I’ve had ‘the conversation about sleep’

“You have mild sleep apnea.” Wait, what?! 

After several months of appointment scheduling, first with my primary care physician who, to her credit, took my sleep concerns very seriously, and then with the sleep doc (sleep doctors are a busy lot!) and then a home sleep study (thank you, WatchPAT), the verdict was in. 

You see, I wake up several times a night, exacerbated by an inability to then fall back asleep. I am, in other words, tired.  

However, as a night owl by nature since the age of 4, combined with worrying about the general state of things and being of an age where everything is starting to hurt just a bit for no apparent reason, sleep apnea was not on my internal to-do health list. But insurance pays for the test and, as a writer, I consider everything fair game for writing material. 

So, faced with considering a CPAP device or an oral appliance, I did what I bet many patients do: I punted. I punted any decisions down the road for another three months. I punted like Congress punts on a permanent fix to funding the government. 

To be fair, the doctor says I could also opt not to treat my “mild sleep apnea” at this time. But, again, I’m tired. 

I did tell him I wanted time to research the various options and, not to brag, I told him I actually have a weird job where I write about CPAP. All. The. Time. Which the good doctor found fascinating. 

We then got into a chat about the recent HME News in 10 podcast, in which I spoke with Dr. Shalini Paruthi about sleep trackers (see story page 14). We were, in essence, having “the conversation about sleep.” 

But the thing is, despite all the evidence to the contrary, despite all my reporting on sleep apnea and CPAP therapy, I’m having a hard time swallowing the idea that I have sleep apnea because I’m not the stereotypical profile of an apnea patient. Even though those stereotypes are being challenged. 

So, I will do my research and hopefully come to a decision regarding sleep apnea treatment, along with my oft-punted decision on insulin pumps. 

I guess if there’s one medical profile I fit, it’s that I’m no longer as young as I’d like to tell myself.