I think I figured out my migraines. Ever since I've been on the CPAP I haven't had a migraine. Because I've actually been sleeping! Last night I stayed up way too late watching the Browns preseason game and got up really early for work. I should have known, because I felt it right after I woke up. I immediately took three aspirin and hoped for the best.

A few hours later, while at work, I made the connection. Before the CPAP I wasn't sleeping well at all. On my worst mornings, the migraines actually woke me up. Usually, I'd become aware of the pain soon after I got up. After seeing my sleep study results which told me that basically I haven't slept an entire night in over a year, I saw where the lack of sleep could cause all kinds of problems.

Since I've been sleeping, I've been migraine-free. At least until today.

When I got home from work I took a relpax and started feeling a little better (relpax makes me nauseous). I'm feeling a little groggy and queasy but at least my headache is dissipating.

Now I know that even with the CPAP, I need more than five hours sleep or I'm risking a day of misery.

Tags: health

On May 1st I went for a sleep test. My doctor and I had been discussing my morning headaches. Once I’d mentioned some other (what I thought were) unrelated symptoms (Dry mouth, loud snoring, daytime sleepiness) she thought that a sleep test might be a way to determine if sleep apnea was the culprit.

Sleep studies can go one of two ways. Either way you are hooked up to a couple dozen leads and wires while you sleep in a room while the sleep technician watches you. Sometimes you sleep all night (if you can) and if you show any signs of sleep apnea, you are asked to come back for a second night. The second night consists of you trying to sleep again, but this time they strap a CPAP machine to your head and see if your apnea symptoms improve. Hopefully, they do… you are officially diagnosed with sleep apnea and treatment can begin!
The second kind of sleep study is called a split-night study. A split-night study occurs when the sleep technician detects that not only are you exhibiting sleep apnea symptoms – but you are really bad. I was just so lucky.

Half way through my sleep study, the sleep technician came in and started me on the CPAP machine. The rest of the night my symptoms improved greatly and when I woke up I was told that I would most likely need a CPAP machine.

Anyway… I don’t know if it was just my imagination or some kind of psychological effect or what – but the week following my sleep test was the worst week ever. Ever. I was falling asleep daily on the bus to and from work. I spent all day yawning and stretching and I felt like I was walking around in a fog. One night I was laying on the couch with my eyes closed and opened my eyes to see Carrie and Ashley laughing. At me. When I asked them what was so funny they said I had been snoring really loud. I tried to tell them that I wasn’t even asleep, just laying there with my eyes closed. Apparently not. Apparently I had been asleep for fifteen minutes and didn’t even know it. Wow. The results of my sleep test and the subsequent treatment couldn’t come soon enough.

I decided it was time to mount an attack against all the doctors involved in my treatment and see if I could speed things up a bit.

I started with the sleep lab.
Who was the doctor that my sleep study was turned over to? And what is his phone number? Can you tell me if he’s read the report yet?

Then the sleep doctor.
Can I get a copy of the report? When will it be sent to my doctor?

Then my family doctor.
Wanted to let you know that the sleep doctor has read the report and will be sending you the results. Please let me know as soon as you get them. Once you get the results can I stop by and pick up the prescription for my CPAP machine?

So far so good. I was bothering everybody on a daily basis and it looked like I might have my CPAP before the weekend. (I felt strongly that having a weekend to adjust to sleeping with a mask before having to wear it the night before a work day was important.)

Friday came and I started my round of calls.

My family doctor’s office called back. They had my prescription. I could pick it up anytime before 4:00pm. I was there by 2:00pm.

After getting the prescription I noticed that my doctor had only written ‘CPAP DX: sleep apnea’ on the paper. I didn’t know much, but I knew that any medical supply place would need more information that this to give me a machine. Momentarily stumped, I remembered that the doctor that read my sleep report (a pulmonologist, as it turns out) had an office in the same building as my family doctor. I got on the elevator and pushed three.

