Well, surprise, surprise: the system moved along quickly enough Thursday that I had an O2 concentrator by bedside Thursday afternoon. And, we had also picked up the sleeping meds. So, given that today is Saturday, I have had 2 nights with O2 and with sleep meds.
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly. The good clearly relates to being able pretty much to sleep in any position without O2 starvation, That has been nice. I have even been able to lower my bed out of hospital elevations. I put quite a few hours on the machine during the day since the bod was hungry for it, and by then, I was nearly narcoleptic. The bad is that it is another set of tubes to constantly adjust. And the extra weight of these tubes rapidly detaches the seal on my CPAP. The Ugly is the truth: I have not instantly been able to sleep 8 hours at a time. Rather, my sleep is still broken into the segments that I have mentioned before. Usually 4 hours give or take and then some fussing with regard comfort and switching among my sleep stations. Yeah, but what about the sleep meds--trazodone--50 mg tabs--(I am starting with 1/2s)? Well, at first night time perception seemed a little affected, but there was no immediate drop off the cliff into instantly deep sleep. Since I've never experienced any sleep meds ever, maybe I was expecting an effect that doesn't exist. It seemed that going to sleep was similar to before, with maybe less anxiety. But when I got up the next day, there was a huge, quasi-hangover feeling of dragging around an elephant. That experience was not replicated last night, but all else was. So, in sum, there are improvements--nothing dramatic. Going to sleep and staying asleep are less problematic. But last night was more similar than not to prior times: I had to move among my sleep stations to seek comfort.
(Yes, purists, I know we input two variables at once (O2 + trazodone. So, sue me.)
Other Troublesome Crap. All of a sudden I've developed edema in my feet and ankles and most of my legs, I attributed that initially to sleeping in the recliner where in one position the feet are on the floor. I thought it would retreat. It has not. Of course inflammation is the body's response to injury in general. I've had some in the past couple years coincident with being on my feet--long walks for example where I feel stressed at the end. But it has always resolved before now. I have had little appetite since the current crisis started. Truly, I cannot finish a regular portion of anything. I am also not drinking any alcohol. This has been coming on for a couple weeks and I have gone with it in the interest of dropping some weight. And, I have. Imagine my surprise when I stepped on the scale the other day to see that I have gained about 12 lbs! Clearly, it is water. I don't have the urge to whiz. I worry about heart function here, since my youngest brother (morbidly obese) died at 56 yr of consumptive heart. I wonder which doc should attend. Probably cardio guy. Except that my appointment with him is two weeks away. Time to find out.
Miscellanous. I found out this morning that my home oximeter records continuously, so if I am recording I can go to sleep and recheck it a minute or so later without taking it off and putting it back on. I put it on this morning since I thought I detected tachycardia. I did! At least high HR of 160. I did some relaxation mantras and the next reading was normal. That was repeated several times. It was right at the time my overnight oximetry chart showed it to be, 4 a.m. I think this is also the period of greatest HR variability (chicken v egg) and other functions from my Holter Monitor results.
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