The world according to Riff.

After 10 years of my beloved elbowing me in the side yelling "roll over your snoring".....which graduated to "god I can,t sleep with you holding your breath like that"  I finally went and had a sleep study done.....The explitive "Holy shit!!!!" comes to mind when I reveiwed the results with my MD....In an 8 hour period I had over 100 "micro-arousals" (meaning trying to wake up from a sound sleep....get your mind out of the gutter...lol) no slow wave sleep, (thats the rest and recuperative stuff) and rapid onset of REM sleep, and rapid onset of "sleep" when laying down. At times when sleeping on my back my O2 sats  desaturated to as low as 50% ( normal O2 sats are 96ish to 100%)

Yall, I have a 9 year old daughter I would like to see grow up......that test was some scarrrry stuff.  End result....did some good research on the subject, and got fitted for a machine that you wear when you sleep, that assist your breathing. In my case its a bi-pap.....I won't get into all the mechanics involved in how and why, (unless you ask, then ill send you some good websites)  but man oh man what a change........Now some facts.... I am not skinny...im between chunky and good grief dude go on a diet! 5-10, 280lbs..."THAR SHE BLOWS"

but I can hide it well...denial is a powerfull tool...but once I started to correct the immediate apnea problem the results were.....

More energy...no more fighting the sandman while driving...less grouchy...less appetite...lower blood pressure, lower heart rate. No intense drowsyness after I eat, and thats just after only two days of use. I never knew how damn tired I was, until I actually rested...I have been "sleep deprived" for over 15-20 years and didn't know it!!!  You would think as an R.N. I of all people would know better..(DOPE!!)

Dont follow my poor example of "ignorance" please.....If you snore like Mario Andretti tuning his race car, or Southern Pacific cruising through the livingroom, and your other half sez you hold your breath at night......go get checked!!!!

some long term effects are but not limited to

tired after waking up

increased appetite and weight gain

morning headaches (not related to hangovers lol)

frrequent sore throats

lack of energy (always drowsy)

falling asleep at inapropriate times

difficulty getting to sleep

high blood pressure

getting up frequently to go to the bathroom

swelling in the legs

gastric upset or reflux

depression

heart and lung disease

possible link to diabetes

statistics are also linking it to car wrecks (asleep at the wheel)

and the scarrrriest of all.....(guys) loss of sexual desire, and or ability to do so!!!...(I may be 41 but im not dead yet...phew)

so if any of that above crap seems familiar to you or to your spouse or loved one please go get it checked out! That way you live longer and I can bore you with more of my crappy blogging hahahaha....who luvs ya baby!!....riff