“Hi, I just called here yesterday. I had asked if you could send me a copy of my sleep test results. Umm… I happened to be in the neighborhood and was wondering if I could just pick up the copy?” Coincidentally, my results were sitting in the ‘Mail out box’ waiting to be picked up. A moment later I had the results in my hand. I thanked the nice lady and left.

I now had a generic prescription and a specific report. I was hoping that the two would be enough to get me a machine. I called the Health Care Equipment place. It turns out that they had a cancellation and if I could come by right now – they could set me up. Bring my prescription, sleep results and insurance card. Check. I was on my way.

Looking back on the whole thing – I really can’t say enough good things about the Health Care Equipment place. They tried everything to close the deal. As it turns out a generic ‘CPAP Dx; Sleep apnea’ prescription is not enough (no kidding…) and as it turns out the copy of the sleep test results report was not signed. The prescription said I needed a machine and the report said how to set the machine, but because this information was on separate pieces of paper I was out of luck. I shuffled out to the car and proceeded to call my doctor’s office. The receptionist was sympathetic and asked if it would do any good to have her speak with the Medical Supply people. It sure as hell couldn’t hurt so I went back in.

Phone calls ensued. My doctor would not agree to specify the details of a machine because those need to be dictated by the pulmonologist. The pulmonologist would not write me a prescription without seeing me in the office first (next appointment – next Thursday…sigh). Damn. I worked so hard all week long and was standing at the finish line only to be stonewalled by office bureaucracy. Defeated, I left the equipment place with no machine.

As I was driving home I got mad. The more I thought of how much work I put into today the more mad I got. The thought that I now had to wait another week and pay another co-pay before I got some relief put me over the edge. It was time for another visit to the pulmonologist.

Luckily, his office was still open. I stepped into the waiting room and stood in front of the frosted glass window. The receptionist opened it. At this point I needed no introduction. She knew who I was. “Hi, I’m back.” I announced. After presenting her with the facts and asking to to have my copy of the report signed she told me that the doctor has left already. “Can you stamp it?” I know every office has one of those doctor stamps for just such an occasion. After she denied this request I went for the jugular…

“Listen lady… I can’t breathe at night. I know that because I have a report here from this doctor that says so. I also have a prescription for a machine that can help me. I am one signature away from some relief. I’m just trying to feel better.” I think that the fact that the waiting room was pretty full helped me at this point. “Have a seat – I’ll call the doctor” she said.

(insert Rocky Theme Music here)

A few minutes later she waves me up to the window. “The doctor would like to speak with you” she says and hands me the phone.

After a brief discussion with the nicest doctor I’d encountered this week he agreed to write me a prescription and asked me to make the appointment for Thursday so he can see how I’m doing. I thanked him and the ‘nice lady behind the desk’ after she handed me the prescription and called the medical equipment place to ask if they’d wait for me (they closed at 5:00pm. It was only 4:15pm – but it might be close).

I walked into the Medical Equipment place for the third time that afternoon and was met with looks of surprise. “How’d you do that?” they asked. I just shrugged and said “I dunno… I got mad.”

About twenty minutes later I left the Medical Equipment place with a new CPAP machine and all the accessories.

I won.

Now to sleep.

Tags: health

So I spent last night at St John’s Hospital in the Sleep Disorders Center. During my last doctor’s appointment the doctor and I started discussing my daily headaches again. Again. I’ve had a daily headache for about five years. Usually I wake up feeling like I have a mild hangover (even after not drinking!) and a couple Excedrin sets me right for the rest of the day. I also get pretty bad migraines, although not very often. Over the years (and seeing doctor after doctor) I think the two headache types have gotten confused because three or four years ago I was diagnosed with chronic daily migraines. Now the daily headaches have never been nearly as bad as my migraines. But the doctor said ‘daily migraines’, so… daily migraines it is.

