i have been using a cpap for over a year now, i think. i was diagnosed with sleep apnea that worsened after i started HRT (not that it wasnt still An Issue before HRT).

i have yet to find another person who feels the same about cpap machines. in fact, i don't know if i have any friends who use one. i wonder a lot about whether people feel some sort of shame about it. so i wanted to hopefully embolden others to seek treatment, and like, maybe motivate those who have resigned themselves to a life of bad sleep and pain by explaining the steps i took.

so, firstly, i had to go to my doctor and go, hey, dude, this sucks. can i look into this? and so i got a referral to a local sleep center. they organized an overnight study, and i showed up, and they took me back to a room.

the room itself was actually. like. hotel quality, or better. the bed was really comfortable, actually. the only annoying parts were when they had to stick a bunch of monitors to my body with some sort of gel, and i looked the least flattering i will ever look in my life, i think.

after briefing me on where the bathroom was, and how to signal to one of the doctors that i needed to get up (if i needed to, which i did), they left me to get ready for bed. they even had tv channels. haha. but i just went to sleep. or tried to

there was actually decent white noise. i tried to sleep, and woke a lot. the cables were actually fairly easy to ignore after a while. after some amount of time passed, they came back in and woke me, and told me they were going to try the cpap machine on me.

it sounds scary, you know, the idea of a ventilation machine of some sort. but it's actually not bad at all.

i put the mask on and around my head. after a ramp period, the air flow grew enough that i did, actually, get some sleep. the machine was not silent, but it was pretty quiet - probably no louder than my usual bedroom fan, which is already fairly quiet. i think actually that was the most cozy sleep i've gotten since before that moment. i was passed out sleepystle.

then, some unknown amount of time later, i was awoken and some nurses came to unhook me properly and i was let out, sometime around 6am.

after that, my doctor helped get me hooked up with a medical equipment distributor. (shoutouts to apria care for the most polite and kind staff ive worked with over the phone and in person.) installation was easy, management is nightly but i find it really easy to maintain.

also, i remember asking a lot later about some of the stats from that test, and the answer is, well, i woke 18 times in that night before the mask came in LOL.

since then i've been wearing it nightly, all the way through the night, with lots of rest. i found out i actually like to sleep on my back when i'm not struggling to breathe, though i often also sleep on my right side out of habit. my cat was suspicious of the machine and its cords and cables, but eventually got used to it, and i think prefers when i wear it compared to not wearing it because i don't thrash at all now in my sleep.

anyway, i really hope this convinces someone to look into sleep studies and sleep apnea treatment. it really isn't bad. it's actually super swag. if you have qs im happy to field them!