Sleep Apnea

There are many health problems that are associated with being overweight. I have been lucky enough to have avoided some of the more serious problems (partially due to my age) such as high cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Unfortunately I have been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (where my airway closes at night and obstructs my breathing) , and it is most likely a direct result of me being obese. The good news is that I have a very high chance of curing this if i lose weight!  According to WebMD:

 "Sleep apnea is a serious breathing condition that is associated with being overweight. Sleep apnea can cause a person to snore heavily and to stop breathing for short periods during sleep. Sleep apnea may cause daytime sleepiness and even heart failure. The risk for sleep apnea increases as body weight increases. Weight loss usually improves sleep apnea."

I first went into see the doctor last year when my roommate noticed me "breathing funny" during the night. Based on my roommates description, and me being overweight, the doctor suspected sleep apnea right away and set me up for a sleep study.The sleep study was one of the strangest experiences I have had. You walk in and it almost seems like a hotel room. They even had an awesome sleep number bed that I could adjust with a remote. They then started hooking me up to a TON of electrodes, wires, and other monitor devices. They were all over my head, in my hair, taped to my face, and even have movement sensors on my arms and legs!

Here is a picture where you can see some of the electrodes. The thing hanging around my neck is the "hub" where they were all plugged in to.

Here is the bed I slept on an even more of the things I had attached to me during the night. After I was all hooked up they left me alone to sleep while they watched me on a camera from the next room (creepy!)  As you can imagine it was quite difficult to actually fall asleep with all of these things attached to me. (i toss and turn quite a bit)

By the next morning I was told I had severe sleep apnea, meaning I had stopped breathing more then 30x in one hour. I now sleep every night with a C-PAP machine. The C-PAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure and it works by splinting my airway open at night so it can't close.

Here is my current set up. I sleep every night with a mask on my face and tubing attached to the machine. Luckily it makes no noise and is quite small! The thing is I would LOVE to not have to use this anymore! It is super hard to travel with, and not to useful when camping :P. This is MOTIVATION! According to the doctor even losing 20-30 lbs can cure sleep apnea! How awesome is that :-) Now time to get to work and get off this thing as soon as possible.