Anyway – back to the recent doctor visit. She started asking me a bunch of questions. “Do you wake up with a dry throat?” Yeah! Sometimes it’s so bad my throat feels like it’s swollen until lunchtime. “Do you snore?” Oh boy. Well, if my wife and daughter can be believed, I do. For a very long time I resisted the thought that I was a ‘snorer’. But after years of my Carrie and Ashley telling me that they can hear me snore in the next room with the door closed, I relinquished and admitted that I might snore. “Do you ever fall asleep during the day?” Yeah, almost everyday on the bus to and from work. (I keep waiting for the day I sleep through my stop. Hasn’t happened yet. So far so good.) Well, the sleepy, snoring, dry-throat, morning headache symptoms led the doctor to suggest a sleep study.

So I arrive last night about 8:30pm and meet with my sleep technician. I am handed a bunch of papers to fill out and she started to prepare my room. I was going to be the only one there for a sleep test. Shortly after I begin filling out the paperwork the tech yells out “wave your hands so I can see you in the video. (I was to be videotaped all night long). So I begin waving. Nothing. “I can’t see you” she says. I get up and walk out to the desk where she’s messing with the computer. I immediately notice that the image on the screen is not my room. I folded up my t-shirt and sweats and put my book on the nightstand once I got there and the image on the screen showed an empty nightstand. So I tell her “that’s not my room”. “Yes, it is,” she says “but the camera doesn’t seem to be working.” Hmmm… ok then. I go back to my room and fill out some more papers. Soon I can hear the tech on the phone to the camera people. It’s obvious from her side of the conversation that they’re asking her to reboot, or power-cycle the camera server. Only she can’t find the camera server. Thinking to myself “this can’t be this difficult”, I wander out to the desk again. By now she’s off the phone and talking about doing the study without video. I don’t know anything about the study, but it seems that the video part might be important so I ask her “can I take a look at it? I work with computers.” She seemed relieved and said “sure, go ahead!” Now I knew right off the bat that I wasn’t going to touch anything – god forbid, I touch something and make things worse. So as I’m looking around I notice some familiar things… cat-5 cables… a router… some converters… A ha! “Here’s your camera server”, I tell the tech. “Really?” she says. “Are you sure?” “Yep, see how the wires are numbered camera one and camera two? Just pull and replug the power cord on the back of the box” I say, pointing to the power connector. She power-cycles the server and …voila! Video works again!!

So long story short… I’m her hero. The tests can continue.

About this time I’m seated in the chair in my room as she starts to apply a bunch of leads and probes all over my head and neck. And a couple on my legs. It took a long time. See for yourself how many wires I was connected to.

Originally, I wanted a picture of myself all wired up, but as the wiring went on, I got more and more uncomfortable and decided that I didn’t want to take the picture after all. If you really must know what it was like, take a look at this guy. Yeah – I kinda looked like that. Maybe not that happy. (P.S. Read his blog – good stuff!)

After what seemed like an hour (she took my phone and there was no other clock anywhere) I am settled into bed with the instructions to try to sleep on my back (apnea events are most likely to happen while your on your back). Fine.

I have no idea how much time had passed but I was sure that I hadn’t slept. I remember counting the tiles on the ceiling and then the lights in the ceiling and then counting my breaths as I tried and tried to fall to sleep. No Dice. I was thinking “this was a big, fat waste of time”. I’m not going to get any answers unless I fall asleep and I’m not sleeping.

The next thing I know the sleep tech is at my bedside. “We’re going to go ahead and put you in a nasal mask. You’re averaging 35 apnea events per hour.” 35 an hour!! I wasn’t even asleep!! I told her this and she disagreed. “Oh you were asleep alright, but it was very poor sleep. At one point you stopped breathing 29 times in 30 minutes.” I was shocked – but hell, she must know – she was the one looking at the results of all these wires.

After fighting with the mask for about twenty minutes, I get comfortable enough to fall to sleep.

Soon after, (it seemed) the tech is back at my side. “Good morning!” she says. “How do you feel?” I didn’t feel bad. I tell her that I felt pretty good. I still have no idea what time it is.

“After wearing the mask you stopped snoring completely and didn’t have any more apnea events.” she informs me. “You even entered REM sleep twice.” Apparently, I had not entered REM sleep at all before the mask. Meaning that I had not completed a sleep cycle at all. Meaning that in all likelihood, there have been entire nights that I never really slept.

