaker 1: 5:03

Well, first thing, first, I don't have to do the traditional sleep study. They actually now have a ring that they give you, like you wear on your finger, ring that can measure all of these things happening in your body. You don't have to go anywhere to do it, you just go home. Once you have the ring, you have to wear it for two nights. Then you send it back to the place and send it to you. They analyze it, they get in touch with your doctor and let them know what the results are. So that's what happened. Didn't have to go to a sleep study clinic, didn't have to have a bunch of electrodes put on me. I just wore this rather large ring on my finger for two nights. Great, right, I'm thinking already. This is already going very well for me.

Speaker 1: 5:38

My doctor calls me at night so I know this is not good and he says you know it's usually indicative of sleep apnea if, during these tests, five to ten times an hour, you stop breathing. You're way above that. We have to get you on a CPAP machine immediately. He says he'll write the order. I should call him if there's any trouble, but he needs me on this machine as soon as possible. I'm not going to go into all the details. It would bore you or make you laugh hysterically, but this is only a 15-minute podcast and it would take much longer than that to tell this story. Needless to say, that the company here in South Florida I'm not going to give the name of it needless to say, these people are almost impossible to work with.

Speaker 1: 6:27

After six weeks I did not have that CPAP machine yet and it took a phone call from my doctor. God knows what that call was like. But the next day, immediately, I had that CPAP machine. I bring it home. The person who set it up for me when I picked it up I had to go pick it up who met me there and who set it up very nice man Did a great job explaining. However, one of the things I wanted was not to have the mask because I'm very claustrophobic, so I wanted the nasal cannula. One Guess what. That's not what happened, big surprise, based on the six weeks of trying to get the CPAP machine.

Speaker 1: 7:04

So I get home. I set everything up the way they tell me to. I get the distilled water. I put that into the humidifier. I put the mask on. You have to struggle, you have to get it to fit. You know, is it not right? The air is going to leak out. I'm not laying down two minutes and I can't breathe. The claustrophobia kicks in hard. Claustrophobia kicks in hard, really hard. I take the mask off. I'm totally defeated. This isn't going to work. I have to do this because there's a very good chance, if I don't do something about this sleep apnea I could die. Because, let me tell you something, not making light of any of this, this is a very serious illness, so it has to be taken care of. But what was I going to do? I couldn't wear that mask, I couldn't breathe. So the next night I tried again. Did it work? I'll let you know right after we get back from this message.

Speaker 1: 8:03

Hi friends, bill Monti here inviting you to join me at babyboomerorg. Babyboomerorg, that is your one-stop shop for all things Baby Boomer. If you're looking for online classes, if you're looking for books, audio books, articles about health, articles about today's politics, if you're looking for more podcasts podcasts like Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older or Tales from South Florida this is the place to go Babyboomerorg. Tell them Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older, or Tales from South Florida. This is the place to go. Babyboomerorg, tell them, bill Monty sent you, I'll be looking for you.

Speaker 1: 8:37

There we were at night number two and I knew I had to try this again. I got a larger mask out. So they gave me three different sizes of masks. I got a larger mask out and I put that on, went through the whole fitting process again and the larger mask did make a difference. I was able to keep the mask on for about four hours that night. It felt better during that time, but after four hours I took it off, put it on the hook on the wall and said, okay, we'll try again tomorrow. I'm going to be honest with you, my friends. It took about five days for me to get completely comfortable with the CPAP machine. Now, one of the nice things about the CPAP machine is that there is a readout that tells you you know how much air is being circulated and it lets you know how many incidents per hour you had during your sleep during that night. Initially, the first couple of nights that I was doing it, I was still experiencing somewhere around six or seven incidents. But after a few more nights that dropped down to sometimes less than two incidents per hour, which was remarkable considering where I'd been.

Speaker 1: 9:51

The CPAP machine yes. Is it mysterious? Yes, the CPAP machine. Is it clunky? Yes, is it something that you want to do? Is it clunky? Yes, is it something that you want to do? Absolutely not. Is it something that's going to help you? I'm going to have to say yes on this one, folks. Does it have downsides? Yes, well, I've mentioned some of them already the hose, but you know the thrashing about that I used to do. I now, wearing the CPAP machine, can go to sleep on my back and if I don't sleep through the night completely, I wake up again on my back. So I'm not tossing and turning anymore.

Speaker 1: 10:27

The biggest side effects I would say that I'm having with it are I'm still breathing through my mouth, so my mouth gets very dry. When I wake up in the morning, my mouth is so dry I can't believe it. I keep water by the bed so I can immediately drink from it. The other thing is that no matter how tight you make the mask and the first night that I wore it I woke up the next day with a horrible bruise on my face. That lasted about three days so it was too tight and that had to be adjusted. But the air escapes up around the nose and it goes into your eyes and it dries your eyes out and that's a huge problem. So talk to your doctor about that. I was given some drops that I use. I can let you know the name of it. If you want to write me at BillMonte04 at gmailcom, I'll be happy to let you know the name of the drops that I use. They're preservative free and you can use them quite often as often as you like, actually. So that helps with the problem. But those are the two biggest side effects.

Speaker 1: 11:26

Am I feeling less tired? Absolutely, it is helping with that. Do I have nights still where I can't make it but a couple of hours wearing the mask? Absolutely, there are some nights that I don't make it even an hour and a half with the mask on. I don't know what the difference is. I don't make it even an hour and a half with the mask on and I don't know what the difference is. I don't know what happens. It's just some nights it works and some nights it doesn't. But the nights that it does work, that makes it better for everyone else? Right, it certainly makes it better for anyone sleeping in the vicinity of me and by that I mean within the same house that hopefully the snoring has gotten a little bit better and I feel better. I'm not as tired, I'm not as fatigued, so that's also good and along with the diet, I've started losing weight. It's a journey, my friends, and I'll keep you updated on my sleep apnea CPAP machine journey, if you'd like.

Speaker 1: 12:17

Do you have sleep apnea? Have you been diagnosed with it? If so, what has your experience been like? Are you using the CPAP machine? I know there's something now that actually I see it advertised on TV that if you are not morbidly obese, they say it can actually be implanted in your body. That helps sleep apnea. That sounds a little gruesome for me, you know. Is that something that you're doing? If so, I'd love to hear about it. How can you do that? Okay, we have a new feature If you go down to the show notes, you actually can just click a button and, as you're listening to this, you can text me a message.

Speaker 1: 13:05

No-transcript that, again, you just slide down into the show notes and click that send me a message link. If you don't want to do that, you can always write me at BillMonte04 at gmailcom and I will get back with you Again. This information is in the show notes or you can call me and leave a voicemail at 754-800-3170. And don't forget my friends to like and share and subscribe to stay up to date with the latest information about this show. This is Bill Monte. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older and for walking down this path with me on my sleep apnea journey. And my final note, as always, I'd like to remind you to be kind whenever possible, because it's always possible. We will talk to you again in two weeks. Take care, my friends, and be safe. We will talk to you again in two weeks. Take care, my friends, and be safe.