breathless
Jun. 15th, 2018 11:57 amA few months ago I finally got myself a family doctor. She sent me for a lung test and some bloodwork, to try and work out what's going on with my stupid defective lungs. That all came back clear so she handed me a prescription for an inhaler and said "try this before you exercise, and if it doesn't help we'll try something more complicated." Yay. We then got into my snoring and perpetually stuffed up and frequently infected sinuses etc, and she gave me a steroid prescription and sent me for a sleep study.
This isn't new stuff. I have a recollection of having used steroids before; I don't remember if I stopped because they didn't work, or at fear of side effects, or concern over the cost, or what. And about nine years ago I went in for a sleep study to try and find something to be done about my snoring etc. It was an unpleasant experience, made more unpleasant by its complete lack of utility: the doctor called me in a few days later and said "Good news! You don't have sleep apnea, and we're all out of ideas!" I could have pushed for an ENT specialist, I guess, but I didn't feel up to paying for the privilege of fighting with the medical establishment.
I figured this would be more of the same. I stopped in at the sleep lab two floors down from the doctor's office, expecting to make an appointment for sometime in the next six months. Instead they handed me a tiny machine and walked me through how to use it (box on my chest, rubber thingy on a fingertip, plastic tube in my nose) and told me to sleep for at least five hours and bring it back tomorrow.
Which I did, and they pulled the data off it and sent me to talk to a doctor, who informed me that I had "moderate" sleep apnea and should use a CPAP machine. I am not best pleased by this turn of events. I go in next week for an intro-to-CPAP session, and I guess we'll see how well it works for me.
They also suggested gently that I should lose weight. YEAH, THAT WOULD BE PRETTY FANTASTIC, WOULDN'T IT. Perhaps a summer that's less stressful than this past year will help.
This isn't new stuff. I have a recollection of having used steroids before; I don't remember if I stopped because they didn't work, or at fear of side effects, or concern over the cost, or what. And about nine years ago I went in for a sleep study to try and find something to be done about my snoring etc. It was an unpleasant experience, made more unpleasant by its complete lack of utility: the doctor called me in a few days later and said "Good news! You don't have sleep apnea, and we're all out of ideas!" I could have pushed for an ENT specialist, I guess, but I didn't feel up to paying for the privilege of fighting with the medical establishment.
I figured this would be more of the same. I stopped in at the sleep lab two floors down from the doctor's office, expecting to make an appointment for sometime in the next six months. Instead they handed me a tiny machine and walked me through how to use it (box on my chest, rubber thingy on a fingertip, plastic tube in my nose) and told me to sleep for at least five hours and bring it back tomorrow.
Which I did, and they pulled the data off it and sent me to talk to a doctor, who informed me that I had "moderate" sleep apnea and should use a CPAP machine. I am not best pleased by this turn of events. I go in next week for an intro-to-CPAP session, and I guess we'll see how well it works for me.
They also suggested gently that I should lose weight. YEAH, THAT WOULD BE PRETTY FANTASTIC, WOULDN'T IT. Perhaps a summer that's less stressful than this past year will help.