I've been suffering from chronic insomnia for some time now--at least five years and probably longer--and lately it's seemed to have an increasingly negative effect on my health. I've tried just about every treatment option imaginable, but it's a complex problem with multiple causes, and an effective resolution has proved elusive. My sleep disorder has three primary components: (1) environmental (typically virulent New Mexico allergens, one or another of which seems to affect me throughout the year; my wife's snoring; and a bad bed); (2) psychological (which I first realized five years ago, when my wife started teaching an early-morning religion class at our church and had to get up at 4:45 am on school days, which in turn immediately caused my sleep habits to become much worse), and (3) physiological (at least some of my problem has to do with obstructive sleep apnea, resulting from an airway that becomes occluded in certain sleep positions.)I've tried surgery: I had a septoplasty (with turbinate reduction) done in 2003, and I had UPPP surgery (with no tonsillectomy--that happened when I was five) in February of this year. The septoplasty was a success and had some salutary effect, but that effect is often offset by nasal congestion due to allergies. The UPPP surgery does not appear to have been a success, as its only noticeable effect has been the permanent "foreign object" sensation that I have in my throat due to having a stump where I once had a uvula. I've also tried CPAP/BiPAP, but it actually seemed to cause many more apnea episodes of the "central" variety than it ever cured of the "obstructive" kind. Literally, every time I'd start to drift off to sleep, I'd simply stop breathing out against the inbound air pressure, and I'd have to wake myself back up, gasping for air. Four or five nights of that, and I can assure you I was ready to go psycho! I've also tried prosthetic mouthpieces and even acupuncture and Chinese herbal remedies. Right now, I have to take a combination of 3mg Lunesta and OTC benadryl to get a few tortured hours of sleep every night; not only is it a miserable routine, but I'm certain it's contributing heavily to the overall feeling of worsening health that I've had for several months. (I've lived for years with physical exhaustion due to poor sleep patterns; this is something else.)
I do have one more hope, however: on January 24, 2008, I'm having another sleep study done using something called a "VPAP Adapt SV" (http://resmed.com/), which is designed to treat complex-apnea problems like mine. My brothers run a home medical supply company in Utah that does oximeter studies and CPAP placements, and they tell me their sleep tech has placed over 100 "VPAP Adapt SV" machines, with almost uniformly excellent results. This new machine, I'm told, acts like a ventilator in that it senses when an apnea episode is occurring and will not allow the user to stop breathing. I'm trying not to be overly optimistic about it, since my hopes with regard to other remedies have always been dashed in the end; however, I'm happy there's something else I can try now that seems to be specifically designed to address my particular ailment.
I hope and pray that the "VPAP Adapt SV" gives me some relief and allows me to get things back together, as I sense that I'm not long for this world otherwise.
