Something you should know about me is that I snore. A lot. And loudly. I've done it all my life, even when I was thinner. My mother has said that every once in a while I stop breathiong in my sleep, which can be, apparently, a big deal (though why she never dragged me to the doctor before, I don't know).
Now, the snoring isn't a huge problem to me (though Em has to deal with it), but the complications that arrise are. I don't sleep well. I toss, I turn, I wake often, and I just feel wiped out most days. I think I'd get a lot more done on a personal scale if it weren't for the way I sleep (or don't sleep).
So I went to see an otolaryngologist (ENT doctor, but much more fun to say my way) today to ask about a procedure called the pillar procedure that promises to help mild sleep apnea. According to the doctor, I ain't mild. My pallet (the upper part of the mouth, by which that ball things hangs on) is low, my tongue is too high in the mouth, and my tonsils are large for someone my age. Sigh.
Oh, and guess how the doctor saw that my tonsils were abnormally large? He stuck a scope up my nose which curled down into my throat. It didn't hurt, but it was weird. He did give me some numbing stuff first, which had some side affects that were not realized until later. Not only did it numb my nose, it also numbed my gums, and my top row of teeth. So here I am, driving home, tapping and clicking my teeth because they're numb. I wonder if people ever look at me when I'm driving.
They'll schedule a sleep study for me and I'll probably get one of those stupid masks for at least a month before we consider other options. And by other, I mean surgery. If the surgery will help free me from sleep apnea, and more importantly, keep me from wearing a dorky mask, I'll consider it. But if I do get a mask, I'm painting it black so I look like Darth Vader ("Emily, I am your father!")
Either way, I have to be humble about this. If I don't treat my apnea, I'll continue to be exhausted much of the time, and in time it can have serious consequences on my health, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and the gum disease gingivitus. Okay, at least one of those isn't true.
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3 comments:
Sadly, you are not alone in this. My friend Janette's husband had to go through the same thing with a sleep study and the Darth Vader mask. At least you can take solace in the fact that 1)Emily LOVES Star Wars and 2)Emily LOVES bad guys.
Not gingivitus!! That is the worst one of them all. :)
Rhia, you are so right. I just cracked up at school about the Darth Vader quote. And you know when I laugh, I snort, and that is distracting to others.
Matt, your snoring isn't a bother to me much anymore. I used to sleep with ear plugs, but now I just kick Matt when he bothers me. :)
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