Sleep Difficulties?

Do you have a difficult time with sleep?

I do but have experienced some improvement and want to take an opportunity to share a little of my journey and what has helped me.  I have had a formal sleep study performed, have been diagnosed with sleep apnea and have been prescribed a CPAP machine.  I can genuinely say I now benefit from the CPAP, however, I also need to say that getting to this point was a journey in itself.  

PERSISTENCE IS THE KEY!  I fought wearing a mask at first for many months.  For the first several months my CPAP usage was only a couple of hours per night.  I would remove the mask (sometimes I wasn’t even aware I was doing it) in the middle of the night.  Again, PERSISTENCE IS THE KEY!  After experimenting with a few different masks I eventually settled on one that I felt worked best for me. 

Even after finding the right mask I still only kept it on for a short time each night.  It took MANY months before I settled into a good routine of consistently wearing the mask for a longer duration.  In fact, I’m going to say it was probably closer to a year of persisting before I consistently kept the mask on through the night.  Part of what helped was motivation.  I discovered it was working.  Once I realized that the sleep I was getting while wearing the CPAP mask was more quality restorative sleep than without wearing it, I was more motivated to keep persisting.  I can now say I'm more rested in the morning and my daytime sleepiness has been reduced. 

My encouragement to others is "Don't give Up".  If you are wrestling getting used to a CPAP mask, speaking for myself at least, in time it gets better.

I still struggle with staying asleep for the full night but the sleep I am getting is more restorative with the CPAP mask.  So, the journey continues and I will remain persistent to figure out how to stay asleep for longer periods each night but I feel I am further along this journey now that I consistently use the CPAP.