Wow. What an experience. After the sleep tech disconnected me and handed me a ‘morning survey’ to fill out I put my sweats and shirt back on. Even though I only slept (really slept) about half the night, I felt surprisingly awake. The sleep tech informed me that the Sleep Clinic doctor will have to go over the results and then he’ll send them on to my family doctor.

“So I’ll need a CPAP machine, huh?” I asked her. “Oh yes, most likely” she answered. “How long before I hear something?” “Probably about two weeks”.

Damn. Now that I know that I’m practically suffocating in my sleep, I have to wait two more weeks before I get any relief. Oh well. At least I know what’s happening now. At least I’ve taken the first step.

Now Carrie and Ashley can start thinking up insulting nicknames for my bedtime apparatus. “Hose-eh” (Jose) and “The Incredible Sleeping Hose Monster” are at the top of the list so far.

Call me what you want. As long as I start feeling better.

Tags: health

Have you ever had a headache? Sure you have. Have you ever tried to explain the pain to someone else? Using words like “splitting”, “aching”, “throbbing” or “tumor”? Do you think they have any idea how you really feel?

I had another of “my headaches” today. Woke up with it, took some aspirin, it got a little better, aspirin wore off, it came back way worse. It got so bad that I was getting nauseous and a little bit nervous. I’ve had bad headaches, but this was a “top-ten-ever” kinda headache, so I told my boss I was taking the rest of the afternoon off. As I packed up my stuff to come home, I told the guys in the office why I was leaving and got the impression that they really didn’t know how bad it was. Since I get these bad migraines every once in a while, this wasn’t the first time I’ve left work because of one. I was afraid of leaving the impression that I just wanted to slack off for the rest of the day and knew that I could say the word “headache” and there would be no questions asked.

I’m nearly certain that wasn’t the case, after all the headache was bad, as I mentioned, and I wasn’t thinking about anything too clearly.

While resisting the urge to pound my head against the window on the bus ride home, I thought about it again and decided headaches would be more impressive if there was a visual symptom that others could see when your head hurt. Maybe your head would turn different colors? That’d make it easy to tell who was faking in order to go home and play XBox and who was really in danger of cranial explosion. Like a thermometer, your head would get redder and redder, corresponding to the pain level. Sure, I’d have looked like a giant tomato today, but at least I wouldn’t have felt guilty about coming home.

Tags: health

Ok, so I’m about eight hours into one of my all-day-headaches. I get a headache of some sort almost every day and usually a couple Excedrin in the morning gets me right for the rest of the day.

This is not one of those days.

I think I dreamed myself into this headache because I woke up with it. Or rather, this headache woke me up. I remember having some kind of complex dream about work. I’m trying to integrate a database and some existing documents to generate documents on-the-fly for one of the departments and with the deadline fast-approaching, I’m stuck on where to begin. Nevertheless, it’s enough to give me a headache when I’m awake, let alone in a dream.

Once I woke up I dutifully took a couple Excedrin and waited. Nothing happened. (Well, maybe a little, tiny bit of relief). Now, after staring at the computer for about 5 hours the pain is raging back with a vengeance. It’s one of those headaches where you feel like a cartoon character and you swear that your head is getting bigger and smaller with each beat of your heart. Maybe that’s just me, but I’m getting ready to drill a couple holes in my skull to let the pain out.

My final line of defense is the emergency Imitrex I keep in my desk, but I won’t take that unless I’m on the verge of blacking out. Imitrex does weird things to me. Oh, it obliterates even my worst headaches, but the last time I took one, I got real hot and sweaty and don’t remember anything that happened afterwards the rest of that day.

The worst part is that I can’t concentrate on anything and that means I can’t get anything done. Not getting anything done makes me anxious and anxiety gives me a headache. Great. I’m screwed.

Now I have to do twice as much tomorrow.

Tags: health

Yahoo! News – Smokers, Quit Early to Regain Health

Ironic. I quit almost 6 months ago and I’ll turn 35 in August.

Now if I could figure out how to quit eating so damn much.

Tags: health